Page 20 of The Light to My Darkness (The Light to My Darkness 1)

"And once upon a time I was a man that had given up on life. But then I met you." He cupped the side of my face in his hand. "Look at what a few years can do to someone's life. So tonight let's freeze time. Tomorrow we can start to embrace all the change that's about to happen. Like you becoming a real author."

"Your optimism is endearing."

He smiled. "I think you find everything I do endearing." He reached behind him and locked the door.

"James, the kids have probably already found everyone else. They'll be banging on the door in just a few seconds."

"Time is frozen. And there are no worries when time is still. Besides, I wasn't going to seduce you. I just want to kiss you."

"You want to make out?" I smiled up at him. "What are we, two kids playing spin the bottle?"

"You've always made me feel young, Penny." He kissed the side of my neck. "And alive." He kissed my clavicle.

Jesus.

"I'm lucky the bottle landed on you," he said against my lips.

I grabbed the back of his neck and kissed him. And we did make out like two teenagers who had gotten paired up in spin the bottle. Not that I would really know. I was never cool enough to play that game at a party. Let alone be invited to the party in the first place. Besides, kisses with a stranger in a basement closet wouldn't have been nearly this amazing. James made me feel young and desired. He made me feel like I wasn't a mammoth trying to pass as a woman in a dress.

"When was the last time we had sex?" His hands drifted to my ass.

"I don't know. Monday?"

"Monday? No, we were going to, but you fell asleep while I was in the shower."

"Oh, yeah. I'm sorry about that." I let my lips brush against his again.

"It's been at least a week, Penny. And you've been doing nothing but driving me crazy."

I laughed. "James, I'm practically a blimp." I put my hands on his chest so I could look up at him. "I certainly haven't been driving anyone crazy recently. It's not like I'm 19 years old and trying to seduce my professor anymore."

He opened his mouth like he was about to say something, when a light knock sounded on the door.

"Daddy?" Scarlett's apprehensive voice sounded from the other side of the door. "Are you in there?"

James put his hand over my mouth and his finger up to his, silencing me.

The doorknob jiggled.

If he thought us being quiet was going to make the kids go away, he was sorely mistaken. But I wasn't going to deny that him holding me like this didn't turn me on just a little. Maybe I was still more like my 19 year self than I realized.

"Uncle James?" Axel said a little more confidently and knocked on the door.

I pulled James' hand down from my face. "You're scaring the children."

"You still drive me crazy," he said as I slipped away from him.

I looked over my shoulder at him as I unlocked the door. "You still drive me crazy too, James. To be continued?"

He nodded and ran his hand through his hair.

I opened the door and Scarlett screamed. But then she ran right toward me and embraced my leg like it was her favorite thing in the world.

"I found you, Mommy," she mumbled into the fabric of my dress.

My baby girl still needed me. I looked back over my shoulder at James. He still needed me too. I had already known that. But seeing him with lust in his eyes was something I understood so well. I couldn't believe that I thought we were falling apart last night. We were stronger than ever. We needed to start getting better at carving out time for just the two of us, though. Especially with another kid on the way. If this baby was anything like his older sister, we'd only be getting a few hours of sleep a night for months.

Chapter 8

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