Total pages in book: 54
Estimated words: 51792 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 259(@200wpm)___ 207(@250wpm)___ 173(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 51792 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 259(@200wpm)___ 207(@250wpm)___ 173(@300wpm)
He held out a card. “Have her call me. I’m in town for a few days.”
Briefly, I looked the card over, but kept my eye on the man as he left. He was driving what looked like a rental considering it was an average sedan, dark in color. I memorized the license plate and wrote it down on the back of the card once I got back in the house.
I was sitting outside as Zoe played with a bubble maker when Sunshine came back through the field. It was warmer today and her feet were bare. I had thoughts about why she shouldn’t walk barefoot, considering the insects and other creatures that skittered in the grass, but I would keep my thoughts to myself.
“I can order dinner tonight,” I offered when she got close.
“I can do my job,” the stubborn woman shot back at me. She went into the house.
Before I followed her, I said, “Don’t leave the porch,” to my daughter.
“I won’t.”
Mason Creek was nothing like Chicago. Kids played outside unsupervised all the time. Besides, we lived on a ranch off the main road. I would hear anyone coming a long time before they got close to the house. I left the main door open and only allowed the screen door to close as I followed Sunshine.
“Are you going to continue avoiding me?” I asked Sunshine in a loud whisper that hopefully wouldn’t be overheard by Zoe.
She spun and glared at me. “You made yourself pretty clear the other night.”
“I did, and I’m fairly certain I didn’t say I wanted you to keep your distance.”
That fire burned in her gaze. “You were right. I had a momentary lapse in judgment. I would have regretted anything that happened between us that night.”
My pride stung, so I bobbed my head. “Glad to be of service,” I said and left the room.
The woman was confounding. I wanted to toss her on my bed and fuck some sense into her. But that was just the caveman in me. I had to focus on the long game. I’d come to terms that this woman was the one I was meant to have. She had to figure that out, and acting barbaric would not win me any points. In fact, it would only scare her away.
I went for Zoe. Keeping her busy was my only strategy to keep her not thinking about her mom. But I was considering a therapist. Worry for her mother could be affecting her in ways I didn’t understand.
It was later that night I remembered the man who had come for Sunshine. Because it was late, I knocked on her room door. When there was no response, I headed for the front porch where she would sometimes fall asleep reading her tablet, waiting for her mustang to show up.
That was where I found her, tablet in hand, curled up in a ball in the chair swing against the cooling temperatures. I plucked the tablet from her hand. A passage had been highlighted. I was spiraling fast to another orgasm as his fingers played my pussy like a song. My girl liked to read dirty books. I was already hard when I scooped her up, relishing the feeling of her lithe body in my arms.
When her eyes fluttered open, I knew if she asked me to fuck her, I would. Damn all the consequences.
TWENTY
Sunshine
The man of my dreams was carrying me to bed once again. But the outcome would be nothing like the pages of the romance novels I read. Books had been my escape, a way of living a life I knew I could never have. But here he was. A handsome man, a good man, who seemed to want me. Yet I couldn’t convince myself to cross the line between boss and employee. Our ending might not be like the office romances I’d read based on Shaina’s recommendation.
There were real lives at stake, especially Zoe’s. If things didn’t work out between her father and me, how could I stay working here? And how could I leave Zoe until she had her mother back?
All this played out in my head as he carried me up the stairs, even though I’d opened my eyes. He could have easily set me on my feet, and I could have managed the rest.
I had to stop this. If he put me to bed, no telling what could happen. Sarcasm worked best. “I can walk, you know,” I snapped. There wasn’t much bite to it.
“Don’t pretend you don’t enjoy being in my arms.”
Damn him for reading the situation far too correctly. We were already in my room when I said, “I don’t have to pretend. Set me down and leave my room, boss.”
My feet gently hit the ground, leaving me upright, but he didn’t leave. “Ask me to kiss you now.”