Another

I froze when she stepped closer, but naturally moved my hands to her waist when she raised on her toes to press a kiss to the corner of my mouth. I was so shocked or else I would have held her to me and taken more than that tiny peck. She stepped back and gave a shy smile, looking behind her to see Jared and Hanna gawking. She brushed them off, gave me one last smile and left.

I looked over to the two still staring. Hanna’s eyes were downcast, and Jared had a brow raised in question.

I adjusted my suit jacket and pulled my shoulders back, feeling about ten feet tall. I smiled like getting a kiss goodbye from Carina was the most natural thing in the world and headed back into my office where I could relive her lips pressed to mine for the rest of the day.

At least until I could get home and get a hell of a lot more than just a peck.

16 Carina

A few days later, I still couldn’t stop reliving every millisecond of my lips pressed to Ian’s. It wasn’t even his full lips, just the corner of his mouth and I was an overheated mess each time the memory slammed into me.

Somehow, I’d been able to avoid him and that conversation he’d wanted to have. I’d been pacing back and forth across my apartment that day waiting for him to come home and instead my phone had buzzed on the coffee table, letting me know he had a meeting he couldn’t miss and would be back late. Then we became ships passing in the night, or at least passing around Audrey’s sleep schedule, which had been extra rough the past couple of days. She’d been pissed about something and kept me up.

So, instead of talking about how I’d almost dissolved into a puddle of lust when he touched me or how I kissed him, he let me sleep while he took some baby shifts.

I knew it had been wrong to kiss him, but I’d seen Hanna watching, and I remembered the fiery burn of jealousy that had consumed me when I’d walked into his office to find them laughing and her holding my baby. I’d needed to make a point.

A laugh tried to bubble up as I realized how damaged I was from Jake leaving me for another person—his friend. Hanna was Ian’s friend. Did he like her more than me?

This time, I did laugh. Could I have sounded any more like an immature girl in high school?

“Carina, what’s so funny?” my Aunt Virginia asked.

I blinked, snapping out of a daze and looked at her tilted head across the table. My aunts had called and suggested we get some lunch out so they could see Audrey and have mimosas.

“She’s probably thinking about the delicious man-meat waiting for her at home,” Aunt Vivian muttered.

“Oh, my goodness, Vivian,” Violet scolded. I gave her a smile of thanks, but she made me want to take it back immediately. “Don’t call her out on her dirty daydreams we all know she’s having. She’s blushing now. If she wants to fantasize in the middle of a restaurant, let the girl have a moment.”

“Nah,” Vivian responded, resting her chin on her hand. “Carina, why don’t you tell us all about your daydreams about Mr. tall, dark, and sexy.”

Virginia shook her head, smiling down at the table, not stopping them, but thankfully, not joining.

“Hell, we know how committed I am to Gloria, and even I find myself wanting to daydream about him,” Vera chimed in.

“Come on, details,” Vivian pleaded. “Just one. How big is he?”

I coughed and did my best to glare at her. She shrugged and finished off her second mimosa.

“All right, you old hags. That’s enough,” Virginia finally stepped in.

“Thank you, Aunt Virginia.” I could always count on her to save me.

However, I could also count on her to call me out on the serious topics. “All jokes aside, what’s going on with you two?” she asked.

Keeping my eyes glued to my plate, I went for innocence. “Nothing.” It wasn’t a lie. Nothing was going on between us. We were surviving together, but the more accustomed we became to our situation, the more opportunities arose.

“Okay,” she said slowly. “What do you want going on between you two?”

I peeked up from under my lashes at four sets of blue eyes staring back at me, and I knew I wasn’t getting out of this.

“I don’t know. Honestly. Audrey’s all I can focus on right now.”

“Do you want more than the partner you have now?” Violet asked. “Do you care for him?”

“Of course, he’s Audrey’s father.”

“Listen,” Vivian cut in. “You can have a kid with someone, and not care about them, trust me.” Vivian had a son from her first marriage, and he was kind of a douche—like his dad, Vivian’s ex-husband.