AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I never beat you in cards,” I pout. “You never let me.”
“And I never will. I have a feeling you’ll beat me on your own, eventually.”
“Bet your ass I will,” I swear, and I will. Just as soon as I can figure out how he cheats and do the same.
“I don’t cheat, Scottie.”
My lips part in surprise.
“Yes, I can read your mind,” he says. “One of the perks of being half the Titanic.”
“You’d be a horrible motivational speaker,” I snark, feeling a little lighter. I clasp my arms around his neck, pressing my chest to his. “But I would always show up to listen.”
“It’s my drawl, isn’t it?” he says smugly. “It’s always been the drawl.”
“I love you,” I say truthfully. “So much.”
“Then take my hand and let’s walk out this door.”
“Okay,” I agree, feeling ridiculous.
“Give me them lips,” he commands as my desire spikes. Full lips capture mine in a breath-stealing kiss. I sigh into him before he thrusts his tongue inside, sweeping me away with his rhythm. Moaning into his mouth, I pull him tighter to me and sink into his tall frame, my hands roaming over his shoulders before I trace the scar on his chest with my fingertips. Pulling away, we share a dazed smile. Unable to help myself, I press my lips to the scar mere inches from his heart. Calloused fingers slide up the back of my neck as I kiss it again and again, thankful. So fucking thankful.
“Killing me, Scottie,” he whispers.
Flushed, and a little embarrassed, I shake my head. “Sorry.”
“God, that’s sexy,” he mutters, stroking the heat from my face with deft fingers.
The sun in his eyes shines brightly over the bleak feeling slowly invading me, and I feel a little safer, a little bolder, and a whole hell of a lot sexier.
“I’m ready, Mom!” Noah calls as he bursts through the door of the bathroom in a full sprint before wiggling himself between us.
Briggs glances down at Noah before he bursts out laughing. “Dear God, boy.” He looks back up at me. “Are you happy? You told him to put on more sunscreen, and now your son looks like a glue stick.”
Laughter bursts from my chest as I study Noah. He does, in fact, look like a glue stick with curly blond hair.
“He’s a blond. We burn easier,” I say in shitty defense as Chris tries his best to rub the lotion in.
I didn’t introduce them for months. On the days when Gavin kept Noah, I went to the ranch, which is only two hours away from Killeen. It was an easy commute for me. I rented an apartment close to Noah’s school because there was no need to uproot him. While the initial transitioning was hard, it’s getting a little easier. My main concern is overstepping with Gavin. He’d shown too much grace, and I wasn’t about to throw it in his face with my new relationship. When we speak, it’s always brief, and I have to respect that. He’s moving on with his new life and mine has just started.
Chris worked his magic on my son, much like he does the rest of the world. He lets his light shine just a little, and they come flocking to him. Noah was more curious than anything. And when Gavin and I sat him down to give him the news of our divorce, I gave him honest answers. Answers that hurt him, that made him angry with me, angry with Briggs, and let Gavin off the hook. It was one of the worst nights of my life.
In the end, I am the reason, but I’m slowly making peace with it because I refuse to let this love I feel be condemned any more than it already has. This love brought me back—they brought me back.
I stare at the two men my heart thrives for as they get themselves together, looking over at me with expectant eyes.
“Let’s go,” I say, clasping hands with the both of them as we step out onto the sand. Noah tries to rip himself away from my grip, but I hold on tight.
“There are rules, little man—”
“Let a man be a man, Mom,” Noah pipes up, leaving me stunned.
My answering glare is directed straight at the horse’s mouth—the one I know that comment was birthed from. Briggs winces under the weight of it, an oh shit look covering his features. Blowing out a breath, I surprise myself by laughing, because how can I fault the character traits of a man I’m so madly in love with?
Noah smiles up at me with surprise. “Oh, you’re in trouble, just not today,” I say, and his smile disappears.
“I’ve got him, Katy,” Briggs says with confidence, his gentle gaze prompting mine to remember a time when we were still making plans in a place we never thought we’d leave.
“I want to take Noah to the beach. He’s never been. Clear blue water, not the shitty kind in Galveston. I want to watch him make sandcastles and see his reaction to the waves. If I don’t do anything else, that’s what I want the most.”
“Let me give it to you,” Briggs whispers, reading my thoughts.
Nodding, I let go of Noah’s hand as he accepts his, and they make their way toward the sparkling surf. Never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined I would see my plan unfold this way.
No, it hasn’t been easy. We’ve walked through the past sixteen months as lost souls with scarred hearts. It was only in breaths we shared together that we found relief. It wasn’t through longing or passion that we discovered our unbreakable bonds; it was through love and loyalty. And I realize now, it’s not because of the way I love the men in my life, it’s because of the way they love me.
Briggs
Katy kneels in the sand, still in the yellow bikini I had to beg her to bring, along with the cover-up I tried to hide before we got here. The breeze lifts her long golden curls away from her face as she works with the lanterns to get them set up.
“Is he asleep?” she asks in a tearful voice. Sliding the glass door to our suite shut, I make quick strides her way before kneeling in front of her.
“He’s out, in our bed,” I say, holding the first lantern as she moves on to the next.
“These are the joys of parenting,” she says. Her tone apologetic. “I’m sorry.”
“I’ll live,” I say, as I rub a tear away from her chin.
She works to construct the lantern with Jones written on it as she looks over to me with agony-laced eyes. “Shit.” She blows out a breath and gives herself a moment. But the tears in her eyes hit me deep, and I share in her pain as I stare at the letters, my own eyes starting to water.
“He was so damned funny,” she whispers. “Funnier than you,” she remarks snidely as a tear drops, clearing some of the sand on her foot.
“I think you and I are the only people who realized that.”
“Don’t be so smug, Briggs,” she says, handing me the finished lantern. “We all liked him more,” she teases.
Scottie pulls Morrero’s lantern over next. “How was his mother when you went?”
It’s the first time she’s asked since I got back from California last month. I didn’t want to share it with her unless she wanted to hear it, and I refuse to lie.
“She’s trying hard to mend, like us.”
“Yeah,” she agrees as the sun sinks past the horizon, just beyond her shoulders.
As she pulls Mullins’s lantern to her lap last, I physically feel her falter.
“Maybe this was a bad idea,” she says, sinking with the weight of it as I pull her into my lap and start working the bracket for her. She grips my bicep and holds on tight while quietly shaking in my arms. After the few minutes it takes to construct the lantern, I’m finally able to speak. “It’s the perfect idea,” I say, my voice hoarse as she looks up at my face, realizing I’m not far from breaking myself.
We sit for endless minutes in silence before I speak up.
“I think Morrero was falling for Mullins,” I say, pushing a lock of hair behind her ear. “I’m pretty sure of it.”
She gapes over at me, clearly in shock.
“I thought so, too.”
“You think,” I say cautiously, “you think maybe they thought the same of us?”
“Mullins didn’t miss anything,” she says with the shake of her head. “But it makes me happy to know she found love before…” She pauses. “Before she died.”
