Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 76934 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 385(@200wpm)___ 308(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76934 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 385(@200wpm)___ 308(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
I wanted more.
Of course, I did.
I’d been painfully hard ever since I’d taken myself to the couch to go to sleep.
But I couldn’t let that happen.
Hell, I shouldn’t have gone into her room at all. I shouldn’t have fingered her in the bathroom. Shouldn’t have had inappropriate thoughts ever since I’d been on my knees in her apartment, pulling her panties up her legs.
None of this should have happened.
I took my aching cock with me back to the couch, denying myself the relief, knowing I needed not to associate Alara with release any more than I already had been.
Because she was fucking off-limits.
She was Brio’s sister-in-law.
She was protected by the Family.
And, yeah, she was too young for me.
Not enough for it to be creepy, but enough that suggested I should keep my hands off of her and let her be with a man closer to her own age, in the same place of life as she was. Not an older guardian of a tween and teen, all of us with a lot of grief and baggage, who was just starting over in my middle age.
I rolled onto my side, staring at the TV and its black-and-white cop show rerun, but not really seeing or hearing anything.
I focused on listing all the reasons I was no good for Alara. But they all eventually circled back to Brio. To what that crazy son of a bitch would do to me if he realized I put my hands on Alara without happily-ever-afters and rings in my mind.
Then, latching onto something that finally had my cock relaxing again, I imagined all the horrific ways Brio would torture me down in his little playroom.
I wouldn’t claim I slept like a baby, but at least I slept.
It was Liam and Tuna that eventually woke me up.
The teenager was still in his rumpled pajamas, his hair a mess, as he slipped his feet into sneakers and reached for Tuna’s leash.
Had the dog slept in his room?
“What time is it?” I asked, my voice sleep-rough.
“Six.”
“Char up?”
“Not yet.”
“Don’t go too far. I’m gonna get breakfast going.”
It would be good for me to have something to focus on so I could not fixate on Alara. On how the kids would be off to school eventually, leaving us home alone. With all the temptation between us. And nothing to stop us. Save for my increasingly shaky hold on my morals.
So I got up, cleaned up the bedding, and got the coffee started.
By the time Liam came back, I had a big bowl of pancake batter at the ready, bacon in the oven, and was cracking eggs into a bowl.
“Alara’s gonna be jealous about this,” I said, nodding toward where the dog was following him like a shadow.
“I tried to push him out last night so he could go see her. He just kept whining and scratching. Can I feed him?”
“I guess so. I don’t know his schedule yet.” But he did seem to be sniffing around.
“Thanks for walking him. You’ve really been stepping up a lot lately. I appreciate it.”
“I like it here,” he admitted. “Didn’t think I would when you were planning it.”
That made sense. Why he’d been so difficult. So distant. Not only because he lost his mom, but because he was being forced to leave behind his childhood home, his town, his friends. But also why he’d had such a dramatic change in the few weeks we’d been in the city.
“You don’t miss it?”
“The old house?”
“Yeah. And friends.”
“Didn’t really have a lot of friends. None of ‘em have texted me since I left. The house…”
“Is complicated.”
“Yeah. It was home, but…”
“Yeah, I get it. There were a lot of ups and downs there. Especially close to the end.”
There was a thunk from the bedroom, followed by a grumble and several clunking footsteps.
“Alara’s up.”
When I looked back at him, I noticed him watching me.
“What?” I asked.
“Nothing.”
“No, say it.”
“What’s the problem?”
“The problem with what?” I asked as Alara’s door opened and she hobbled out. Her hair was a wavy mess around her pillow-creased face. Her eyes were swollen, and her bruises looked even darker than the day before.
“Not a morning person, huh?” I asked when she shot us a small-eyed look as she passed. She made some sort of noise that had a chuckle escaping me. “Did you just hiss?”
She said nothing as she closed the bathroom door, and it wasn’t until I looked back at Liam that I noticed I was smiling.
“With that,” Liam said.
“With Alara?”
“With you and Alara,” he clarified.
“There is no me and Alara.”
“Sure there’s not,” he said with an eye roll as he grabbed Tuna’s water bowl to refill it. “For the record, Char loves her. I like her. And we both know how much you’ve given up for us—”
“I didn’t give up shit for you. You’re what matters.”