AllFreeNovel
Share Us
going to deny it. I want a little girl who looks like her momma, just like my brother.”
“But you have two sons who look just like you,” she reminded him, exasperated. “I think that’s enough for a few years, babe.”
“Fine. We can wait for a few years. I guess. But if Luca and Vi have another girl before then, we’re going to be doing some serious baby-making of our own, woman.”
“Deal,” she contended. “Now, quit your pouting and go to work.”
I found myself snickering at the two of them as I grabbed my purse. “I need to head to work myself. Uncle Spider and Mav both have back-to-back appointments all evening, and I have a lot of inventory that needs to be put away today.”
“Speaking of inventory,” Mila said as she followed me out the door toward my car. Dad had finally dropped it off to me a few days before, but he hadn’t stuck around once he’d handed over the keys. “Lyric knows a designer who wants to sell her clothes in our shop. I met her at the Armstrongs’ Christmas Eve party back in December, and she emailed me last night after Layla mentioned our store to her. Riley sent me a crap-ton of pictures of her latest designs, and I freaking love them all. I’m going to forward them to you in hopes of narrowing down the items. We don’t have enough room for all of her things if we’re doing baby stuff too, but several of her items could even go in our intimates section.”
“Yeah, sure. I’ll look at them tonight before I go to bed,” I promised her as I opened the driver’s door. Before I climbed in, though, I paused and then threw my arms around her neck. “Love you, Mila.”
Her arms went around me, holding me tight for a moment. “Are you okay?” she whispered.
I pulled back with a tiny smile. “It gets a little better every day. I’m still sad, but my heart doesn’t feel as heavy.” My smile disappeared. “Is that a bad thing? Shouldn’t I still feel lost?”
“No, girl. It’s not a bad thing. It just means my brother has been doing his job taking care of you.” She gave me another tight hug before stepping back. “I’ll forward you the email from Riley.”
There were already two other vehicles in the Ink Shoppe’s parking lot when I got to work. Uncle Spider and Maverick had both been coming in early to take care of all the clients they’d had to reschedule recently. As I parked, my gaze went to the woods in the distance, and I wondered how my homeless person was doing.
I’d taken a few more bottles of water and some snacks to the same spot I’d left the blanket the past couple of nights. After the first night, the things I’d left had disappeared, but the past two nights, they were still there when I went to take more. I didn’t know if the homeless person had moved on, or if maybe something had happened to them.
Trying to feel optimistic and hoping that my person had moved on, maybe to better and brighter things, I walked into the shop and got to work.
I could hear voices from both Uncle Spider’s and Maverick’s rooms. The sound of their tattoo guns was a steady beat in the background over the music as I counted the inventory in the stock room.
“Hey, babe,” Maverick called, then appeared in the doorway. I glanced up from where I was bent over to find his eyes zeroed in on my ass. He licked his lips hungrily before rubbing his giant hands over his face. There was no hiding the thickness in his jeans, and the sight of how much I affected him melted me.
He’d been so patient with me, never once complaining that we couldn’t have sex. Hell, it hadn’t even been mentioned. But every morning, I woke up to his cock pulsing against me. His need for me was in every skim of his fingertips, every caress of his eyes.
We still had a little while longer to go before it was safe to have sex again, but I was counting the days until we could, just as much as he probably was.
He dropped his hands, and he adjusted himself before clearing his throat. “I can’t even remember why I came in here,” he grumbled to himself.
I laughed, a full-on belly laugh, for the first time since the miscarriage.
“Fuck, that’s a pretty sound,” he said, his eyes brightening as he watched me. “I’ve missed it.”
Straightening, I crossed to him and hugged his waist. One of his hands cupped the back of my head, cradling me against his massive chest. “Are you hungry? I was going to go pick up some dinner.”
“Yes, I’m hungry. But I don’t want you to leave.” He kissed the top of my head then stepped back. “That’s what I came to tell you. There have apparently been some unusual break-ins lately. Nothing has been stolen or anything, but Ben has been getting some strange calls.”
“Break-ins?” Instantly, my mind went to my homeless person.
“Yeah. Really weird shit. People saying they thought someone had been in their place. Random things misplaced, but nothing seems to be missing. Ben said one guy thought it was a ghost.” He laughed, shaking his head. “It’s probably just a few kids playing around. But I’d rather be safe than sorry. I don’t want you here alone until it gets figured out.”
I bit my lip, knowing he was about to blow up, but if other people were experiencing the same thing, I needed to speak up. “Mav…”
“What?” he asked, his gray eyes narrowing on me.
“There were a few times when things were supposedly misplaced in here over the last few weeks. Then one day, I came in and found our blanket on the floor.” I pointed to where I’d found it. “Nothing ever went missing, but it just felt like something was off. When I found the blanket like that, I knew someone had been sneaking in and sleeping here.”
“Fuck, baby. You should have told me,” he growled, his eyes looking wild all of a sudden. “Someone was here, and they could have hurt you.”
“I don’t think she would have,” I rushed to assure him. “I think she was just cold at night. Plus, there are coyotes out in those woods.”
“She?”
