Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 68143 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 341(@200wpm)___ 273(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68143 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 341(@200wpm)___ 273(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
“What does it entail?”
He spent the next five minutes explaining about accordions, tendons, and lengthening accordion tendons back out.
It made not a lick of sense because the pain pills I’d taken at the hospital just before he’d gotten there had finally kicked in, and they were knocking me on my ass.
I could barely keep my eyes open.
After promising that he could do whatever he wanted to do with me in the morning, he carried me to bed completely naked, and I only vaguely realized as my eyes were falling shut that we weren’t in my room. We were in his.
I woke up to a cute little girl poking at the bruise along my forehead.
“Suttie,” Lottie whispered.
It felt more like a yell thanks to my pounding head.
“Hey, Lots,” I whispered back, though in an actual whisper and not a toddler whisper. “When’d you get here?”
She gave me a toothy smile. “Now.”
I smiled and hugged her to me, twisting her so that she was tucked up with the blankets.
It was when I felt the cool air on my bare backside that I remembered that I was completely naked underneath the sheets.
I hastily tugged the sheets back over my bum, then looked over at the man at my side.
“Daddy’s not awake yet?” I asked her.
“He’s sweepy.” She shrugged. “Hurt?”
I nodded as she lightly touched the bruising again. “Is your Uncle Parker cooking us waffles?”
“Yep!”
That had the man at my side cracking an eye open.
He took one look at the two of us staring at him and a slow grin built on his lips.
“My girls.”
My girls.
So.
Awesome.
“We had a little Beanie Weenie arrive while we were sleeping.” I paused. “I need to borrow one of your shirts.”
His eyes trailed over my bare arms before he said, “I’ll get one.”
He got up and stretched his arms high over his head, the muscles in his back, arms, and thighs rippling as he did.
“Daddy has no pants!”
I giggled. “Daddy, you better put some pants on.”
He had on underwear, but apparently that wasn’t enough clothing for Lottie.
He reached down to the end of the bed and snatched up a pair of gray sweatpants.
He slipped them on and turned enough that I could see his obliques.
Oh, yum.
“Let me run to the bathroom, and then I’ll take her. You can get dressed then.”
It took him a few minutes, and while he was getting ready, I asked Lottie how her trip was.
There were lots of fish, dogs, and rocks involved.
“I got you rocks!”
“You did?” I gasped. “What kind?”
She took off, and I used her time away to slip into the t-shirt at the end of the bed.
A black t-shirt with Angel Security on the left breast pocket engulfed me, but I didn’t care. Especially not since the t-shirt smelled like Gunner.
He came out of the bathroom at the same time that Lottie came in carrying a freakin’ boulder with her.
“Hereeee!”
Gunner stopped just in time to narrowly miss that same boulder hitting his toes.
As it was, it dug a huge divot into the wood floors a foot from his feet.
“Wow,” Gunner drawled. “That’s a big rock.”
“It’s so pwetty!”
It was actually one of the ugliest rocks that I’d laid eyes on, but it was beautiful because Lottie had picked it out for us.
“I can see that.” He dropped down onto his haunches. “Give me a hug, Beanie Weenie.”
She gave the best hugs.
I was actually slightly jealous, so I crawled out of bed and hobbled toward them before throwing my arms into the mix.
Gunner lifted one arm from around Lottie and threw it around me, pulling us both just a little bit closer.
“Love you,” he whispered.
And since I didn’t know if he had said it to me or Lottie, I didn’t say it back.
But I wanted to.
I loved him, too.
I got to see Parker, Parker’s wife Kayla, and their two children.
They were the sweetest family ever, and it was more than apparent that they loved Gunner and Lottie like they were a part of their own immediate family.
We’d talked a lot over waffles and bacon, and when they were finally leaving, I was sad to see them go.
But I didn’t have long to be sad because not long after we shut the door on Parker, it opened right back up again to allow Apollo to come walking through like he owned the place.
“I fucking hate DC,” he declared as he came rushing into the kitchen that Lottie, Gunner and I were in. “Give me 635 traffic all day long.” He looked around the room. “Are there any more waffles?”
I pulled one out of the plastic bag I was about to zip up and placed it on a plate before popping it into the microwave.
As I did this, Gunner slid the syrup across to him as he said, “Might as well keep those others out. Webber and Hush are on their way over.”