Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 78793 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 394(@200wpm)___ 315(@250wpm)___ 263(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78793 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 394(@200wpm)___ 315(@250wpm)___ 263(@300wpm)
Foster chuckles. “Then hold on tight, brother,” he says, kicking his right leg up on his left knee and draining the sports drink in his hand.
“She just fits. Here with us. I don’t have the words to tell you what I mean, other than to say, it’s right. Everything about this is right.
All four of my best friends nod, as if they understand precisely what I’m saying. Foster has a sad look on his face, almost like regret, but it’s gone before I can call him out on it. One of these days, he’s going to open up about his past. Out of the five of us, he keeps to himself the most. Sure, he’s open with us. We talk every day, he contributes, and even gives us advice, but he never makes any of those conversations about him.
The doorbell rings, and I move to answer it and collect the stack of pizzas we ordered. Singing the slip, I lay the boxes out on the kitchen counter, before heading back to the living room.
“Wow!” Camden says, and we all turn to look at him. He’s staring at everyone with wide eyes.
“Look who came to see you,” Sloane tells him. He wiggles, and she lets him down. He makes a beeline for Reid, who’s holding Coral.
“Baby.” He points to her.
“That’s right. You want to hold her?” Reid asks him.
He nods. “Cam, hold baby.”
We all get a chuckle out of that. Reid manages to lift Camden into his arms and helps transfer Coral, who immediately reaches for his face with her tiny hands, making him giggle.
“She loves you,” Bellamy tells him. My son bends down and kisses Coral on the nose, and then looks up at me with the brightest smile.
“I’m going to make him a plate,” Sloane says, smiling softly at my son, before making her way into the kitchen.
“You good with him for a minute?” I ask Reid.
He smirks. “Just a minute, huh?”
“Go.” Bellamy waves me off. “He’s fine.”
That’s all I need to hear before I’m on my feet and moving toward the kitchen. My friends are all talking to Camden about the game, and he happily chatters, answering their questions.
“I can do that,” I tell her, coming up behind her and wrapping my arms around her waist.
“I was already up.”
“You don’t have to do everything for him, Sloane. If I’m here, I’ll take on some of that load.”
She turns in my arms. Our bodies are now aligned, but my girl is short, so I lift her onto the island, exactly where I had her earlier, and step between her thighs. She wraps her legs around my hips and her arms around my neck.
“I like taking care of him. Of both of you,” she confesses. “None of this feels like work to me, Baker.”
“It’s not.”
“You’re paying me.”
“Semantics. You’re here with us, where you’re supposed to be. Everything else is just noise, and we’ll figure it out.”
She nods and smiles. “We’ll figure it out.”
“Yep, now I need those lips,” I tell her.
“Oh, these lips?” She lifts an arm and points at her mouth.
“Sloane,” I growl, and she tosses her head back in laughter.
That sound, it’s one I come home to often, one that used to be so foreign in this house, outside of the joy of my son. It’s not that I wasn’t enjoying life. I love my son, and he makes me happy. He did make me laugh, but with Sloane here, everything feels lighter, as if I’m taking my first breath after years of holding it tight in my chest.
“If I must,” she says dramatically, before pressing her lips to mine. I take my time tasting her, letting my tongue lazily slide against hers. I don’t know how long we stand here locked in this embrace, mouths fused, but she eventually pulls back. “Cam’s hungry.”
“So is his daddy.” I wink at her, and she blushes. “You’re beautiful.”
“I’m a sure thing. We already talked about this. I don’t need all the pretty words.”
“You are for sure mine. We talked about that, and my words might be pretty, but that’s because they’re about you. This is me, Sloane. It’s who I am with you. It’s a version of me no one else has ever had, just you, so you might as well get used to it.”
A slow smile that’s sexy as fuck tugs at her lips. “I think I like you, Baker Sinclair.”
“Good, because I’m keeping you.” It’s too soon to say those words, but I feel it deep inside my chest, where my heart no longer only beats for my son, but for her, too. “Now, sit your pretty ass there while I make Cam a plate.” I kiss her one more time before grabbing a plate and dropping a slice of meat lovers on it. Reaching into the drawer, I grab the kitchen shears and cut it up into tiny pieces.