Page 45 of Finding Forever

I watched as Sera’s eyes swell at the introduction.

“Boyfriend?” she asked skeptically, eyeing Gina up and down as if she was looking for more flaws to point out.

“Yes, her boyfriend,” I spoke for the first time.

Gina squeezed my hand as Sera pivoted and gave a cunning smile.

“Well, isn’t that cute? I didn’t know you had a boyfriend, Gina!”

“Why would you?” Gina deadpanned with a frown. “We aren’t friends.”

“Well,” Sera said self-righteously. “I just figured it would come up during our chats, is all.”

Gina remained silent, not giving in to her.

“She has a kid, you know?” Sera thought to inform me. Laughter was bubbling up because this woman really had no idea what she was talking about. “It can be a handful when you’re dating someone with a kid that isn’t biologically yours.”

“Sera, why are you still talking?”

Sera looked shocked by Gina’s tone but quickly masked her surprise to narrow her eyes.

“It’s the weekend. Don’t you have something else to do besides bother me? Or do you not get enough of that on the clock? You must be miserable, to walk up to someone you know doesn’t like you in public and try to be a nuisance. What’s wrong, Sera? Are you here alone because nobody else can stand hanging out with you?”

Sera’s jaw was on the floor when Gina finished talking and I couldn’t stop the mirth that escaped my lips.

She was sputtering, but I cut her off. “By the way, I’m a single dad. But thanks for the warning. It wasn’t needed.”

Pulling Gina along with me, we sidestepped her coworker and headed further into the venue.

“That’s the pest you told me about?”

When I looked down at Gina, she was smiling up at me.

“One and the same.”

“Are you okay?” I paused to pull her close to me and gaze down into her eyes.

“I’m amazing,” she said huskily. “Better now that you’re smiling. Are you sure you want to stay?”

“I want to be wherever you are right now, baby. We’ve been looking forward to this. Let’s enjoy it.”

Gina leaned up on her tiptoes and pecked my lips. I was sure she meant it to be a quick kiss, but I pulled her in tight, limiting her ability to pull away as I ravished her mouth like a starving man. Her mouth held the answer to every trouble I’d been facing, and I dived in, searching every crevice as she reciprocated the kiss.

I forgot about the crowd of people moving around us in the packed venue. The only person that existed in that moment was Gina and her teasing lips, her warm tongue and the soft moan she gave me in return to my probing tongue.

“Get a room!” a male voice shouted from somewhere in the distance, breaking the trance.

Gina’s startled jump broke our lip lock, and I missed her lips on mine right away.

The festival was great, but the feeling of holding Gina in my arms all evening while we swayed lazily to the music was greater.

Gina

Penny’s mood was contagious. At least, that was how it seemed. It was the only explanation for Maverick and I being more excited about the baby goats in front of us than the two children at our sides. We’d planned this trip to the petting zoo in an attempt to cheer Penny up, but it looked like it was doing anything but that.

Her mouth was droopy and her grip on her father’s hand was unrelenting. For the first time since they met, Mycah and Penny weren’t overjoyed to see each other. They were sticking close to us and it hurt my heart to see that Victoria had been successful in disrupting the flow of things to this point.

“Do you want to feed the goats, honey?” I asked Mycah, infusing my voice with as much cheer as I could.

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