Page 21 of His Vivacious Angel
“Wait!” He grips my wrist gently before I can open the front door. There’s an obscenely large bulge behind his zipper that draws my attention briefly, since he immediately presses his palm down over it. “Please don’t tell him that I—that you—we?—”
I cup my hand over his mouth to shut him up. “If you breathe a word of this to anyone…” I drag my right index finger across my throat.
“I won’t,” I think he says from behind my hand.
Dad pounds his fist against the door again, and I whip it open, ducking to the side to avoid him knocking my forehead. “Everything okay here?” Dad asks, his keen eyes locked on Forest over my shoulder, who is, I hope, successfully hiding his erection.
“Yeah.” I roll up onto my tiptoes, making myself as tall as possible, hoping as well that Dad won’t notice Forest’s damp shirt. “Just took a while to get all the kids to bed,” I lie, forcing Dad to step back when I race out the door.
I ought to thank him for showing up when he did. I don’t know how far Forest and I would have taken things if he hadn’t. Thankfully, it’s dark enough outside that Dad shouldn’t be able to see the bruises likely already forming on my knees from kneeling on the hard tile for so long.
Pushing Dad ahead of me down the walkway, I tell him, “Those kids wiped me out. I’m ready for bed.”
Truer words have never been spoken. My limbs are loose and my head is foggy after those incredible orgasms. It’s a shame I’ll never get to experience them with Forest again, since he’s the last person in the world I should ever get involved with.
Crossing the street the next morning, I'm a hair's breadth away from feigning illness to bow out of the mani/pedi appointment, all so I don’t have to see Forest. But I just can’t bring myself to upset Josephine, who already has the front door open before I’ve made it up their walkway. Forest firmly catches Sebastian around the waist, hauling him up into his arms before the toddler can make a run for it, as Josephine skips toward me in a pretty white sundress.
“Autumn!” she shouts, and we almost topple over when she throws her arms around my waist. “I’m so excited! We’re matching!” So we are, since her dress is similar to mine, though hers falls past her knees. “And I did my hair like yours!” She lets go of me and spins around.
“It’s very pretty, Josie,” I say with a smile, slipping my fingers through her soft hair, the crimps from last night’s braid washed away and dried so it’s pin-straight.
She smiles ear to ear at the nickname and says, “Let’s go!” She tugs my hand, trying to drag me to the side toward Shayla and Lainey’s house.
“Hold your horses, sweetheart,” Forest says, stepping out onto the stoop.
“Where’s Benny?” I ask, looking past Forest, inching toward the door with Josephine still tugging my hand.
“Taking a nap,” Forest says, which is disappointing.
I hate how my belly flutters at the intensity of Forest’s watchful gaze as he traces my form with hungry eyes. “Stop it,” I hiss.
“You stop it,” he says quietly with a waggle of his brows, leaning forward.
“Stop what?” I snap, setting my free hand on my hip.
Even lower, he says with a smirk, “Thinking about last night.”
I scoff. “I amnot. You are.”
“Dang straight, I am. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you.”
“Ugh. Shut up.”
“Lainey!” Josephine shouts when she spots my niece down the street, waving her hand like mad. “Come onnnnnnn,” she begs me.
I let her drag me away, even as I walk backward so I can keep my eyes on Forest. “You’re paying for this outing, by the way.”
He slips his phone from his back pocket. “How much?”
“Three hundred,” I say, raising my voice as we get farther away.
“For two mani/pedis?”
“Yup,” I lie. “Inflation is a bi—” I catch myself before I curse.
Forest puts his phone away and tilts his head, smirking again when he says, “Bring me a receipt, and I’ll pay.”
I throw my middle finger up and finally turn away so I don’t trip, hearing him laugh at my back.
