Page 2 of His Curvy Temptress

He drums his fingers on the edge of the chair. “Her parents died, there was no one to care for her so she ended up in care. She’s fifteen and has bounced from home to home. We’re hoping that she’ll settle here.”

Fifteen. Fuck. I’m so fucking screwed.

“She looks older than fifteen,” I comment.

He sighs. “Yeah, that’s one of the reasons that she’s ran from some of the other homes. Assholes thinking that she’ll do whatever they want.”

My fists clench at the fucking thought of someone mistreating her. “I’m happy for you,” I tell him honestly. I know that they’ve both wanted kids, and for them to open their hearts and homes to foster children means that they can offer a hell of a lot of children the safety and security of being their foster parents.

“I’m gonna call mom and dad later, Alexis is nervous meeting them.”

I scoff. “Those two find out that there’s a kid here, they’ll be over fucking joyed. Hell, knowing mom, she’ll stop off at a store and buy Alexis’s crap she doesn’t need just to try and make her feel welcome.”

Andrew chuckles. “Yep, that’s why we’re not telling them until they get here. I won’t let them overwhelm her. We don’t want her to be scared. This is her home and we want her to feel safe and secure here.”

Which means she doesn’t need me lusting over her.

Fuck.

There’s something wrong with me, the girl is fifteen, and I’m twenty-eight.

I need to keep my distance from her.

TWO

ALEXIS

Present Day

“Hey baby,” Mom greets me, her face pale and gaunt. She’s lost a lot of weight recently.

Dad gives me a soft smile from the couch beside her before turning his gaze back to the TV.

There’s been a weird vibe around the house lately, and I know that they’re keeping things from me. Whenever I walk into a room, they both stop talking or they’ll quickly change the subject. I’ve seen Mom crying a lot, but when I ask her about it, she tells me she’s just being silly. Dad’s been home a lot more, he’s watching Mom like a hawk, almost as if he’s scared she’ll vanish.

It’s been six years since they brought me here, in those six years, I found my home. A place that is filled with love and warmth. A place that I wasn’t scared to fall asleep in. I actually found somewhere that I could be me. It took me five years to find that place, but I eventually found it. Andrew and Maggie adopted me six months after I got here. Once the adoption went through, I stopped calling them Andrew and Maggie and started to call them mom and dad.

I take a seat opposite them and take a deep breath. “I’m not blind,” I begin. “I know that there’s something going on. I’m not a child, and I’d appreciate it if you stopped treating me like one.”

They share a glance. “Okay,” Mom sighs. “I know you’re right and that you should have been told, but we’ve not wanted to worry you.”

My stomach drops, and my heart starts to pound. “What’s going on?” I ask.

“Your mom’s not well,” Dad tells me, reaching for her hand.

My brows knit together. “Not well? What do you mean?”

“I have cancer, honey. I have stage four breast cancer.”

I swallow hard. “What?” I breathe, unable to believe what I’m hearing. This can’t be right. No way.

“Honey,” Maggie whispers, her eyes shining with tears. “I know that it’s a shock.”

“How bad?” I ask, my voice trembling. I should have known that it was bad, I should have realized that it was awful. Mom’s life has been thrown into chaos in the past few months. She’s not working, she’s lost weight, and she’s barely out of the house.

“Bad,” Dad replies. “We’ve seen multiple specialists. There’s no cure.”

My blood turns ice cold. “No,” I whimper. “There has to be a cure.”

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