Total pages in book: 143
Estimated words: 133878 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 669(@200wpm)___ 536(@250wpm)___ 446(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 133878 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 669(@200wpm)___ 536(@250wpm)___ 446(@300wpm)
Shane shrugged. “Don’t really have one.”
“Our parents died a couple of years back.” Bay seemed to think about it for a moment. “Well, over a decade, I guess. We were in our teens and went into the system because we didn’t have more family.”
“Your parents,” Shane corrected quietly.
“He was your dad, too.” Bay’s hands kept moving on her shoulders and up her neck. Gentle but firm.
“He was my biological dad. He didn’t do much for me beyond that.” Shane opened the basket and pulled out a bottle of wine. A familiar bottle.
“Oh, that’s my favorite,” she said.
“I know.” There was a smile on his face as he used the corkscrew to open it. “The good thing about a small town having few choices is every shopkeeper knows what their customers like. The liquor store always brings some in when they know you’re coming.”
“How would they know? It was a…” She sighed. “My brothers. I would bet they keep a couple of bottles, too.”
“Probably. I was also told you like cheese and this one… What did she say?” Shane asked, passing her a glass and then taking out some plates.
“It pairs well with the wine. That’s what the beekeeper lady said,” Bay replied, his thumbs rubbing over her skin.
She was relaxing but more than that, she was getting aroused. She took a sip of the wine and it was utter perfection. Crisp and cold, with notes of green apple and pineapple. Delicious.
What had Shane said? She opened her eyes and watched him unwrap the cheese and crackers. “You said you were half brothers and you shared a dad. But you’re close in age.”
Shane nodded. “When my mother realized Dad wasn’t going to leave Bay’s mom, she dumped me on their doorstep and never looked back.”
“She left you?” Brooke sat up.
Shane put the cheese plate where she could get to it and then sat back down, pulling her feet on his lap. “I don’t love talking about this so if we’re going to, you have to let me do something I do like doing.”
He pulled her shoes off and then she groaned as his strong hands moved across her aching feet.
This was dangerous. The night before had been about passion and crazy lust. This was something different. This was caring. She should set boundaries. She should tell them she was going to the Movie Motel or let Lucy get her a room at the lodge. The last thing she should do was let them surround her with sweetness and allow their stories to touch her.
“She left you?” She couldn’t do it. The truth of the matter was she wanted this time with them. No matter what the outcome would eventually be.
“She did.” Shane seemed intent on making her bonelessly relaxed. She hadn’t realized how much walking today had affected her. Or maybe some of it was the ruthlessly athletic sex she’d had with them. “I was a kid. I don’t remember much about her, though my stepmom did like to talk about her a lot. According to her, my biological mother’s professions included whore, homewrecker, and certified gold digger.”
Bay snorted. “Our father never had any gold to dig. I still haven’t figured out how that hypocritical jackass managed to get two women to sleep with him.”
She was confused and a little horrified at the thought of a baby being left behind by his mother. Her own mother had died and her dad had taken off, but she knew her mom loved her, and she’d had her brothers. They hadn’t left her on someone’s doorstep, and it would have been easy to. “They took you in? I mean you were a kid. You didn’t cause the situation.”
“I think a psychologist would say the situation was complex,” Shane replied like they were simply talking about what he’d done with his day and not how awful his childhood had been.
“What he means is dear old dad was a deacon at the fundamentalist church we were forced to attend,” Bay continued. “The preacher and his wife found out about Shane and basically informed my mother that she couldn’t consider herself a woman of God if she didn’t take Shane in and forgive her husband. She had to stand in front of the congregation and forgive him and ask for his forgiveness since a man didn’t sin if he didn’t have reason. You know what they didn’t make her do? Ask for forgiveness for beating a kid because she couldn’t hurt anyone else.”
Her heart threatened to break. She thought they’d likely left behind a nice home so they could party and live the cowboy life. She knew men who did. They worked for a while and then played until they needed more cash. They had a woman in every city. Sometimes two or three.
“You didn’t start in this life because you wanted to, did you? If no one took you in, you aged out of the system.” She knew a bit about foster care. It wasn’t great for the eighteen-year-old.