AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Holy moly.
That was out and out flirting right there. On both sides. I think. I think I was flirting; I don’t know if I even know how to flirt, but that sure felt like flirting.
I’m still smiling as I make myself a coffee and head back to my room and open my laptop.
I’m not going to be able to help myself. Now I’m going to have to write another dirty chapter for my secret Austin Smut File.
It’s gonna be a long day with such little sleep, but I don’t know the precise time Adele needs me for getting her to the airport, so I’ve decided I’ll just stay up and hit the hay early tonight.
I have a message from Carly in my inbox from last night, asking me how I’m doing, asking if Austin is still being hard to get along with.
I reply to her, giving her short answers on the Austin front, telling her that I saw my brother the day before yesterday and that was hard, but that I’m doing okay overall.
I hear the front door close a while later as Austin obviously leaves for work, and I enjoy the next few hours of quiet as I write.
I indulge in writing in the Austin Groucho the Third smut story, only I don’t even rewrite the scene from the other day where they talked about the future.
Instead, I leave it in and start on a new chapter where he institutes a penalty system. Jada Sweetheart has to pay for any infractions with sexual favors. And then I write another chapter. They go to a beach. And in the story, Jada Sweetheart has to cover Austin Groucho the Third in suntan lotion. This lets me indulge in my salty sea air fantasy as I vividly describe every muscular inch of his body.
I hear a baby babbling and hop up and head out to the kitchen and there’s Adele with the baby on one hip as she heats up a bottle, Braeden looking sleepy, flipping through TV channels.
“Mornin’,” I greet.
“Hiya,” Adele returns.
“I made a pot of coffee half an hour ago,” I say.
“Bless you, you’re an angel.”
“What time is your flight?”
“Don’t have to head out for three and a half hours.”
“If you wanna grab a cup of coffee and get your shower, I’ll feed these guys. If we eat breakfast here, you won’t feel so rushed.”
“Really? A shower all by myself? Oh my God, you’re more than an angel. You’re a goddess.”
I laugh and hold my arms out. “Here. I need a Lilly fix.”
“She’s had her bum changed already,” Adele says, “but she usually has her morning constitutional right after breakfast. I’ll take care of that. She’s turning into a little wiggle worm that’ll try to roll away on you while you change her and that could be messy for that champagne-colored area rug.”
I laugh. “Adventures in motherhood.”
“For real,” Adele agrees.
Lilly reaches for me and I get her a bottle and mush up some banana and baby cereal for her and set her in her stroller to eat. I feed her bites while Braeden eats a bowl of oatmeal with fruit. He chitchats with me about his TV show’s premise while we watch, and just as Adele emerges, I hear a wet explosion sound. Lilly is slightly red-faced.
“Oh. Just in time,” I joke.
“Story of my life,” Adele says with an eyeroll. “You put your feet up now. I’ll make us breakfast after I change her bum. Thank you for that twenty-five minutes of bliss; I feel like a new woman.”
She’s dressed, full face of makeup, has her thick, dark hair dried, and she’s ready to take on the day.
She changes the baby and then I hang out with the baby on her playmat, passing her toys while Adele pours another coffee for herself. I decline her offer of a top-up as I’ve already had three, and then she washes up the kids’ breakfast dishes and makes us a frittata.
Conversation with her through the morning is easy. Nothing heavy. She asks me questions about Shane and we try to converse in a way that doesn’t let Braeden know much. He seems mostly focused on the television and on coloring. She whispers that he soaks up everything at one point when she asks me a question about my family dynamic and he gives her the side-eye, suddenly looking so much older. He goes back to his coloring, but I suspect he’s paying close attention.
“No, my mother left when I was nine. It was me, Dad, and Shane, and I had an aunt who was a mother-figure, but she passed away a couple years ago. I don’t get along great with Dad. He’s very old school, working class, no bs kinda thing and doesn’t believe my brother has anything wrong with him. Also thought kids should be seen and not heard. I was a quiet kid, just trying to be a caretaker. Things all fell apart at once and it made me look really bad to Austin.”
