Page 9 of The P Arrangement

He smiled and nodded.

“Did you hear that?” I said to Paxton. “You get two stories.”

“Yay!” He let me go and ran over to his full-size bed. It looked enormous around him, but he’d grow into it someday.

He patted the mattress on one side of him. “Mommy lay here.” And then he patted the other side. “Daddy lay here.”

Relief hit me because I hadn’t even thought about him possibly suggesting that his father and I lie down next to each other. I wouldn’t have wanted another argument with Paxton, but I also didn’t know if I could have lain on a bed beside my ex without needing a long therapy session after.

Preston and I got on the bed with our son, and he handed me a book.

“We’ve been reading this one a lot lately.”

I nodded and read the title. “Does this work, Pax?”

He nodded, and I began to read.

I hoped that before I was finished, Paxton would fall asleep. Although he was clearly tired, when I closed the book, he was still awake.

“Daddy’s turn.”

So, while Preston found something else to read, I settled in next to Paxton. I always missed him when he was with his dad, so I made sure to enjoy these last few minutes together.

Preston started the second book, and I could feel myself nodding off toward the end, but before I knew it, he said the words, “The End.”

I lifted my gaze to see him smiling down at our son, the love showing clearly from his eyes.

It made my heart clench.

“He’s out.”

“Oh, good.” My voice came out tighter than I’d wanted it to. I cleared my throat and carefully stood. “That’s our cue to leave.”

It was also my cue to leave the house.

I kissed Paxton on the forehead and brushed my hand over his head. “I’ll see you in a couple of days, sweetheart,” I whispered.

Reluctantly, I pulled away and rounded his bed toward the half-closed bedroom door as Preston turned off the lamp next to the bed. While the sun was going down and there was a bit of light peeking from underneath the blinds and curtain, it was not enough to show the toy in my path. Of course, I tripped.

More afraid of waking Paxton than getting hurt if I crashed into something, I reached for the nearest thing.

My ex-husband.

Preston caught me before I crashed into the bed, and we both froze. With a quick look to see if our son was still sleeping, he kicked the truck out of the way, and we hurried out the door, silently laughing the whole way.

“Holy crap, that was close,” I told him when we slipped out of the room.

Preston reached behind me to close the door and grinned. “I thought for sure you were going down.”

I put my palms on his chest. “Thanks for saving me.” My heart was racing from my near fall.

A click sounded behind me, and Preston shifted his eyes to my hands as his smile slowly slipped from his face.

When he lifted his chin, I wasn’t prepared to see the heat in them, and my heart started pounding for a whole other reason.

As if we shared a thought, our mouths crashed together as we wrapped our arms around each other. I parted my lips, and Preston plunged his tongue inside. I groaned at the taste of him. It was familiar and welcoming in a way I hadn’t felt in way too long.

And that was what lifted the sexual cloud that had descended on my brain.

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