Total pages in book: 31
Estimated words: 29253 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 146(@200wpm)___ 117(@250wpm)___ 98(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 29253 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 146(@200wpm)___ 117(@250wpm)___ 98(@300wpm)
Her chest was flushed and she was breathing in and out quite deeply.
Axel reached for the bottle of shampoo and squirted a small amount within his palms. Rubbing them together to start a nice lather, he then ran them through her hair. Neither of them spoke, and he loved the tension it was building. He fucking relished it.
“So, work hasn’t been the best?” Joey asked, her voice sounding all fluttery as she spoke.
“No, it hasn’t, but I feel tomorrow will be better. Will Adeline be at the shop with you tomorrow?”
“Yes.”
“When does she start school?” he asked.
“Next week, actually. We’ve already gotten everything ready, and I do think she is excited about it.”
“She’s excited about school?” he asked, genuinely curious. He’d been the kind of guy who hated school and tended to disrespect the teachers.
“Yeah, she does. She always loves learning. When my parents can’t take her, she is more than happy to sit at one of the tables with a stack of books and learn. Or she likes to color.”
“I bet she is going to be super smart then.”
“That she is.”
She sounded like a good kid. He had seen Adeline around town, but it wasn’t like he ever met her. There wasn’t any reason to.
****
At the knock on her door, Joey sat up with a gasp as she became aware of the stream of light coming in through the curtains, along with the fact Axel was asleep beside her. Or at least he had been asleep before her daughter had knocked on the door. She tried not to panic.
“I’ll be out in a minute, honey. Why don’t you, uh, go on downstairs and start getting ready?”
“Okay, morning, Mom,” she said, and then headed away.
Joey looked toward Axel, and he’d reached for the alarm clock and gritted his teeth. “I, uh, I kind of turned it off and went back to sleep,” he said.
They had agreed for him to set it at five. It meant he could sneak out of the house, and Joey intended to see him out of the house and just get ready for work, so she was composed for her daughter being awake.
“It’s fine. Maybe she will be busy and you can sneak out,” Joey said.
She had a feeling Axel would be uncomfortable.
“Wouldn’t that look kind of strange?” he asked.
Joey climbed out of bed and turned to look at Axel. They were both still very much naked from the sex they had shared last night. It had been incredible, there was no denying it.
“Do you want to meet my daughter?” Joey asked.
She had a sneaking suspicion it would be a hard no.
“Sure, why not?” he asked.
This surprised her.
“I thought you didn’t want to meet her.”
“I never actually said that, and I don’t see this ending between the two of us, so why not go and meet her?”
Joey knew her mouth had fallen open. She didn’t know exactly what this was, but Axel leaving her house at the same time as her, would get the town talking. What did it matter? The town could talk. She didn’t care about gossip, and although it was fun to listen from time to time, it wasn’t like she paid it much attention.
“Uh, sure. Let me just use the bathroom and get ready.” What was she going to say to Adeline? She had no idea what to say or do. This was not something she had ever done.
She didn’t bring a string of boyfriends through the door. This was the first time in her life. She wanted to call her big sister, but instead she used the toilet, washed her hands, brushed her teeth, and ran a comb through her hair. It was as good as it was going to get.
In the next moment, she made her way out, and Axel was already there, waiting, and before she passed him, he captured her and kissed her.
“Good morning,” he said.
“Good morning.”
Her stomach had butterflies, and her heart pounded just a little. “I’m going to get dressed and head downstairs,” she said. “You can come down whenever you’re ready.”
“Sure thing.” And he kissed her again.
Joey was nervous, and making her way down toward the kitchen, she found Adeline sitting at the kitchen counter. At nine years old, she was growing up every day, and she loved and hated it. She never wanted to miss a moment.
“Where’s Princess?” Joey asked.
“Out in the backyard. She is doing her business and wouldn’t come back in.” Adeline took a drink of milk.
“So, do you want to come to the coffee shop today?”
“Grandpa left a text saying they are going to be out of town, so I got this.” Adeline lifted a large book, and it seemed to be one of the classics. Her little girl loved to read. In the past couple of years, Adeline had said when she grew up, she wanted to be a writer. That hadn’t changed. Although, there had also been a wish to be a surgeon, a forensic scientist, an astronaut. She wanted to be pretty much anything she had seen in a movie or television show, that was a real job. No vampires, werewolves, or witches for her girl.