Page 51 of His Wild Attraction

I didn’t think it was possible for me to ever want to open up to anyone. But Andres was slowly burrowing past my walls and shields with his steady hands, his sweet attention, his unending patience, and his constancy.

But it wasn’t enough. Suddenly, I wanted more from him. And the thought terrified me.

“Hey, whatcha building?” I asked Sammy as I stepped into the playroom where he was building a tower out of soft foam blocks around a giggling Michaela.

The room was cheerful, painted in bright colors with an entire wall of books and toys. There were bean bags and soft plush sofas and chairs.

A cushiony rug depicting gigantic cartoon cats sat in the center of the room.

It was lined with stuffed animals in every color and size, and a pile of foam blocks the children were busy playing with.

“Hello, Mommy. I’m making a tower,” Sammy replied, and nodded sagely at his creation.

“Very nice,” I told him, then turned my head to the nanny. “Has he been behaving?”

“Of course, Sammy is the best boy. Would you mind, ma’am? I must use the restroom,” Nanny Rosa said.

I nodded my head at the older woman, and she rushed inside the connected restroom. Lucy was content in her bouncy chair, and Michaela and Sammy were getting along just fine.

This place was incredible. Every time I visited one of their homes, I was stunned by the warmth and charm I found within their walls.

Sofia and Adrik had been together the longest, but the man himself was rather intimidating. I hardly spoke to him, but I knew he loved his wife and daughter. Marat was just as crazy about Destiny and their baby, Lucy. But I couldn’t say I spoke to the almost-too-handsome man more than a polite greeting when I saw him.

Josef was perhaps the friendliest to me, but that might be because I was friendliest with his wife. Meredith, of course, knew me better than the others. She’d seen me at my worst. When I’d been black and blue and torn up on the inside.

Gary’s violent outbursts were never warranted. I knew that. I knew I never deserved them. Why I’d stayed as long as I did was anyone’s guess.

It was something my therapist and I had talked about for hours on end.

The last time he hit me, I got away. And that was all that mattered.

The second Gary had tried to direct his violence towards Sammy, I left.

I needed to acknowledge what I did, what I accomplished, and through months of therapy, I finally learned to accept my decisions and to be content with the knowledge I’d gotten my son away from that mess.

It was still a work in progress.

I was still a work in progress.

Just like most people.

But I would never knowingly endanger my child. Yes, I was nervous about Tuesday’s meeting with my ex’s lawyers.

But Andres said he had it handled, and I believed him.

What was currently occupying all the available space in my brain was something I shouldn’t even care about.

We aren’t a love match.

Maybe if I kept repeating that, it wouldn’t bother me that Andres was keeping secrets.

Why wouldn’t he tell me about Adrik and Marat? That they were his cousins?

I didn’t know. But I was going to ask.

Old me, cowed me, would never have questioned my husband.

Hell.

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