Bonus Kisses - Freya Barker Page 0,94
to get acquainted with our new daughter.
“How about we do it together?” I tell Sofie.
She’s wonderful with the baby, but I’m not comfortable letting her carry her sister up to the nursery alone yet. She’s had a lot of practice the past two months since our little peanut’s birth and expertly lifts her onto her shoulder, but still I place my hand over Sofie’s smaller one on the baby’s butt and walk beside her up the stairs.
It was Spencer who started calling me Mama, or Mama Taz, even before Nicky was born. He picked it up from Rafe, who would refer to me as Mama whenever he was holding one of many his one-sided conversations with our little girl in my belly. Sofie had not been far behind.
The first time they called me that I bawled like a baby. Both because, well, hormones, but also because somehow these kids found a way to honor me, and their mother at the same time.
I love my kids. All three of them. To think a year and a half ago, kids were not even remotely on my radar, and here I am, mothering three of them.
“First we need to get her in a clean diaper, honey,” I remind Sofie when we walk into the nursery.
“You can do that.”
I grin at her immediate response. The interest in diaper changes wore off quickly after Nicky had her first blowout. It had been spectacular, going all the way up her onesie and soaked all the way to the surface. If I’m being honest, the event freaked me out as well. Rafe was the only one—apparently having had plenty of experience with Spencer doing the same thing as an infant—who kept his cool. He swiftly stripped Nicky down to her skin while instructing me to fill the trough sink in our bathroom. Spencer had been fascinated, but Sofie swore off changing Nicky’s diaper from then on.
She does burp her like a champ and can get her baby sister settled down in a heartbeat when she’s fussy.
“All done. Want to put her pj’s on?”
“Yeah.”
Of course, the moment Sofie is done and tries to put her down in the bassinet, Nicky wakes up and starts crying.
“I’m thinking she needs a little fill up. Why don’t we move this to the big bed?”
I don’t know how long it’s been when Rafe walks into the bedroom. By now both Sofie and Spencer are sprawled on the king-sized bed beside me, watching TV, while Nicky is dozing off at the breast, nursing sporadically.
I smile up at him as he sits down on the edge of the mattress by my hip.
“What?” I prompt him, when he takes in the scene in bed, and then his eyes land on me.
Before he speaks, he leans over me, kisses his baby daughter’s downy head, and then my lips.
“Bonus kisses.”
Also By Freya Barker
Click here to see all my books!
Standalones:
WHEN HOPE ENDS
VICTIM OF CIRCUMSTANCE
BONUS KISSES
Arrow’s Edge MC Series:
EDGE OF REASON
EDGE OF DARKNESS
EDGE OF TOMORROW
PASS Series:
HIT & RUN
LIFE & LIMB
LOCK & LOAD (2021)
On Call Series:
BURNING FOR AUTUMN
COVERING OLLIE
TRACKING TAHLULA
ABSOLVING BLUE
REVEALING ANNIE
Rock Point Series:
KEEPING 6
CABIN 12
HWY 550
10-CODE
Northern Lights Collection:
A CHANGE OF TIDE
A CHANGE OF VIEW
A CHANGE OF PACE
SnapShot Series:
SHUTTER SPEED
FREEZE FRAME
IDEAL IMAGE
Portland, ME, Series:
FROM DUST
CRUEL WATER
THROUGH FIRE
STILL AIR
LuLLaY (a Christmas novella)
Cedar Tree Series:
SLIM TO NONE
HUNDRED TO ONE
AGAINST ME
CLEAN LINES
UPPER HAND
LIKE ARROWS
HEAD START
Acknowledgments
As always there are a great number of people without whom this book would not have been possible, but for Bonus Kisses my amazing family deserves honorable mention. Without them there would be no story.
I’m so grateful for my siblings. We all have our individual lives but at a moment’s notice we will pull together in a united front.
I’ve already talked about my mother, but she bears mentioning again. It is because of her strength, her creativity, her wisdom, and her love that we are who we are today.
And then, of course, there are the usual suspects. The people who keep me on track, correct my mistakes, support my endeavors, and promote my words. I consider every one of these people my friend;
My editor, Karen Hrdlicka, and alpha reader and proofreader, Joanne Thompson;
My agent, Stephanie Phillips of SBR Media;
My publicists, Debra Presley and Drue Hoffman and my PA Krystal Weiss of Buoni Amici Press;
My beta team—Deb Blake, Pam Buchanan, and Petra Gleason;
Every single blog and early reviewer supporting my work;
And my readers who motivate me and lift me up.
I love you all!
Freya
About the Author
USA Today bestselling author Freya Barker loves writing about ordinary people with extraordinary stories.
Driven to make her books about 'real' people; she creates characters who are perhaps less than perfect, each struggling to find their own slice of happy, but just as deserving of romance, thrills and chills in their lives.
Recipient of the ReadFREE.ly 2019 Best Book We've Read All Year Award for "Covering Ollie, the 2015 RomCon “Reader’s Choice” Award for Best First Book, “Slim To None”, and Finalist for the 2017 Kindle Book Award with “From Dust”, and Finalist for the 2020 Kindle Book Award with “When Hope Ends”, Freya continues to add to her rapidly growing collection of published novels as she spins story after story with an endless supply of bruised and dented characters, vying for attention!
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