AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Just, you know...” I feign coy as his eyes drop down to my lips before meeting my eyes. I don’t know if I’m giving off the blasé look I’m going for, but he seems into it. “You’re just a little overly... boastful.”
“About?” He trails his finger down my cheek, my breath coming out in pants, as I don’t dare look away.
“My pleasure.”
He coughs out a laugh, and he leans his head in closer, his breath warm against my cheek, the rough scratchiness of his beard tickling me as he murmurs into my ear. “Trust me, you’ll not leave my bed without screaming my name.”
“Because it was so bad?” I giggle and press a soft kiss to his jaw as his head snaps back in shock. “Trust me, I’ll teach you how to please me so that I’ll be screaming.”
“You will?” He raises an eyebrow, and I nod eagerly. “I can take instruction, Maia, but I won’t be needing it. My skills will blow your mind.”
“We’ll see,” I taunt.
“We will.” He steps away from me, and a general chill seeps in now that he’s not touching me anymore, and I try to ignore the disappointment as the flirtatious smile disappears and a calm mask fills the place.
I tilt my head, not sure what I did to stop our conversation. Was that not… did I go too far?
“But before we can get to the good parts, we’re going to be cooking dinner so that my brothers don’t starve. Anything in particular you’re wanting to eat?”
I shake my head, spotting the envelope on the kitchen counter, and I sigh as I move over to grab it. Topher doesn’t stop me, but he, too, sighs.
“What are we going to do, Topher? We’ve got two weeks before we’ve got to be there… before they try to take her.”
“Two weeks is plenty of time,” he reassures me.
I frown. “Really? You think that two weeks is enough time to figure everything out? Don’t forget, we’ve still got the situation with your parents, too. Do we really want to try and battle both of these issues at the same time?”
Ryan’s death being a murder by his family… it’s incomprehensible, but following the clues through and figuring out the truth, getting closure for me… it’s needed.
I need to be able to know the truth.
But I can’t lose my daughter. She is everything to me, and I know that if Ryan could say, he would choose her, too. She’s the priority.
I won’t be giving her up.
“My parents aren’t going to be a battle,” he says carefully. “But, for now, put all of it out of your mind. We’ll schedule a meeting with our solicitor now that they’ve sent the summons, and we’ll formulate a plan for Phoebe. She is the priority.”
“And Ethan’s visit?” I rub my face, groaning into my hands. “Ryan?”
We’re drowning in problems.
They’re coming at us from all angles.
Fate threw me into this feuding family, and even now, weeks later, I still do not know what she wants from me. Does she expect me to heal the hurt that losing Morgan caused?
Does she expect me to sever the ties completely?
Or was my being here the catalyst into sending Phoebe back to her birth pack?
I sob, rubbing my face again, hating my brain for tormenting me.
“Breathe,” Topher demands, gently pulling my hands from my face. The pads of his thumbs brush away the fallen tears, and he squeezes my face ever so gently in a comforting move. “Get washed up. We’re making some pizzas for dinner.”
“Pizza.” I give a hysterical laugh as tears fall once more. “Our solution to all our problems is to make some pizzas?”
“Our solution could be that I bend you over my knee and paddle your ass until you let it go?” He raises an eyebrow, but I can see the faint unease in his eyes.
He drops his hands, stepping back. His light brown eyebrow is raised, his lips quirked up into a cocky smirk.
