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Three blond heads bent together, their soft laughter linking them as surely as the child tucked between them.
Brayleigh laughed and threw herself into her mother’s arms and it was at that point that Hope looked up and caught sight of me.
“Oh!” Her eyes skittered back and forth between Lucky and me, her questions loud in the silence.
Lucky cleared his throat. “Hope, this is Minty. Minty, this is Hope. Minty and I have plans this afternoon.”
She slanted a sly look at Lucky before extending her free hand out to shake mine. “Hello, Minty. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
Her smile, wide and genuine, pulled me in. It was no hardship to return her smile.
“Lovely to meet you as well,” I replied.
“So.” She stepped closer, her head tilting to the side reminiscent of her daughter as she studied me. “It’s not often I get to meet Lucky’s-”
You want to fuck her.
My mouth twisted with distaste for a split second before I schooled my features and dismissed the thought with a smile. A smile that said, ‘Yes, yes. I see you, I hear you, on you go.’
Lucky cupped Hope around the back of the neck and cut her off with a laugh. “Thank you, Hope. You were just leaving, Hope? What’s that? You can’t stay for dinner? That’s too bad. Maybe next time?”
She huffed out a breath. “Okay, okay. Fine,” she muttered. She peeked up at me and quirked a perfect brow. “Maybe I’ll see you again sometime?”
“I look forward to it,” I smiled politely and watched as she drew back.
Brayleigh’s bright eyes looked at me from over her mother’s shoulder. “Bye, sparky!”
Lucky stared out the front door after them with his hands on his hips for what seemed like a million years before turning back to me, a small, uncertain smile on his lips.
“Are you completely freaked out?”
Chapter Thirteen – Ready?
Minty
“Not completely,” I answered honestly.
He walked toward me and dipped to separate my linked fingers, intertwining them with his instead. “What part freaks you out?”
“You’re a family,” I asserted, watching for his reaction.
“We try,” he countered, then sighed and leveled with me. “I get that she’s beautiful. I’m not blind, but I’m not into her. She doesn’t do it for me, and I don’t do it for her. She’s my oldest and dearest friend.” He nodded as if acquiescing. “And she’s the mother of my child which makes things all kinds of weird. And I know you’d think with the fact that we love each other, because we do love each other, that we’d want to make a go of it, but it’s not true.”
“Have you ever thought about it?”
“It came up when we first told everyone she was pregnant. My youngest sister pressured us something awful. Hope and I talked about it. She didn’t want to settle for less than everything and I didn’t want to settle period. Not once in all this time have either of us been tempted to sleep together again.” He dipped his knees to bring himself down to my height, his grey eyes earnest as they searched mine. “Worst date ever?”
I could not help my smile and squeezed his fingers. “Let’s just say you’re lucky yesterday was the best date ever.”
His brows quirked and he smiled a slow, sweet smile. “Well, alright then. I’ll take it.” He stood up straight. “You want to go for a ride and get something to eat?”
“Not too far, okay? Just in case I’m not a fan.”
“Fair enough.”
Fifteen minutes later, most of which was spent squeezing my head into that damn helmet, he eased us down the driveway. With his feet braced on the ground, he twisted in his seat and wordlessly beckoned me closer.
I wiggled closer and nervously fisted his shirt in my hands.
