Total pages in book: 206
Estimated words: 192184 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 961(@200wpm)___ 769(@250wpm)___ 641(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 192184 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 961(@200wpm)___ 769(@250wpm)___ 641(@300wpm)
Pop closed his eyes and my brother and I made our way out, nodding at the on-site security guard stationed outside his door.
Dare and I exchanged knowing glances on the way out. We didn’t like his attitude. He, clearly, hadn’t been thrilled with ours, either. He was a man used to calling the shots, a man who thought of his sons as his right and left hands, not as men who would pull a mutiny over on him.
When I woke up, Tommy was watching me sleep.
“Hey,” I greeted.
“Hey,” he replied and his eyes twinkled.
“Isn’t it kinda creepy stalkerish that you were just watching me sleep?”
His mouth quirked up into a lazy smile. “I’ll stalk you to the ends of the earth, baby girl.”
I curled into him, knowing it was true, but for the first time, not really feeling creeped out by it.
“I smell bacon,” I jolted upwards.
“Sarah’s here today,” Tommy said. “You go. I gotta sleep for a few hours. Wake me at two?”
“How do you want me to wake you?” I squirmed against him friskily.
“Why don’t you try a few things now and I’ll pick my fave?” he suggested. I disappeared under the blankets and took his cock with my mouth. He let me finish him that way and it was empowering to watch and feel him shatter like that, his hands in my hair, his body trembling as he came. It was rare that he didn’t look after me in return, so I didn’t feel slighted when he almost immediately fell asleep afterwards. He’d been running his fingers through my hair while my head rested on his belly and his hand just sort of flopped. I kissed his abs, kissed his chin, and then covered him up and headed to the bathroom for a shower.
A little while later, I found my way to the kitchen and sure enough, Sarah was making breakfast. She poured me a coffee and I sat at the breakfast bar and took a sip. I’d only seen her put one sugar in it. She just wasn’t giving up, was she? When her back was turned, I put two more sugars in. She saw me do it and snickered.
We chatted amicably while she kept cooking and she smiled big at me when I got in there and started popping bread into the toaster. Tommy had come down, talking on the phone and walked into his office. His arm went around my waist as I was buttering toast and he scooped me against him, my back to his front, and leaned down and kissed my temple. “It’s only 10:00, honey, you should be sleeping!”
“Yeah, something’s come up. Looks like I’ll have to sleep when I’m dead.” He reached and snagged a piece of toast, “Call you later.”
“Kay.” I nuzzled back into his warmth. “Don’t get dead.” How this man could seriously function on zero sleep so often was beyond me.
“I won’t. Love you,” he said huskily into my ear and then kissed my lobe, leaned over and kissed me quickly on the lips and I told him I loved him too, and then he was gone.
Suddenly, it was like the life was being squeezed out of me. Sarah Martinez had her arms around me and she was shouting in Spanish while hugging me, hard.
“Whoa,” I laughed, taken totally aback, dropping the butter knife to the floor.
She was shouting to the ceiling in Spanish and then she kissed both of my cheeks and my forehead with a flourish.
The toaster popped again so she let go of me, I got a fresh knife, red-faced.
She wiped up the floor with a soapy paper towel, saying, “I never thought I’d hear that boy tell a woman those words. You’ve been the prescription, Chiquita, the prescription.”
“Yeah, well it’s not all ice cream sundaes and walks on the beach, lemme tell ya,” I started and then stopped myself. I bit my tongue.
She gave me a knowing smile. “Peaks and valleys exist in all relationships. All marriages.”
Yeah, the peaks were high, the valleys deep. Dark and deep. Tommy and I being married would mean I really did have to take my ‘for better or for worse’ promise to heart.
Since it was just me, Sarah joined me for breakfast, teasing me about making eight pieces of toast for the two of us (but I was used to the bustle in the Crenshaw kitchen so had done that out of habit) and then I helped her clean up while she went over a bunch of stuff with me about running the household.
She gave me her cell phone number and we talked about her coming by twice a week for half days to do some deeper cleaning but we figured I could handle the rest and if I couldn’t or wanted to change things, she was open to it. She also promised that when she did freezer meals for the girls, she’d make batches for Tommy and I. She did a day of cooking once a month to put several entrees into everyone’s freezers.