Page 18 of Tempt Me Forever

My sister chuckled, handing her to me. "I can't fight you on it. I have been hogging her."

"That's right, come to Aunt Kimberly. I know I'm your favorite," I murmured in Rose's ear.

"I heard that," Reese said as she walked over to join Aunt Lena, helping her serve up the pie.

I loved visiting my aunt and uncle. It felt like home, even though they didn’t live here when I was a child. They used to live in a huge house surrounded by a vineyard about an hour away from Chicago. Reese and I went there every day after school with Gran. Then later into the evening, when Dad would finally get home from work, a driver would take us back to our house.

I was convinced that most nights, Dad didn't even know if we were home or not. The years after losing our mom were very hard on him. In fact, Reese and I were so young, we could barely remember her. Dad loved her very much, and I wasn't sure back then that he'd manage to recover at all. He threw himself into work, and it became his refuge. Honestly, I was grateful it wasn't something worse, like alcohol.

Once we were out of the house, Dad moved to London. He remarried recently and shortly thereafter had a baby girl. The news came as a shock to all of us, since he hadn't even told us he was dating, let alone that he got married.

One day, I spontaneously jumped on the Eurostar to London and took him out to lunch. He'd been so nervous and coy that I'd almost been afraid he was going to tell me he was terminally ill. That’s when he sprang on me that I was going to have a baby sister. I'd been pleased, despite the shock of it all, but I wanted my dad to be happy. I didn't begrudge him our childhood. He did the best he could. But having an absentee father left its mark on Reese and me.

I kissed Rose's head, inhaling her sweet scent, then went to the table, needing my piece of pie. I was side-eyeing everyone, already prepared to defend my time with Rose if need be, but no one attempted to take her away from me. They'd probably seen me watching Reese like a hawk earlier.

I loved that we got together so often, though it had been about three weeks since the last time. We all spent Christmas together, and everyone had their plans for New Year's, but this was the first get-together in the new year.

Lena handed me a plate with a generous piece of pie, winking at me. She knew all about my addictions and had no problem enabling me. It was one of the reasons I loved her so much.

After taking my plate, I went to the couch and sat next to Gran. She looked great! She was super active for her age. She still went to The Happy Place a few times a week. It was the first ever bookstore she and grandfather opened, and she kept it when they sold all the other stores.

"You look good with a baby on your hip," she said.

I kissed Rose's head. "I do, don't I? I should take the little one more often to babysit and have fun. I can't wait for her to grow up a bit."

"Why?" Travis asked, appearing next to me.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" I asked. "That's between little Rose and me. She loves her aunt Kimberly, yes, she does. Look how snuggly she is in my arms."

"Oh, Kimberly, I hate to tell you this," Bonnie said, coming up next to Travis, "but I think Sam is still her favorite. No one's been able to get her to sleep as fast as he does."

"Challenge accepted."

I hadn't tried to put her to sleep, but I would do my best whenever the opportunity arose. I set my pie on the coffee table so I could grab a forkful every now and then.

"So, how are things with the new hire?" Gran asked, looking between Travis and me. "You seemed to think that he might give you a headache."

"No, I'm good with him, though he's a bit set in his ways," Travis said. "He was in a big hotel chain before joining with us. He keeps talking about implementing systems, and I think that's generally a good idea, but I don't want him to scare our team by introducing too much too fast."

"You don't have anything to add, Kimberly?" Gran asked.

I shrugged. "I still stand by everything I said at Christmas. He's not easy to work with. I think my instincts were right about that. He's still on probation."

Travis looked stunned. "He is? You didn't tell me that."

I cleared my throat. "Not on a professional level. I mean on a personal one."

Bonnie straightened up at that.

“Drake’s giving you a hard time? I want to know," Travis asked.

"No. If anything, I’m givinghima hard time," I replied. I loved Travis, but he was even quicker than me to jump the gun. Though I truly didn't mind the overprotective streak. "I'm very vocal about my disagreement with his methods. That tends to get a rise out of him."

It had been a week since our lunch together, and things had not improved.

Travis opened his mouth, then closed it again.

"How did I not get wind of that?" he finally asked.

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