Page 23 of Love Beyond Wanting
Or lovers.I kept that thought to myself.
“You’re right.I’ll go talk to her now.”
Stepping out into the hallway, I could see that the light in Mom’s bedroom was already on as I’d suspected it would be.She enjoyed rising early.
It never occurred to me to knock before entering.I turned the knob and flung it open without a second thought.
The only way for me to make sense of my ridiculously delayed reaction is to chalk it up to shock.Every fiber in my being had known precisely what I would see when stepping inside my mother’s room.I would find her propped up in bed, reading glasses on and a book in her hands, enjoying the quiet minutes before everyone else was awake.
My brain simply didn’t know how to comprehend what I was seeing.
Mom was propped up in the bed, but she wore no reading glasses, and there wasn’t a book in sight.Instead, she was naked, and her breasts greeted me as I stared at her in confusion.
“Mom?Did you sleep nude?”
It should’ve been so obvious to me, but I just wasn’t getting it.
Her panicked voice was immediate.“Kate!You don’t just go around opening doors without knocking.”
I snorted, still astonishingly slow on the uptake.“Seriously?You’re one to talk.Do you even know how to knock?I mean…”
There was the briefest of shuffling noises, and for the first time since stepping inside the room, I glanced toward her bathroom.
David stood totally naked in the doorway, both palms spread wide to cover up his junk.
He and I must’ve stared at each other for a solid five seconds of horror.Eventually, as my mouth still hung wide open from shock, he spoke.“Good morning, Kate.I guess the cat’s out of the bag.”
Chapter 13
Istood there for way too long as my eyes darted back and forth between David in the bathroom doorway and my mother in the bed.I wouldn’t have been any more shocked if I’d walked in on Mom in bed with George Clooney.
“I…uh…excuse me.”Reaching for the knob, I pulled the door shut and backed away from the scene slowly.
It was as if all of my muscles slowed down, making the walk down the hallway and down the stairs slow and heavy.
I could hear Maddock call after me as I moved away from the scene, but I kept walking until I reached the castle’s main floor and turned down the staircase leading to the castle’s kitchens.All I could think was that I needed coffee.Now.It was the only thing that might help my brain recover from the trauma it had experienced.
“Kate, lass, are ye all right?”
Maddock was just a few steps behind me, and I shook my head no as I walked into the kitchen.
“I just walked in on my mother and David naked together.I’m not sure if I’ll be all right ever again.”
Appearing out of the cupboard to the right of the kitchen, Sydney gasped as she looked at my ashen expression and then laughed softly.
“Eeek.Yeah, it doesn’t get much worse than that, does it?”She studied my expression a moment longer before adding.“Wait.Did you not know they were together?”
I shook my head as Maddock appeared beside me in my peripheral vision.
“Didyouknow?”
Sydney gave me a sympathetic nod as she reached behind me to flip on the coffee maker as if she’d read my mind.“Honestly, I assumed they were.He touched her arm at least five times over dinner last night.And the knowing glances that seemed to pass between the two of them were frequent.”
So many little instances flashed through my mind.Mom’s early morning trips to the gym, her reaction when I’d mentioned eating dinner with David, her offer to call him about said dinner, and even her reactionatthe dinner should’ve clued me in, but it obviously never crossed my mind.
Shrugging as acceptance washed through me, I smiled for the first time since opening that bedroom door.“Actually…I guess it makes sense, but I really didn’t have a clue.”
“Ye look as if ye might be cold, lass.”Maddock spoke for the first time since we’d entered the kitchen and surprised me by moving to my back, where he reached up and placed both hands on either side of my arms as he gently rubbed them up and down to warm me.
