Excerpt
Tori parked her car near the curb and sighed at the car in her spot. Christian was home early and he had company. That was the last thing she wanted to deal with.
Her Friday night date had met with disaster. The guy was completely open to the entire situation but their personalities hadn’t meshed. He found her sarcasm and sense of humor annoying and felt the need to tell her that.
After the fourth insult, Tori called it a night and went home. She stopped by her parents’ place on the way back to get the kids. Her parents had insisted they stay, but she didn’t see the point and wouldn’t explain why she’d changed her mind.
The kids were disappointed at the rejection as well and were uncharacteristically subdued the whole weekend.
Tori had talked Sandra out of another blind date. Enough was enough. It wasn’t meant to be and she was sick of looking. She was already married and that should be enough.
She gathered her belongings and went to the house, hoping Christian’s friend wouldn’t stay for very long. Laughter drew her attention when she entered the house and she looked in the living room at Christian and his guest. “Hello, Brent.”
“Hey, Tori.”
“I should have known it was you, but I didn’t pay attention to the rental car decal.” She found her forced smile came easier. Brent she could deal with.
He was one of Christian’s closest friends and like a part of the family. Once a month he would crash on their couch for two or three days. It wasn’t annoying since the kids loved hearing him talk about his job. He was a trucker who hauled cross-country. Without fail or prompting, he always bought the kids souvenirs—usually key chains or magnets—and took lots of pictures of the sights.
Tate had actually convinced her and Christian to let him ride with Brent for a month during the summer. Brent swore up and down that Tate would be perfectly safe with him, albeit a little bored. He’d even offered to take all three, but Nia and Cory weren’t interested in the truck, just the presents. Tate didn’t care about boredom and he’d bugged her and Christian non-stop until they finally said yes. He then proceeded to remind them every month so they wouldn’t forget.
Tori would never forget about being able to offload one of her monsters for an entire month. She only hoped Tate wouldn’t suddenly change his mind…or Brent for that matter.
“I almost thought you forgot about us. We didn’t see you last month. The kids wouldn’t stop asking about you,” she said.
“Yeah, sorry about that. I ended up on the wrong side of the country when my down time started. After giving my dispatcher hell, I said fuck it and just worked straight through.”
“Sounds rough.”
Brent flashed a winning smile. Not a perfect smile but the wattage more than made up for it. She always told Brent to smile or else he’d scare people. The man was a six-foot wall of solid muscle. If he stood with his arms at his sides, his body formed a perfect rectangle…almost.
She’d seen him without his shirt. He had the six-pack abs and the muscled forearms most women went for—including her. But with clothes on, he didn’t have that much of a manly figure. He was a box with a shaved head, brown eyes and a farmer’s tan that was darker on his left side than his right because of his profession.
“It’s a living and a learning experience. My dispatcher made damn sure I was on my way home when my down time rolled around this month. But enough about me. How’s your hunt for a new man going?”
Tori’s purse slipped from her fingers a few seconds after her jaw dropped. Fifty or so plausible reactions came to mind but embarrassment overruled them all.
“You told Brent,” she screeched. She sent a scathing look Christian’s way before leaving the room.
In her hast to get up the stairs, she nearly fell back down them. The railing helped her along her way and she made her escape. She swung the bedroom door as hard as she could but it didn’t slam. Christian had caught it.
“Get out,” she yelled.
“I didn’t think you would mind.”
“Yeah sure. I don’t care if all your friends know that I’m completely undesirable, even to my own husband. Yes, thank you for sharing that.”
“That’s not what I—”
“Can I interrupt before things get out of hand?” Brent asked. He entered the bedroom but stayed near the door. “Tori, Chris and me—”
“I don’t want to hear it!” She wouldn’t mind the floor opening up beneath her right then. She faced the bed, wishing Christian wasn’t blocking the path to the bathroom. “I hope you both had a good laugh at my expense.” That had to be what they were laughing about when she got home. Once Brent left, she would seriously consider taking Cory’s suggestion and divorcing Christian.
This had to be the worst February ever. At the rate she was going, Valentine’s Day was going to be horribly depressing, not that she was ever very fond of the holiday to begin with.
Brent said, “We weren’t laughing at you.”
“I’m not laughing, so it couldn’t have been with me.”
“We weren’t laughing about that at all. Christian told me the situation and we were laughing at how the kids reacted. I’m glad he told me about it, though.” Brent put a hand on her shoulder and turned her so she faced him.
She resisted at first then allowed him to move her with an exasperated sigh. “What—”
Her question was cut off when Brent kissed her. Shock kept her from responding. He rubbed his thumb back and forth over her cheek then pulled back, ending the kiss.
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