Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 83379 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 417(@200wpm)___ 334(@250wpm)___ 278(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83379 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 417(@200wpm)___ 334(@250wpm)___ 278(@300wpm)
I helped dole out the iced tea, then poured myself some for good measure.
“Want me to paint your nails?” Ainsley asked Julian, reaching for a six-pack of colors that came with the set.
I could see Sienna stiffen in my side view. “Honey, I’m sure Julian doesn’t want to—”
“Sure,” he replied, and Sienna’s eyes widened a fraction. But he ignored her surprised expression and turned his attention to the palette of colors Ainsley was offering. “What color, do you think?”
“Daddy doesn’t let me put makeup on him,” Ainsley said in a quiet voice, lifting each bottle to decide on a color.
“Everyone has their own comfort level,” he said without looking at me. But I could feel Sienna’s gaze burning into me. I did turn Ainsley down in the past because I didn’t want to add any more fuel to the fire, but I saw now that it was just me not being brave or comfortable enough. Which was silly, because it was only makeup. Still, around here that would be enough to send off more alarm bells.
“So I guess boys…” Ainsley began, second-guessing her decision, and I felt like shit about it.
“Can like colors and pretty things too, if they want. How boring would it be if everything was black and white and gray all the time,” he said, then leaned closer conspiratorially. “Like your daddy’s hats and shirts.”
She giggled, and there was nothing quite as perfect as my child’s laughter—except maybe Julian’s smile. Fuck, where had that come from?
“Funny,” I deadpanned, then looked deliberately at his white T-shirt. “You’re not much better than me.”
“My point exactly,” he said. “So let’s go for the sparkly purple.”
As I sipped my iced tea, I watched Julian hold completely still, no jiggling knee in sight, letting Ainsley do her thing. Sienna still seemed a bit uptight about the whole idea, and I wasn’t sure if it was for the same reasons as me. I wished we could finally let down our guard on this one thing. It was certain to send the wrong message to Ainsley, the exact opposite of what I’d hoped for.
“Make sure not to get too much around his cuticles,” Sienna coached our daughter, and it helped me relax a bit more. Until I glanced up at Julian and saw him biting his lip in concentration.
Damn, that mouth of his.
What would Sienna think if she knew I’d made out with her cousin? Pushed him against the wall and kissed him soundly. And I wanted to do more too. Like stick my hand down his pants and make him come with my fist. But I’d had the sense to leave when I did.
I reached down to scratch Phoebe behind the ears. This was so not the time to be thinking about this shit. Not when he was so close, I could’ve easily reached out and touched him. When his legs shifted under the table, his foot rubbing against mine, it felt purposeful. My breath hitched, and when I glanced in his direction again, his cheeks were tinged pink.
Christ, it sucked to walk around with a boner all the time and not be able to do anything about it.
“I almost forgot,” I said, reaching for the paper bag sitting on the counter. “I got you somethin’ in town earlier.”
I pulled out a new volume of a word-search book she was wild about.
“Oh my God, I love that stuff. Even have an app on my phone that I play,” Julian said as her eyes lit up. “Can I do it with you while my nails dry?”
So that was what they did once Ainsley had finished and had closed most of the lids on the tubes and containers. While he kept his fingers spread apart on the table, Ainsley moved her seat closer and flipped through the book with him. Sienna casually slid nail-polish remover near Julian’s elbow, but he ignored it as they hovered over one of the pages with a space-exploration theme.
I got so lost in watching them that Sienna’s voice startled me as she began clearing away the newspaper with leftover glittery bits.
“I was thinking,” she said, looking between Julian and me. “You should take Julian to the rodeo next weekend.”
“Sure.” My stomach constricted painfully. “What about you two?”
“Ainsley and I have Mom’s show-jumping event.”
“I forgot.” Maggie and her damned competitions. She used to compete when younger, and now only entered her own horses. But I had no right to complain and should’ve been thankful that Ainsley felt more comfortable to go off with her for extended periods of time. If Ainsley hadn’t seemed interested, I would’ve put my foot down on the amount of time she’d be sitting in the stands, watching horses being timed and jumping over hurdles.
“A rodeo?” Julian asked, his eyebrow arched in surprise. “Like with cowboys and chaps and ropes?”