Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 83718 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 419(@200wpm)___ 335(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83718 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 419(@200wpm)___ 335(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
“And you’ll come too?” Noah asks.
Exhausted or not, there’s absolutely no way I could deny him such a simple pleasure. “I wouldn’t miss it.”
“Then hurry and get dressed. Lilly’s already here!” He scrambles off the bed and past Brayden, no doubt rushing back down the stairs so he doesn’t miss another moment with his beloved Lilly.
Brayden folds his arms and watches me climb from the bed. Closing my eyes, I stretch up onto my toes, reaching my arms high above my head. The little sleep I managed last night was definitely not enough. When I open my eyes, Brayden’s are skimming over me in my sleep clothes—just a red tank and a pair of flannel pants, but one would think I was wearing red lace from the heat in his eyes.
“I’m sorry I forgot to tell you,” he says. “I planned to, but I didn’t remember until I was alone in my bed.”
“You could have woken me up.”
His lips curve into that sexy half-smile that could make me drop my panties in a heartbeat. “If I’d come in here and woken you up, something tells me I would have quickly forgotten again.”
“How long has Noah been home?” I feel like a bit of a slacker mom this morning. I’m pretty sure I was sleeping like the dead.
“Your mom got here about fifteen minutes ago. She’s still here, talking to Ava.”
Downstairs, the front door opens, and I hear a familiar female voice call out good morning, and Levi grumbling about how early it is. “Is that Ellie?”
“Oh, yes, it is. Levi went to her art show in Indiana yesterday, and they’re officially back together. Another piece of information I got last night and forgot to tell you.”
Warmth floods my chest. “It was only a matter of time.”
Brayden grunts. “Pretty sure it felt like forever for Levi.”
“Probably.”
He glances over his shoulder, maybe checking the hallway, and then steps into my bedroom. He closes the door behind him before prowling toward me. “Can you forgive me for being so irresponsible and forgetting to tell you about Jackson current events?”
I smirk. Sure, he could have remembered to tell me, but he wasn’t the only one desperate to get naked when I got home last night. And with him looking at me like that now, I’m wishing his family weren’t gathering downstairs.
He takes another step forward and slides his hands under my tank, his rough callouses scraping the sensitive skin on my belly as he looks down at me. “I’m glad you’re coming, but keeping my hands off you all day might be a bigger challenge than getting Levi out of bed before eight.” One thumb skims over my navel, and he lowers his mouth to my ear.
I arch into him, wanting his hands and mouth and . . . anything, anything he can give me in this little time we can steal before going downstairs.
But he steps back with a grin. “I’ll see you downstairs. Dress warm.” His gaze flicks to my breasts, so intense it’s like a physical brush against my nipples. “It’s cold out there.”
He walks out of my bedroom and closes the door behind him. The thought of waiting until after Noah goes to bed before I touch Brayden again makes me whimper, and despite the chill waiting for me outside, I rush to the bathroom to take a very cold shower.
Brayden
Noah is in heaven. He chases Lilly up and down row after row of pine trees as my siblings debate the merits of the shorter, fatter tree or the taller, thinner one.
Molly stands near Shay, delight all over her face as she watches her son race through the snow. She’s barely looked my way once today, and I’m more than a little impressed with her poker face. I’ve always been a private person, so I didn’t think keeping this secret would bother me, but it’s been less than twenty-four hours since we agreed we were doing this, and I already hate it.
I want to stand behind her and wrap my arms around her as we watch the kids play. I want to kiss her in front of my family and make sure they understand how important Molly is to me.
“I think Lilly’s found the first member of her entourage,” Ethan says, coming up to stand beside me.
“Noah idolizes her.”
“It goes both ways.” Ethan’s grin grows as Lilly doubles back and Noah turns so fast to follow that he falls on his face in the snow. Unfazed, he pushes himself up and resumes his chase. “She might not admit it, but she adores Noah. She’s been desperate to have more kids around.”
“She’ll be thrilled when Ava and Jake’s baby is born.” I eye my sister-in-law, who’s cradled in Jake’s arms as he stands behind her. He lowers his head to whisper something in her ear, stroking her rounded belly, and she grins.