Total pages in book: 137
Estimated words: 135696 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 678(@200wpm)___ 543(@250wpm)___ 452(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 135696 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 678(@200wpm)___ 543(@250wpm)___ 452(@300wpm)
And damn, she was.
That was about her fifteenth stone. And Ledge was giving her the best ones.
“They don’t have stone skipping in the Olympics, so it’s okay,” Ledger placated her.
She turned to his son, “I’m much better at looking cute in a pink slicker and tramping through the rain.”
Ledger burst out laughing.
Riggs smiled.
“They don’t have that in the Olympics either, but they should,” she went on.
Ledger kept laughing.
Riggs kept smiling.
Then he turned to the drive when he heard a car pulling in.
And he stopped smiling.
“You two, stay here,” he ordered as Lucille parked then got out.
“Who’s that?” he heard Nadia ask Ledge.
“Lucille. Bubbles’s girlfriend,” Ledger answered.
“Stay here,” Nadia said urgently.
Shit.
Riggs stopped, and she nearly ran into him because she was racing up the pier.
“Stay here,” he repeated when she made it to him.
“No,” she replied.
“Nadia.”
“No.”
“Please.”
“Absolutely not.”
They went into staredown.
“Heya! Doc?” Lucille called.
“Fuck,” he grunted, turned to his son, pointed at him and said, “Don’t move.”
Nadia dogging his steps, he strode up the slope to where Lucille was standing.
Her eyes were pinging back and forth between him and Nadia, and they didn’t stop, even when Riggs and Nadia stopped in front of her.
She finally looked to Riggs, thankfully, before she gave herself a stroke.
“I was worried I’d interrupt dinner,” she said.
“We ate earlier. What’s up?”
She looked pointedly at Nadia.
“Nadia, this is Lucille. Lucille, this is Nadia, my neighbor,” he introduced.
“Ahhhhhhhhhh…” Lucille let out, low and slow. “Your neighbor.”
He felt Nadia stiffen at his side.
“That’s what I said,” Riggs replied.
“Does Bubbles know all about your neighbor?” Lucille asked.
“Not to be rude, we just met, but why are you saying it that way?” Nadia asked.
“Darlin’, you looked in a mirror lately?” Lucille asked.
“Yes,” Nadia answered shortly.
“Just sayin’, if Bubs knew you were Doc’s neighbor, he would have made a different decision about the wine,” Lucille replied.
“So now it’s my faul—” Nadia started heatedly.
“Honey,” Riggs whispered.
Nadia clamped her mouth shut.
Lucille’s eyes nearly bugged out of her head.
Fuck him.
“Lucille, not that I don’t wanna see you, but we were in the middle of something,” Riggs told her.
The woman looked beyond him toward the pier. “What were you in the middle of?”
“Ledger was teaching me to skip rocks,” Nadia answered.
Lucille’s head tilted to the side sharply before she smiled genuinely and said, “Well, that’s real important, so I won’t keep you long, just gotta have a word with Doc.”
“Then have your word,” Nadia invited.
“I was hoping it might be private.”
“Your boyfriend was already mean to him today, and we were having a nice night, so I hope you don’t mind if I stick around to see that nothing ruins it,” Nadia returned.
After listening to this, Lucille’s eyes swiveled to Riggs, and she declared, “You totally should have told Bubbles about this chick.”
Riggs looked to the sky and sighed.
Lucille’s tone was different, and it brought his attention back to her when she said, “He went too far today, Doc. He knows it. He feels like a total asshole. He’s been kicking himself all day.”
He waited for Nadia to field that, partly out of curiosity at what she’d say, mostly because what he had to say, he didn’t want to say to Lucille. She was a nice woman.
She did field it, just not the way he expected.
She wrapped both her hands around his biceps and leaned her tits into him.
Lucille didn’t miss it, and honest to fuck, he could swear he saw tears in her eyes.
“Lucille, how about you leave what happened between Bubs and me between Bubs and me?” he suggested.
“He’s not feeling good. He’s hopped up on pain meds—” she began with the excuses.
“That’s not leaving it between Bubs and me,” Riggs warned her. “And I gotta say, I’m confused. He told me you two were over.”
“I kinda forgave him after he got the shit knocked out of him,” Lucille shared.
That would do it.
At least it would with those two.
Her expression turned pleading. “He’s in a bad way, Doc. You’re his only real friend. He knows it. He’s going through some stuff. He piled on you. He shouldn’t have. He—”
Lucille cut herself off as they all looked to the drive to see another car pulling in.
God fucking damn it.
He looked down at Nadia who was peering questioningly up at him.
“Angelica,” he said.
“What’s she doing here?” Lucille asked.
“She’s my kid’s mom,” Riggs shared something she already knew.
Riggs didn’t have a good feeling when Lucille whirled, appearing suddenly panicked, and sounding it when she said a quick, “Doc.”
Ledger joined them, with a little huff from his run, announcing excitedly, “Mom’s here!”
Angelica was striding toward them, and yeah.
Riggs had a type.
Leggy. Great rack. Easy.
But brunette.
Until recently.
Riggs was learning a lot that day.
“Hey, Mom,” Ledger called.
“Hey, kid,” Angelica called back.
When she arrived at them, she gave Lucille a once-over and dismissed her.
Then she gave Nadia a much longer one, and Nadia let him go and moved a step away.