Page 80 of Divorced from Number Thirty-Eight
This is so much better than the fantasy.
Even if I’m just watching people push shopping carts into pens for…sport.
Though, in fairness, it’s less watching and more soaking in the smell of banana bread in the air as I let my eyes slide closed, my body relax against his, my mind drift until shopping carts are very far away.
“Faye, baby?” he murmurs.
It’s tempting to let sleep suck me under, but something about his voice has me rolling over.
Then pausing to study his face, trying to ferret out what exactly his expression is.
It’s almost…chagrined, like he’s a naughty little boy.
“What is it?”
“Want to…” He traces a finger down my throat, making me shiver, my body automatically arch against his.
“What?” I breathe.
“Want to bake something else together?”
And I think…maybe real love begins just like this.
With crumbs and cuddling and laughter.
And daring to believe it can be mine.
Twenty-Seven
Gray
“Again, they’re wombats! How the hell can you be afraid of wombats?”
My head whips to the side and I’m already pushing to my feet, readying to intervene if Faye looks the least bit uncomfortable.
But instead of her being on edge, body trembling, eyes wide and searching for an exit, she’s…
Fuck, it’s beautiful.
She’s beautiful.
Her head thrown back, her musical laughter filling the air, the sound hitting me hard in the gut.
Probably because Smitty is on his feet, gesturing wildly and going on and on about how wombats are killers who crush their victims (he’s nothing if not dramatic) with their giant butts against their burrow walls.
He also loves an audience.
“Their murderers, I tell you!”
Faye isn’t the only one who’s laughing at my teammate. Luna is sipping her mocktail, reclining back on the couch, free hand rubbing lightly at her pregnant belly as she giggles. Bri is in full hostess mode alongside Aiden’s mom, but since she’s filling the platter of snacks in front of Faye and company, she has a front row seat to his shenanigans.
And she’s laughing too.
Another woman (though really, while she may be over eighteen, she’s still a girl) who’s gone through too much.
And Smitty’s making her happy too.
Along with Kailey, who’s shaking her head at him, but doing it with a smile.
