Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 96850 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 484(@200wpm)___ 387(@250wpm)___ 323(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96850 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 484(@200wpm)___ 387(@250wpm)___ 323(@300wpm)
Madden was distracted from that hope by Eve, who fished a bat out of the bag and rested it on her shoulder at a jaunty angle. “Shall we show them what Aunt Eve can do?”
“Uh-oh.” Madden warmed. “Go on, kids, run to the outfield and stay alert. She’s a slugger.”
“Don’t inflate their expectations,” Eve admonished him, taking a few practice swings. “My best friend is a D1 softball player. You pick up a few things.”
“More than a few things if I recall.”
“We’ll see if I’ve still got it.”
There was no way Madden was letting Eve out of his sight when she was being playful in a skirt and holding a bat. The image would probably be with him for years to come, the way she poked a stray hair back into her ponytail and tapped the bat against the insides of her sneakers, all while the kids dashed into the outfield giggling, Lark turning a cartwheel with the baseball glove still on her hand.
Eve’s stance was perfect as he remembered.
God, was it perfect.
But Madden wasn’t idiot enough to let an opportunity pass when one presented itself. That would be thumbing his nose at fate. As an Irishman, that was unacceptable.
“Needs a little work,” Madden said, jogging from the mound to the batter’s box. “Let me help you, love. Just a touch.”
“What?” Eve looked down at her bent knees, genuinely perplexed. “What am I doing wrong?”
“Ah, loads.”
“Really.”
“Really.” Madden dropped his mitt and slid up behind Eve, pressing his lap to her gorgeous arse, his arms extending around from his position behind her, gripping the bat right above her hold. “Nearly had it, but you want to be choked up to about here.”
“Okay . . .”
Once she’d done as she was told, Madden dropped his left hand to her thigh, right where the white hem met her bare skin, squeezing, sliding a quartet of fingertips down to her knee, taking hold and adjusting it slightly. “Cheat this leg out a little more.”
“Madden, the kids.”
“They’re doing cartwheels, love. Let me get a fucking fix.”
“Okay.”
He walked into her, drawing her back at the same time, his mouth breathing hard into the crook of her neck. “Beautiful woman. If we were alone, I’d make you walk the bases with your shirt and bra off. Then I’d put you just like this, just like this, and pump my cock where it belongs, that little skirt jacked up around your belly.”
She whimpered. “We have to stop.”
“I know. Okay.” He kissed the back of her neck. “Your stance is perfect now.”
It gratified him to hear the hitch in her breath. “Pretty sure it was before.”
“Aye, but you won’t catch me admitting it.”
Eve laughed breathlessly as Madden strode back to the mound, measuring his breaths—in, out—until he got his need back under control. As much as was humanly possible when Eve Keller walked the earth, anyway.
“Pitch underhand,” she reminded him, her cheeks flushed from more than the sun. “And go easy. I might be rusty.”
“You? Never.”
Proving him correct, she smacked his first pitch deep into centerfield, inspiring squeals of delight from the kids. And unabashed appreciation from Madden as she ran the bases, turning her own cartwheel into home plate and sending Lark into peals of laughter.
Watching the perfect moment play out, Madden had two burning questions.
One, how the hell was he going to leave her again in the morning?
And two, would she allow him to get close enough that he might have a shot of never having to leave her again?
* * *
Before Lark and Landon moved in, the phrase “screen time” wasn’t a common one, at least not in Eve’s vocabulary. Now those two words were a magical incantation uttered at the end of the night, after dinner and bathtime, the milkshake that brought the kids to the yard. All Eve had to do was hold up the iPad, the twins came running, and they did not move until their hour was up.
“Wow,” Madden said, from his lean against the doorjamb of Lark and Landon’s bedroom. “What do they watch on that thing. Cartoons?”
“Sometimes.” Eve yawned on her way out of the room. “Mostly they watch kids their own age opening mystery toys. It feels like a cult, but I need my free hour.”
Following her down the hallway into the kitchen, Madden laughed under his breath. “I’m only surprised you don’t use it more.”
“It’s tempting.”
Speaking of tempting, Madden fell solidly into the category tonight. No, he was the category. Towering, attentive, and covered in the day’s dust, he took up so much space in her kitchen. Depleted the air of oxygen, too, if her suddenly winded state was any indication, and yeah. He’d really shown up for her today. Turned out, accompanying her on errands, defending her honor, and giving the twins an unforgettable ditch day made him the most tempting of all, especially considering he’d driven over four hours to get her naked and didn’t get what he wanted. Not a single complaint either.