Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 94692 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 379(@250wpm)___ 316(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94692 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 379(@250wpm)___ 316(@300wpm)
He got a little smirky. “I did sign up for his bondage thing.”
Oh, that was right. Yeah. That was…something. “You also denied being a sneaky little thing.”
He snickered behind his hand.
Then he yawned, which was a good reminder. It was getting awfully late, and it’d do us good to process. I sure as hell needed it. I could already feel that my brain would be spinning the moment my head hit the pillow. What would I be ready for? What would I want from Jordan? And from James, for that matter. Good-morning texts? Sporadic flirting? How intimate could I get? Should we start off fairly nonsexual? In all honesty, I wasn’t sure I could fuck anyone without feeling like I was betraying Nathan. Even if we divorced, I’d be his husband. I’d told him when we got married that he was my world, and that was never changing.
Nathan Riley
Deep breaths.
I adjusted my glasses.
Was this turning into a big Sunday breakfast or something? Ash was only supposed to come over to pick up Micah and Lily. They had plans. They were gonna play board games over at Ash’s brother’s house or something. Of course, it was all part of Ash spending time with the children away from my house. Away from me.
But something was going on. I could smell the coffee brewing. Micah and Lily were up, and they were in a good mood. So was Ash. I heard him downstairs, slinging jokes with Lily and coaxing Micah to help him set the table. Ever the struggle with kids who didn’t like doing chores.
I bit at my cuticle and stood there on the landing, looking down the stairs, when Hallie appeared from her room. Perfect bed head, pink pajama bottoms and matching tee, and half disoriented. She inserted her retainer and squinted at me.
“What is going on? Why are you up here?”
Wasn’t that clear? I was hiding, of course. I’d been up here to collect laundry from Micah’s and Lily’s rooms when Ash had shown up, and now it was twenty minutes later. The youngest had sprinted downstairs the moment they’d woken up, unlike me.
I cleared my throat and found another random sock on the floor to throw into the basket. “Good morning, sweetheart. I’m just gathering the laundry. If you have anything in your room, please bring it down.”
She yawned. “Um, okay. But what’s happening? Are we all having breakfast together?” She peered down past the railing. “Dad’s not exactly using his indoor voice down there.”
Ash never did when he was in a good mood.
Why the fuck was he in a good mood?
“Hugging party!” Micah yelled.
“Fuck yeah!” Ash hollered back. “You too, princess!”
“Yay!”
“Good God, I need more sleep,” Hallie groaned and went back to her room. “Please remind him it’s Sunday! A day of resting!”
I sighed.
“Was that Hallie I heard up there?” Ash called. “Tell her I’m making pancakes with Nutella!”
Well, he clearly knew I was awake since I wasn’t in the living room—or my bedroom, as it were. Fucking pullout couch.
Hallie promptly opened the door to her room again. “I may as well eat now.”
I lifted my brows and watched her scurry down the stairs.
Okay, my turn. I couldn’t hide up here all day.
I hitched the laundry basket on my hip and trailed downstairs, braced for anything. The kids obviously loved seeing Ash in a great mood, but I wasn’t a fan. It just made things all the more painful. I missed him enough when he was brooding.
Casting a glance into the living room, I noticed Ash had returned the pullout to its couch origins as usual. He was quick to do that when he stopped by in the morning. The coffee table too.
I passed the kitchen on my way to the laundry room in the hallway, and I listened on one ear as Ash asked about Hallie’s plans for the day.
On my agenda, I had “get my shit together.”
It was a daily quest.
After starting the first load of laundry, I had no choice but to join the others in the kitchen and act like everything was great and that Ash and I had woken up next to each other.
I retied the drawstrings of my sweats, and I half regretted not putting on a T-shirt.
Hallie brought the pancakes to the table, causing Micah to wriggle excitedly in his seat.
Ash side-eyed me as he turned off the stove. “Damn, boy. The bed head librarian look works for me.”
Oh, shut up. We all knew he was the beauty and I was the brains. But sure, I wasn’t going to turn down the ego boost. I’d spent too many hours working out to let compliments go to waste. Especially when they came from him.
“Can you come with us to Uncle Theo and Auntie Claire, Daddy?” Lily asked me.
“Afraid I can’t, princess,” I replied, bringing our coffee to the table. “I have so many errands to run. I have some work to catch up on too, a boring meeting in a little bit, and then I’m picking up a chessboard for Micah.”