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9
Viv’s mouthopened in a wide yawn as she pulled her last box out of her truck. She was finally completely moved out of her one-bedroom cottage. The last few nights she’d barely slept. Unfortunately, her nocturnal restlessness had nothing to do with her date with Dr. Fine, who turned out to be a little too cocky, even for Viv.
As much as she appreciated a man who was confident, when that same attribute bled into conceit or vanity it was a huge turnoff. In her humble opinion any man who needed everyone in the room to know how “amazing” he was had serious insecurity issues.
It was what she called LDE, or little dick energy. Which was the exact opposite of BDE, big dick energy. Glenn had BDE in spades. Viv might not have firsthand knowledge of his package, but she would bet her new business that he was blessed in that department.
And he’d almost kissed her. At least she thought he did. The entire thing was a little bit of a blur. One second, she’d been joking around, giving him a hard time, the next he’d stepped so close to her she could smell the clean masculine scent of his aftershave. Then, he’d reached up and touched her face and said that she looked fucking perfect. All of that had happened. Where it got fuzzy was the next few seconds. Their faces definitely moved toward one another… the thing was, she wasn’t sure if she was the one who was moving toward him or if he was moving toward her.
That was why she hadn’t been able to sleep.
She almost kissed Glenn “The Gladiator” Maguire and she wasn’t sure how she felt about that. Common sense dictated that she should feel giddy about the almost kiss. But she didn’t. She felt like she’d dodged a bullet.
For some reason, that kiss felt like jumping off the edge of a cliff or seeing something she could never unsee. It felt reckless and like there was no going back from there.
She’d always prided herself on having razor sharp, first-class instincts. If instincts were cars, she would be a McLaren. She just knew things, things that there was no reason she should know. Call it a gut feeling, women’s intuition, or just self-preservation. Whatever it was, Viv always sensed when things were right, wrong, or dangerous.
Glenn “The Gladiator” Maguire fell firmly into the dangerous category. Not physically dangerous. She trusted him implicitly. That was part of the problem. What man had she ever trusted implicitly? None. And she barely knew him.
No, Glenn was dangerous for her heart. She feared that one kiss, that was all it would take and she’d never be the same.
Viv set the final bin down in the garage when she heard an engine behind her and turned to see Glenn’s SUV pulling into the driveway beside her truck. It had barely come to a stop before the back door flung open and Bree came rushing out wearing a black leotard, pink tights, and ballet slippers. Her hair was up in a tight bun on the top of her head.
“Hello there, ballerina!” Viv beamed as she walked out of the garage. “Did you have a good class?”
For years the kids from the dance studio would come into Brewed Awakenings after their classes. Even before Viv was ready to have any sort of a serious relationship, seeing the ballerinas had always made her biological clock go tick, tick, tick, tick, boom.
She wanted kids of her own so badly. She knew that she didn’t need a man for that to happen. She was a strong, independent woman with a vast support system. She could easily have a baby and handle it. But she’d been raised by a single mom, and as much as she respected that, she’d also had that single mom die. Thankfully, Grace had stepped up and taken care of Viv and her sisters, if not, they would have ended up in foster care.
That would never happen with her offspring. They had three aunties that would step in and raise them if, God forbid, something happened to Viv. But that’s not what she wanted. She wanted her kids to have both of their parents in their lives. And not only that, she wanted whoever she was with to have a big family. Siblings. Cousins. And grandparents, since she couldn’t offer them that.
“Yes. I learned this.” Bree lifted up on her tiptoes and spun then landed with her heels touching and her feet pointed out.
“Wow! That’s amazing!” Viv exclaimed as Glenn walked up to join them.
“Hey.” Viv smiled.
“Hi.”
This was the first interaction they’d had since they’d almost kissed. There was definitely an awkward energy between them, which normally she’d point out, but with little ears there, she didn’t think it was appropriate.
“How was your date?” Glenn asked, his voice was raspy and deep and the sound vibrated through Viv’s body.
“It was…” She was tempted to say good just to see if she saw any signs of jealousy in his eyes. But that was something the old Viv would do. New and improved homeowning Viv was not going to play games anymore. “Pretty bad. The guy was a real pr” —she stopped herself from saying prick and finished the work with the first thing that came to mind— “prince. He was a real prince.”
Bree’s eyes widened and she gasped. “You went on a date with a real prince?!”
Shit.That backfired. “Yes.... but he wasn’t a nice prince so I’m not going to go on any more dates with him.”
“He wasn’t?” Bree looked as if she didn’t understand the concept of a prince not being nice.
“Nope. He wasn’t.” Viv was actually happy that this turned into a teachable moment. It was a good thing for Bree to know that not all princes were nice.
She glanced up at Glenn who looked happy. She wasn’t sure if he was happy she hadn’t cursed in front of his daughter, or if he was happy that the prince hadn’t been nice, but he was grinning, something he didn’t do often.
“Look!” Bree pointed next door as Amy and Matt pulled up in their driveway. “Daddy, can I go play with Peyton and Paige?”
Before Glenn could respond Amy stepped out of the driver’s side door and called out. “The girls are going to play in the sprinklers in the back, Bree, do you want to come over?”
