Page 28 of Brazilian Fantasy
I nod. “Thanks to Piper, yes.”
She pinches her lips like she’d just eaten something sour. “That American girl has no idea how to take care of a man like you. I can’t even imagine the meals she’s preparing. What you need is a good, old-fashioned, baked empadão.”
“We’re doing just fine,” I tell her.
“Nonsense.”
The line for ice cream moves, and I look through the crowd to find Piper watching me, carefully. I take her in, as well as my other two girls.
Yeah, that’s right, all three girls are mine. I’m in love with them all. Possession races through me, and my heart fills with love and forgiveness. When I exhale, I can feel all my tension, the guilt over losing my wife, go with it, freeing me. Feeling like a new man, I can’t help but smile, despite the fact that Gabriela has her hands all over me.
I put my hands over Gabriela’s to remove them from my chest, and Piper tears her gaze away as the pup takes off running. She and Maddie go after the surprisingly fast pup, and my heart beats double time in my chest. Mine. Piper is supposed to leave tomorrow, but I’m not ready to let her go. I’m sure Maddie isn’t, either. Piper’s touch and presence have been like a healing balm to our souls.
Problem is, I flat out told her I wasn’t ready for more, and she flat out told me she was off relationships and wasn’t looking for a ready-made family. The last three weeks have been incredible. Having sex with Piper has changed my life. But what can I do to convince her I am ready for more—outside the bedroom—and that being with her has helped me let go of the guilt and start living again? What can I do to convince her to give another relationship a try? Then again, how can I ask her to give up her life back in America and stay with me?
What if she doesn’t want the same things I do?
What if she does?
&n
bsp; Chapter Ten
Piper
I putter around the kitchen, unease gnawing at my gut as I cook the very last meal I’ll have with the family I’m in love with. I probably should have ordered in, since I have a million things to do—to pack—before I fly home tomorrow, but I don’t want to do any of them, which is why I’m in the kitchen stalling. I don’t want to leave this family. How can I? What will it do to little Maddie when another woman she cares about just ups and disappears? What will it do to me to be that woman, to leave this little girl behind? That would make me no better than my own mother.
I think about the man I’m in love with. I haven’t seen much of him since returning from the dog park. My mind revisits the way he was with Gabriela, closing his hands over hers as she touched him. The look on his face was pure bliss, happiness… forgiveness. I have no idea what was going through his head at that particular moment, but after that encounter with Gabriela he seems different, quieter, more relaxed, yet more distant from me. I turn to Maddie, who is on the floor with the pup.
“Hey, Maddie, can you help me set the table?” I ask and try to keep my voice light, free of the jealously taking up residence in my stomach. I don’t want the child picking up on my distress. She’s been through enough already.
I pull the forks from the drawer and hand them to her, carrying the knives to the table myself. Maddie starts humming the song from Frozen as we set the table, and I just go about my business, trying not to make a big deal out of it even though it’s a huge deal. I start to hum along with her, and she gives me a smile then skips back to the kitchen to play with the pup.
With my pulse racing, I quietly go into the hall, desperate to tell Lucas about this breakthrough. While I’m at it, maybe I should be true to myself and go after what I want and prove to Lucas I’m the girl for him, not Gabriela or any of the other women in the neighborhood. Yeah, he said he wasn’t interested in a relationship—heck, so did I—but I think we’ve both changed over the last few weeks. I know I’ve learned so much about myself. I can and will be a good mother—to Maddie, and to any other children I might decide to have.
I want to have children
Oh, my, God. I want to have children—with Lucas.
As that revelation hits like a lightning bolt, I search out Lucas. I find his office empty, and I’m about to go to his bedroom when the doorbell chimes. I hurry toward it, but my feet come to a resounding halt when I see Lucas opening the door for Gabriela, who has a casserole in her hands. But what Lucas has in his hands has the bottom falling out of my world.
Gabriela pushes her way into the house and snarls when she sees me in the hallway. “I’ve brought dinner,” she says, her eyes dropping to the suitcase in Lucas’s hands—my suitcase. “Going somewhere?” she asks.
“No, this isn’t mine.”
Her lips part in a smile. “So, you’ll be needing a new nanny, then?”
Lucas opens his mouth to respond, but she cuts him off and places her hands on his chest. “Of course, you do. I’m happy to take the job, and to take care of anything else you need.”
As if sensing me behind him, Lucas turns. There was a change in him that night we made love in his bed, but there is something else going on with him. Even the way he holds himself has changed. Is he taking this moment to move on? Does Gabriela sense it, too? Is that why she was all over him at the park, at his door now? I want him happy. I truly do. Maybe Gabriela will be the one to bring joy into his life.
I want it to be me.
Should I have said something to him earlier? If only I hadn’t been so scared.
Visions of my ex dumping me for a woman ready and willing to give him what he wanted rush through my head, and my stomach cramps. I glance at Lucas, and our eyes meet. Even though my insides are in chaos, I quickly pull myself together and bite back a need that burns in my throat. Cripes, I wish I didn’t care. Caring has only led to heartache. I should have left that first day. Run as far away as possible. Alyssa never should have sent me here. I really do want to kill her again.
He lifts the suitcase. “I was—”
