Total pages in book: 61
Estimated words: 57866 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 289(@200wpm)___ 231(@250wpm)___ 193(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 57866 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 289(@200wpm)___ 231(@250wpm)___ 193(@300wpm)
“That’s right!” Claire answered from the stove.
Asher gave his son an excited look. “Hey buddy, want to build a Lego castle?”
“Yeah! Let’s go!”
Anderson took his dad’s hand and ran up the open staircase to the second level of the house, where the Legos apparently were.
“We’re master deflectors,” Chloe said.
“Doing okay?” Beau asked me under his breath.
I nodded and smiled, because…I was. His family was as easygoing as he was. I thought about the growing life inside me and wished he or she could have a family like this. People to be with on holidays. Siblings who knew each other’s funny stories. My child wouldn’t have anyone but me.
Would I be enough? No matter what I did, I couldn’t give my child a big family. It hadn’t seemed like a big deal until now.
“Hey,” Beau said softly, looking confused. “Peppermint tea?”
“Oh…” I relaxed my expression, which had probably been looking worried. “No, I’m good.”
“Try this,” Fiona said, holding a cracker with dip on it in front of Beau’s mouth since his hands were occupied with potato peeling.
He opened his mouth and let her push it past his lips.
“Mm, that’s good,” he said.
“Right? It’s everything dip. Mom ordered it from the caterers. I’m obsessed with it.”
“You should try it,” he said to me.
“I will.”
Fiona dipped another cracker and held it up to my mouth. I opened and she popped it in. And she was right—it was creamy and garlicky and delicious.
“Don’t you just want to eat it with a spoon?” she asked. “Or is that just me because I’m pregnant?”
Beau shook his head. “Nah, you were a weirdo before you were pregnant, too.”
“I just realized none of your teammates came this year,” Henry said from the living room. “I can’t remember you ever coming to Thanksgiving without teammates.”
“Coach had all the orphans over to his house this year,” Beau said. “But Dalton asked me to bring him a piece of Mom’s pecan pie.”
“He’s such a sweetheart,” Claire said.
Beau shook his head at me and spoke in a low tone. “He’s got my mom wrapped around his little finger.”
We peeled potatoes and Beau put them on the stove in a big pot of water to boil. I kept busy for the next hour helping in the kitchen and then everyone sat down to dinner at Henry and Claire’s long solid wood dining table.
I hadn’t felt so much like a part of a family since my grandparents were alive. But I had to remind myself I was only part of the Fox family for today. Then I’d go back to being a lone wolf.
“Shelby, how do you feel about Scrabble?” Genevieve asked me after the meal.
It was a Fox family tradition that the men cleaned up after the meal on holidays. The women were all relaxing in the living room, some with a glass of wine in hand. I had a mug of warm apple cider.
“I think it’s the most underrated board game out there,” I told Beau’s younger sister.
“So you’re a fan?” she asked brightly.
“Don’t do it, Shelby,” Fiona said from the recliner she was stretched out in. “She’s a super nerd. She plays Scrabble on weekends for funsies.”
“Me too, when I can find someone to play with,” I said.
The truth? I played it on my phone, because I had no one to play against in real life. I wasn’t going to mention that, though.
“Let’s play,” Genevieve said, getting up from her seat. “Mom, you’ll play, right?”
“Of course.”
“Chloe?”
Chloe shook her head. “No thanks. I’m going to watch the game.”
Fiona was right. Genevieve was good. We played three games and she took two of them. I won the last one, though, winning by more than fifty points. And I never felt self-conscious or awkward, even with Beau all the way in the living room watching football.
It was evening when we left, and I was exhausted, full of pie and happier than I’d been in a long time. Beau’s family was even better than I’d imagined them when I was researching him.
“Better than organizing your closets?” he asked me on the drive back to my apartment.
“Yes. I had a great time. Thanks for inviting me.”
“Anytime.”
I couldn’t go back anytime, though. Once my pregnancy started showing, there would be questions. I tried not to think that far ahead, though.
Today had been great. That was enough.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Beau
“Beau, I’m a virgin.”
Shelby stood next to a bed, wearing sheer white lingerie with thin straps that fell almost to her knees. She slid her fingers beneath the straps and it fell to the floor, revealing her flawless skin and the supple curves of her body.
“Teach me,” she said, running a hand down her stomach. “Teach me how to make you crazy.”
I was crazy already, aching to get my hands on her. What would I do first? Her breasts called out to be cupped and kissed and her nipples begged to be teased and sucked.