Opposites Attract - Jessica Prince Page 0,23
screams, and a month’s worth of night terrors.
They were terrified of her.
“That’s what I thought.” I grinned evilly as they stared at me with wide, frightened eyes. “Now, if you’re both good for the rest of the night and give your mom a break, I’ll give you the crayons and coloring books I have in my bag.” I held the massive hobo bag on my arm open just enough to see the loot I bought for them. “We got a deal?”
“Deal!” they yelped before taking off to the room my parents had converted into a playroom for all their grandkids.
“You’re an angel,” Claudia breathed as I walked over and gave her a kiss on the cheek and patted the blanket covered head of my baby nephew.
“Where’s Jace?” I asked as I sat down on the sofa across from her. The scowl on her face at the mention of my brother’s name said it all.
“He took off out back with your dad the moment we got here, the bastard.” I giggled as I pictured my big brother bolting for my dad’s garage. The only place in the whole house women weren’t allowed.
“And Sarah?” I asked about my seven-year-old niece.
“In the kitchen with your mom,” Claudia answered, her eyelids beginning to droop with exhaustion. “Mom’s teaching her to make Babka.”
“Ooh! My favorite.”
Claudia let out a big yawn while Carter stirred beneath the blanket, having finished his meal. Once she’d adjusted her clothes and pulled the blanket off, I reached down and took my nephew from her, holding him against my shoulder as I started to pat his back. I tilted my head to the side and sniffed his downy little head, loving the smells as he cooed and snuggled against me.
“Why don’t you rest your eyes for a bit?” I offered, only to look over and find she’d already passed out. With a smile, I rocked Carter and headed toward the kitchen to greet my mom.
As I walked through the house, humming softly to the warm baby in my arms, I couldn’t help but be a little envious of what my brother had found. He had love, he had a family of his own. He found the woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with during his first year of college, and he never let her go.
I couldn’t help but feel a little morose as I wondered if I’d ever find the man who never wanted to let me go?
I FELL INTO BED later that night, exhaustion tugging at my body even though my brain refused to quiet down and let me sleep. Dinner with my family had been pure chaos. As it had been ever since Brant and I broke up, my mom nagged me about getting back out there and finding a suitable husband so I could bless her with more grandbabies, while my father threatened to get his old shotgun from the attic if I brought over another asshole like my ex. Jace backed my dad, of course. Claudia was Team Mom so I was being ganged up on from both sides.
All the while my mind kept going back to the laundry room, to the way Richard had touched me. Had the intimacy of that moment been all in my head? Had I made it out to be something more than it was simply because I knew about what had happened between the two of us even if he didn’t? The whole thing was enough to give me a migraine.
Adding to the drama of my evening, when I’d taken Shady to the park for his last walk of the night, he’d managed to slip loose from his collar and take off after a nearby poodle. The owner hadn’t appreciated her poor baby being humped into oblivion by the tiny bichon, and threatened to have me cited for not adhering to the leash laws. The poodle incident was already the fifth one of the month.
The little terror had given me no other choice. I’d called once we got home to set up an appointment to have him neutered. It wasn’t something I wanted to do, but the shit just wouldn’t stop humping stuff.
I looked down at his little doggy bed where he lay, sprawled out on his side, obviously exhausted after his latest sexcapades.
“Hope she was worth it,” I grumbled. He didn’t bother looking up at me, and I was suddenly very aware of just how pathetic I was. I was jealous of my own dog’s sex