Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 68576 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 343(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 229(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68576 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 343(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 229(@300wpm)
“Peas offer?” he asked.
“Yes,” I grinned. “That’s your daddy.”
“Daddy.” He looked confused, as if he didn’t even know what that word meant.
It hurt my heart.
I picked him up, ignoring my screaming bladder, and tiptoed down the hall toward Atlas’s room.
Once I was in the door, I whispered, “Daddy.”
Forest, showing he was a smart cookie, wiggled to be let down.
I let him down, and the two of us slowly walked into the room, being about as quiet as two elephants in a room full of stacked blocks.
He kicked the lamp, which went flying, when he tried and failed to scramble up.
I caught it and recentered it as I gave him a little heft with a hand under his bottom.
He crawled over the length of the bed to the man who was still, apparently, sleeping.
I crawled onto the bed, too, my heart doing this weird skipping, racing thing, at the sight in front of me.
Forest held out his hand, and I caught it with mine.
He tugged on my hand, indicating he wanted me to come farther, and I crawled forward on my knees until I was where he wanted me.
“Shhh,” he whispered overly loud.
There was no way that Atlas wasn’t aware we in his room, let alone on the bed.
Was that a twitch of his mouth?
It was there and gone so fast that I couldn’t be sure but…
“Daddy,” I whispered, pointing at Atlas.
Forest turned from me to the man on the bed, his arm curled around a pillow. He was still in his underwear, and those impressive, muscular thighs, so thick and strong, drew my eyes.
I was watching those thighs when the big man moved, catching both of us up in his arms and twisting.
One second, I was on my knees beside Forest, and the next Atlas was over the both of us, tickling.
“Nooo!” I laughed with a screech, trying hard not to overreact like I wanted to and throw elbows.
Forest’s childish squeals of delight, paired with my screeching, had Atlas laughing his ass off.
“Can’t sneak up on me, buddy.” Atlas turned his attention to Forest, taking both hands and tickling him mercilessly.
“Nooo!” he laughed, kicking his little feet. “Ahhh!”
“I’ll save you, Forest,” I teased as I launched myself at the father.
Atlas let out a woosh of air as we both went down onto the bed,
I giggled myself when I held onto his arms and said, “Get him, Forest!”
Forest moved, body slamming himself onto Atlas’s face.
The move caused Atlas to laugh even harder, and I used his distraction to tickle him.
And let’s just say, the man was ticklish.
Very ticklish.
Like a little spider monkey, Forest wrapped himself around Atlas’s head, and Atlas couldn’t stop me without forcibly removing Forest.
It was the greatest two minutes of my life, experiencing this moment.
By the time I could keep him at bay no more, I threw myself off the bed and said, “I have got to go to potty. I can’t stand it anymore.”
“Peppa?” Forest called, but I was already running out of the room to my own bathroom.
As I got ready for the day—thank God it was Saturday, and I didn’t have anywhere to be—I thought about what we could do that day.
I knew that we needed to go to the store for food.
After cooking myself dinner for the past two nights, I realized that Atlas was seriously lacking in the food department, and not just for a child. For an adult as well.
I’d also needed to get four wigs out to ship, as well as run by the post office and get some more boxes.
By the time I made it out to the main living area, both Carter men were waiting for me, fully dressed. Atlas even had keys in his hand.
“Let’s go get breakfast,” he ordered.
My brows rose. “How do you know that I want to spend the day with you?”
His lips quirked up at the corner as he tossed his keys up, then dropped them.
“Oh,” he paused as he looked at those keys. “I need to go put my glasses on.”
Then he was disappearing out of the room.
I looked at Forest as he walked to the dropped keys.
“Do you have trouble seeing like your daddy?” I asked him.
Forest gave me a very contemplative look, as if he fully understood what I was asking. “No?”
I grinned and held out my hand for the keys. “Let me have those. Then I need to find my purse.”
He went running into the other room without giving me the keys, but he did come back with both.
My wallet and tampons fell out on his way, and he stopped and turned to stuff them all back in, keys included.
He kept the Tic-Tacs, though.
“Only one,” I said as I held my hand out for the purse.
Instead of handing me either one he walked right up to Atlas, who had reappeared sometime while the second tampon was stuffed back in my purse, and said, “Daddy!”