Page 78 of An Adventure For Aster

He returned to his room to get his shirt and turned when she came out in black cotton panties that she normally wore. Just little bikinis.

“I appreciate the sacrifice of your comfort.”

“Any time,” she said. She was wiggling into her jeans as she yanked them up. “That was much more fun than I thought it was going to be. The position and the underwear. I might need to get more of it. I did find a rose petal stuck to me inside of it though. I don’t even want to know how that happened.”

The thought made him grin.

“I won’t be a wuss again like that. I don’t want to say it backfired, but it didn’t turn out the way I planned.”

“Sometimes life is better that way,” she said and slapped his ass, then shook her hand. Oh yeah, he wasn’t sure why he thought she was so sweet and pure when he found he loved this side of her they had when they were alone.

25

FIND THE RIGHT GUY

Aster was waiting for his sister at the airport in Providence two weeks later. Forty-five minutes away, it was the best flight schedule to get her there.

It’d been about eight months since he’d seen her, eleven months since he’d been shot.

She couldn’t get the whole week off of work and he wasn’t going to push. Having her here Saturday through Wednesday afternoon was plenty and more than enough time to show her the area and try to convince her to move.

He felt bad that she was using vacation time she didn’t have a lot of to come, but the bigger issue was she didn’t want to give up two weekends at the restaurant because she was putting away as much money as she could for when she’d have to move out.

His parents hadn’t said a word to him about it and he wasn’t sure what to make of that. He didn’t talk to them much and it was not something they’d say in a text.

He figured they thought Daphne would have mentioned it, was his guess.

At least he had this weekend and Raine could help him with his sister.

He looked at his watch and knew Daphne would be coming out any minute. Her plane landed about twenty minutes ago. Leaving so early in the morning and getting here at lunchtime helped to give them more time together.

Ten minutes later he heard his name called and turned and Daphne was pulling her luggage and rushing toward him just like she had when he’d landed in Houston on leave almost a year ago.

“Hey there,” he said. “How was the flight?”

He gave her a big hug, lifting her in the air like he always did, then putting her back down.

“It was good,” she said. “I don’t care to fly much, but it’s not the end of the world.”

He didn’t think of flying one way or another as he’d been in enough airplanes in his life.

“Let me grab your bag. Are you hungry? Do you want to stop and get food or can you wait until we are back?”

“Raine said we were going to lunch,” Daphne said. “I can wait. I’m good.”

They walked together out to the parking lot and to his truck. He opened the back door and put her bag in there.

“It’s about forty-five minutes away or so. I just texted Raine we are on our way.”

“I can’t wait to meet her. I’m so excited to be here and even more excited it’s not snowing.”

There wasn’t much snow on the ground right now either. “We had a huge storm mid-December. Like shut down the roads and stay indoors blizzard-type thing and then it all melted before Christmas. Since then it’s just been a few inches here or there and then nice enough to melt right after.”

“Okay,” Daphne said. “Something to get used toifI move.”

He started his truck and pulled out. “So you’re thinking of it?”

“I’ve got to weigh my options. I did think it over. It’s not like I’ve got this great career where I am. I could do that work anywhere. The question is, do I want to do it closer to my brother knowing he has no plans on leaving? You don’t, do you?”

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