Total pages in book: 23
Estimated words: 21278 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 106(@200wpm)___ 85(@250wpm)___ 71(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 21278 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 106(@200wpm)___ 85(@250wpm)___ 71(@300wpm)
When it’s over, she slumps against me and I can’t stop myself from picking her up and carrying her straight to my bed. Where she belongs.
9
LUCY
I don’t remember the last time I felt this safe and warm. Having Lincoln clean me up while I lie in his bed is heaven. When he’s done, he dresses me in one of his t-shirts and a pair of his boxers.
I tried to tell him that I could do it, but he just sent me a look. It’s the same one he gives me during sex that lets me know he’s in charge. There’s something I love about this, about being taken care of by this strong man. He’s so gentle with me and so firm too. The combination shouldn’t be that sexy but somehow it is.
After he’s done dressing me, he settles me under the blankets and changes his own clothes. I watch, disappointed to see him covering up all that beautiful golden skin. The man’s body is a work of art.
He joins me and pulls me into his embrace.
I snuggle into him, my back to his chest. He’s so big and burly and when he cages me in his arms, I’m completely at peace. I trail my fingernails along his arm, feeling the way he shudders behind me. “Should I go? The kids—”
Lyla already informed me that she and Leo sleep in the big bed. She tried to get me to let her sleep in her dad’s bed, but I didn’t let her. I told her that if her father came home and allowed it, that was fine. But for now, she and Leo would sleep in their beds. She huffed at me but by the time I read them a bedtime story, all was forgiven.
He chuckles. “Don’t worry. I’ll handle them.”
“You’re kind of like my dad in some ways.” I can’t quite hide the note of sadness from my voice. I didn’t just lose my dad that day. I lost a man who was my biggest supporter, who came to all of my recitals and games. He encouraged me in everything and constantly told me how capable I was. I think the world would be a much better place if every little girl grew up with a father like mine.
“You mean because we’re both ruggedly handsome firefighters?” Lincoln asks with a teasing note in his voice.
“Because you’re both dedicated to your kids,” I answer.
“That’s the way fathers are supposed to be,” he says. “We’re supposed to be there for our kids. Nothing angers me off more than seeing a man being applauded for doing stuff dads should be doing, like providing for and protecting his kids.”
“My dad would have loved you,” I answer then freeze. That was probably a stupid thing to say.
But he just squeezes me closer. “I would tell him that he has one of the most special girls in the world and thank him for her.”
“Once he died, my mom fell apart. She stopped living, just stayed in bed all day.” I let out a soft sigh. “I took over and began running the household. Then one day we were evicted.”
He runs his thumb along the back of my hand. “I’m sorry, sweetheart.”
“The worst part wasn’t getting tossed out of our home. It was that I lost Fuzzy. He was this teddy bear my dad bought for me. He even had a little fireman’s coat and hat. It was the last piece of my dad that I had left.” My voice cracks. I can still remember sniffing that stuffed animal after my dad died and convincing myself that it smelled just like his cologne.
“I bet he’s looking down on you now and he’s so damn proud of his strong daughter and the amazing woman she is.”
I sniff. I don’t know how Lincoln always manages to say the right things but somehow he does. “I just wish I could hug him again, you know?”
He squeezes me tighter. “I know.”
As soon as he says that, I feel a rush of guilt. I lost a parent, but he lost a wife. We both grieve but it’s different for him. He lost the woman that was meant to be his partner, the one that should have walked beside him for life. “She was really pretty.”
He doesn’t ask who, confirming that his thoughts were already with her. “She would have loved you. She was one of those people that never met a stranger. I used to joke that she could run to the store for milk and come back with twelve new friends added into her phone.”
I don’t ask questions because I want to give him space to tell his story, the same way he gave it to me.
After a long moment, he sighs. “We were friends and eventually high school sweethearts. Got married the day after graduation. We wanted a family, but it wasn’t in the cards. For years, we tried. Then one miracle day, she was pregnant.”