Page 66 of Floored

A good woman, smart and sexy and funny, and children to raise. And still, I was a premier player.

Lia wrestled her dark hair up into a bun on top of her head and faced me while my mind raced. "What's going on up there?"

I blinked. "What now?"

She tapped her temple. "You look very deep in thought." She approached, sliding her hands up my chest. Quite naturally, my own settled onto her hips. As I pulled her closer, her eyes softened. "It's sexy."

I hummed, dropping a kiss onto the curve of her newly exposed neck. "Nothing interesting."

Lia sighed, melting fully into my embrace. For a few moments, we stood like that, and I tried to remember how long it had been, before her, that someone had simply hugged me for the pleasure of it.

Maybe that was why I was so addicted to touching her whenever she was in reach. Because I could and because it felt fucking great. I wasn't reading between the lines of those touches, and neither was she. I'd found someone—something—quite remarkable, even if it was quite by accident.

It was in that quiet embrace, and recognizing the power of it, that I had an idea.

"What do you say to a small detour on the way back?"

Lia's face spread into an excited grin. "I say yes."

My girl was always up for an adventure. Excited to attend a losing match, simply because the atmosphere was electric, unafraid to stand for hours in the rain to experience it. As I watched that look in her eye again, at the thought of experiencing something new, I desperately wanted to get this right. I wanted to be the parent I'd never had. I wanted my child to know love and support with this beautiful woman to teach him or her about excitement and adventure and loyalty, and hopefully me to teach them about hard work and grit and the beauty of achieving your goals by doing something you loved.

Shortly, we were back in my car and driving down the roads of West Yorkshire under a cloudy November sky. As we approached Stocksbridge, the steel mill looming off in the distance, I couldn't believe she hadn't asked me a single question about where we were going. Lia relaxed in her seat, taking in the sights with a soft smile on her face.

"I always wonder if people get this excited when they drive around my state, you know?"

"What do you mean?" I made a turn away from town and toward the farm where I'd grown up, the roads growing smaller, the houses farther apart in the green countryside.

"This is all normal to you, you know? But every stone house I see, every perfect little green hedge, or rolling hill, it's nothing like what I see back home, and I just want to soak it all up. I wonder if people drive around Seattle and feel like that."

I glanced at her with amusement. "I'd reckon so. You have mountains in Washington, yeah?"

"Oh, yeah."

"Then I'm guessing they all gawk out the windows just like you are, love."

She smacked me in the stomach, and I laughed. It was a good momentary distraction because as I took the final turn, my parents’ house rose up just over the next hill. It looked exactly the same. Mentally, I had to do some calculations to remember exactly when I'd been back last. Typically, we gathered at Lewis’ house or pub so we were both on neutral ground.

The house was all weathered rock and dark-framed windows, probably the same ones that needed to be replaced the last time I'd been there. Five years was what I figured. Wooden fencing stretched along emerald plots of grass, and a few fat sheep grazed near the house. The barn had been painted, a fresh coat of white covered the planks of wood. I could hear the goats, a new addition since I'd been out last, and tried to muster a smile when Lia exclaimed when they crowded the fence as soon as she got out of the car.

"Oh, how cute are you guys?" she said, laughing when one particularly brash one jumped over the group to try to find food in her hand. "Goodness. I wish I'd come prepared." She held up a hand to shade her eyes and glanced at the sprawling land surrounding the house. "Where are we?"

A quiet voice interrupted before I could answer. "J-Jude?"

My mum was standing in the door that led to the kitchen, a bright red towel clutched in her hands as she stared at me like she'd seen a bloody ghost. Her hair was still dark, streaked liberally with gray along her temples, something she'd never felt the need to hide.

I came next to Lia and set my hand on her back. She glanced at me with a million and a half questions in her eyes. I smiled down at her, then looked back to the house. "Hello, Mum."

"Ohhhhh," Lia breathed. She cut me a glance. "You could've warned me," she whispered under her breath.

"Surprise," I whispered back.

Lia lifted her chin and smoothed a hand over her hair. Given we had made no plans other than to drive back home, she'd dressed for comfort with a massive hoodie over jeans and tall brown boots. Looking at her, there was absolutely no indication she was pregnant. She looked young and pretty.

"What are you doing here?" Mum asked, eyes traveling from me to Lia and back again.

I curled a hand around Lia's shoulders. "We just took a holiday in Haworth for a few days. Thought we'd drop by to say hello on our way back home."

Her hand came up, and I noticed the tremor in it as she laid it on her chest. "Right. Your father is out in the backfields. He won't be back for about thirty minutes yet."

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