Page 54 of Changing Tides

Once I’m back in the passenger seat, he turns the key and starts to back out as I reach down and grab the ice cream bag. Thankful it seems to still be intact.

We ride the rest of the way to the cottage in silence.

Once we are parked in the garage, I exit, but before I can reach the door to the house, Sebastian stops me. He lifts my shirt and gently runs a finger over my skin, and I wince.

“You have an angry-looking welt,” he says.

I look over my shoulder at him.

“Worth it,” I whisper, and his eyes heat as I grab the doorknob and yank it open.

Sebastian

I’m not sure how I manage to pull myself together enough to sit at the island and share a banana split with her daughter, but I do.

Leia’s eyes were as big as saucers when she got a look at the massive dessert that Avie served in a casserole dish with five spoons.

Afterward, the little girl talked me into sticking around while they watchedMoana.

Which made me think about Hawaii. Yeah, I’m that fucking pathetic that a kids movie can send my hormones into overdrive.

Watching Anson and Amiya covertly paw at each other under a blanket on the love seat doesn’t help matters either.

Thank goodness the torture is short-lived when Leia falls asleep twenty minutes into the flick.

Avie carries her to bed, and I leave the other two in the living room while I excuse myself to the kitchen and rifle through the fridge in search of a beer.

No luck.

I grab a soda and make my way back to the recliner just as Avie appears from the hallway.

“All tucked in,” she says softly.

She looks around the room.

“Want to watch an adult movie?” she asks.

That causes me to grin, and she blushes. A beautiful rosy pink.

“I don’t mean anadult, adult film. I mean, a normal adult movie,” she sputters.

That makes us all burst into laughter.

“Shhhhh,” Avie says as she turns and looks back toward Leia’s door.

Anson stands.

“Thanks, but I think Amiya and I are going back to my condo to have a couple of drinks.”

He looks down at her for confirmation, and she extends her hand to him. He takes it and pulls her to her feet.

“Okay, so just us, then,” she says as she looks nervously at me.

“Um, Seb is our ride,” Anson says.

“Right. I forgot you brought the Bronco,” I mutter as I start to stand.

“Um, sit,” Amiya demands. “We can take my car. That way, I’ll have a way back in the morning.”

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