Total pages in book: 109
Estimated words: 109608 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 548(@200wpm)___ 438(@250wpm)___ 365(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 109608 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 548(@200wpm)___ 438(@250wpm)___ 365(@300wpm)
“Hopefully.”
“He was more worried about what was happening between AJ and me. It wasn’t lost on him that AJ hit him up for the meet to do something spiteful and mean. He just refused to waste the opportunity presented him where he could meet me.”
My God.
I loved that.
“I’m glad he didn’t waste the opportunity,” I said softly.
He gave me a squeeze. “Me too.”
“This brings to mind that obviously, AJ knew who fathered you.”
Jamie jutted up his chin. “Once I started to grow up, you have to admit, sweetheart, unless he was half-blind, it’d be hard to miss it.”
Yes, seeing Morgan Rawlins live and in person, I had to admit that.
Jamie continued. “I’d seen pictures of my real father. Once I learned of him, I made certain of it. I simply thought AJ’s pride blinded him to what was obvious.”
“Why do you think he kept it a secret?” I asked.
“You don’t play your ace until you know it’s going to land precisely as you want it,” Jamie answered. “Or hope you do. I’ve spent the last hour getting to know my dad, it felt good watching him with Judge and Dru. Judge has never had the opportunity to be close to his grandparents, not any of them, but now all of them are dead. And both Lindy’s parents died before she did. Chet’s parents were like Chet, so for Dru’s sake, and frankly, for her safety, Lindy and I cut them out. It’s wonderful they might have a chance to have a good man in their lives. But in the time I spent downstairs, I also had time to think, and AJ’s always been hard on me. He’s always been callous with me. So it isn’t a surprise he knew I wasn’t his, and even if I had no control over it, he found his ways to take that out on me.”
I had nothing to say to that, no magic words to take that history away and give him, and his mother, something different.
Thus, the only thing I could do was stroke his jaw.
This I did.
His gaze grew sorrowful, and he whispered, “She would have loved me meeting him.”
“Yes, she would.”
“She would have been devastated about how Jeff died.”
My poor, sweet Jamie.
“Yes, she would.”
“She would have been ecstatic that Patty came home.”
I smiled a shaky smile. “It would have been a rollercoaster day for Cordelia.”
“Yes.”
“As it was for you.”
“Mm.”
“Your sister is a firecracker,” I noted.
The sorrow shifted from his eyes and humor lit them. “Always was.”
“Any chance we can talk her into going back to New York with us?”
“She’s taking this opportunity to visit some friends here she hasn’t seen in a while. But when you were on Reid’s porch, I asked her, and she said she had to take time off with short notice, so she can’t. But she also said she’d be back.”
“You don’t talk much about her.”
He lifted a shoulder. “Not much to say. She escaped dysfunction to live the simple life. She has a farm. Her husband is a farmer. She works in town at the post office. He had kids from a previous relationship, she never wanted her own, but she loves them. They grow wheat and barley. They all like each other and get along. And they vacation in Bali, Fiji and Thailand.”
“So she has it made.”
His arms got even tighter. “She’s not the only one.”
She absolutely wasn’t.
I pushed up to kiss him softly.
Jamie angled his head to kiss me soundly.
When he broke it, there was yet another kind of light in his eyes.
“Let’s go to bed,” he murmured.
It was time to end a difficult day that had started all wrong, ended all right, and keep that last part going.
So that was what we did.
But I knew how much of a toll the day had taken on my Jamie.
Because, for the first time, he let me be on top.
CHAPTER 21
LIMOGES
Nora
Ihad never in my life had a sexual wrestling match with a man.
Or I hadn’t, until right now.
By some miracle (unsurprisingly, I wasn’t good at wrestling, but in my defense, Jamie was taller, bigger and stronger than I was), I got him on his back and managed to pin one of his wrists to the pillow by his head.
He shot me his beloved rogue’s smile, which I took as a warning I wasn’t going to have this position for very long.
Thus, I didn’t dally.
I reached between us and wrapped my hand around his hard cock.
He hissed delightfully (oh my), stilled, and I took advantage, rubbing the head of his shaft through my wet before he caught. And then, at the same time, I slid down as he bucked up.
My head fell back at taking the fullness of him.
Jamie glided his free hand from my knee up my inner thigh and in, his thumb homing in on my clit.