Total pages in book: 46
Estimated words: 44850 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 224(@200wpm)___ 179(@250wpm)___ 150(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 44850 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 224(@200wpm)___ 179(@250wpm)___ 150(@300wpm)
“Don’t try to sweet talk me now, Ida Sue.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it,” she says and hell, even I can tell she’s lying.
“You and I are going to have this out tonight,” he warns.
“I’ll be ready,” she answers, and I blink because I’m pretty sure she’s looking forward to it.
“Your family is freaky as hell, Ace,” I mumble, picking up the glass of orange juice that Ida Sue gave me. I bring it up to my lips to take a drink and Marigold grabs my hand to stop me. The juice wobbles around in the glass and splashes out over the rim onto my fingers.
“Don’t drink that!” she demands.
“Why the hell not? Your mother’s not going to poison me. It’s just juice,” I complain.
“Worse! She’ll try and feed you something to up your sperm count so you’ll knock me up. The woman is determined to make sure all her kids are married with a million-gazillion babies.”
My gaze goes straight to Ida Sue. She has her hands on her hips, staring at her daughter.
“I resent that! I didn’t fix Slater one of my special shakes,” she argues.
“You didn’t? Marigold and I say together.
“Of course not. It’s freshly strained orange juice.”
“And nothing to up his sperm count?” Marigold clarifies. I’m left staring at the glass wondering if I should drink it or not. I want Marigold, but after I’ve thought about it, neither one of us are ready for kids just yet. She has dreams she wants to live, and I do, too.
“Of course not.”
“Well, why not!” Marigold says, sounding angry and surprising the shit out of me.
“Huh?” Ida Sue says, proving she’s as confused as I am.
“Why doesn’t slater get stuff to make his swimmers swim harder?”
“Uh…Ace?”
“I mean it! She’s given that shit to all my brothers and every single one of my brother-in-law’s. She even snuck it into Luka’s drinks, and she wasn’t even sure she liked him.”
“I always liked him and its bad form for you to bring that up in front of strangers, Marigold Lucas!”
“Slater’s not a stranger, he’s my boyfriend and I want to know why you aren’t trying to help him knock me up.”
“I feel like I’ve woken up in another universe and nothing here makes sense,” I grumble, putting my orange juice down, afraid to drink it.
“Get used to it, boy. That’s life here,” Jansen, says, sounding like a man resigned.
I nod, just grateful that the man doesn’t want to kill me.
“I didn’t even know you had a boyfriend until I saw him in all his glory this morning,” Ida Sue points out.
“Well, that’s because we were only supposed to be …”
“Be what?” her dad prompts. I lean back in my seat and see how my girl handles weaseling out of this.
Marigold rubs the tension on her forehead and looks at Jansen. “It’s complicated.”
“You mean he’s supposed to be your penis-pal,” her mom says, disgusted, shaking her head.
“Well, kind of,” Marigold exhales.
“What the ever-loving hell,” Jansen growls and suddenly he’s looking at me again like he’s ready to decapitate me.
I hold my hands up in defense. “Don’t look at me. I knew I wanted more from day one. I was just willing to get her anyway I could, so I agreed.”
“Wait. You know you wanted more?”
“Ace,” I rumble shaking my head. “You’re the whole damn package from to top to toe. First class and funny as hell. You make my world shine. Of course, I wanted more.”
“I make your world shine?” she whispers, her face going soft.
I move my hand under her hair and pull her close. “So bright that I can see nothing but you, baby, and I don’t want to.”
“We haven’t been doing this that long,” she reasons.
“It’s been long enough for me to know that I’m in this for the long haul. I’ve had a lot of bad in my life, baby. It’s made me appreciate the good. When you get the good, you don’t let go of it.”
Her head goes down to rest against my chest and I hold her like that for a minute, letting her gather herself. “I’m not ready for marriage,” she reiterates. I nod, giving her a smile. “I don’t want to let go of this either.” My smile widens as I give her a kiss. It’s just a small kiss, tasting her lips and sucking them gently before we break apart.
“Now that that’s all settled, let the boy drink his juice.”
“I still want to know why you aren’t trying to help him knock me up. Don’t you think I deserve to be happy? Do you not like him? What’s going on? I kept all this hid so you wouldn’t go crazy and now, I find out you’re not doing your usual crazy. Why not, Mom? What’s wrong with Slater?”
“There’s something wrong with me?” I ask picking up the juice, taking a drink.