An Accidental Family by Ami Weaver

Author:Ami Weaver
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2013-09-10T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINE

IT DIDN’T TAKE all that long to make a huge pile. Ben pulled some sticks out. “When was the last time you jumped in a leaf pile?”

Shame flushed Lainey’s cheeks. “Well, never.”

He stared at her. “No way? All those trees on your parents’ land and you never played in a leaf pile?”

“No. My mother—you’d have to know my mother. She’s not big on dirt.” That sounded sad, but it was the truth.

“Oh.” There was a wealth of understanding in the word. “I see.”

She looked at him in surprise. “You do?”

He nodded. “You need to experience it before the baby gets here. Let me make sure all the sticks are out.”

He poked in the pile and she watched with a combination of amusement and exasperation. After extracting a few more sticks, he fluffed the pile with his rake and turned, the satisfaction on his face making her laugh.

“Does it pass muster?” she teased gently.

He nodded. “You’re not too far along for this, are you?”

On impulse, Lainey unzipped her vest and ran her hand over her very slight baby bump. The tenderness in his eyes as he watched made her breath catch. “Am I jumping out of a tree?”

His gaze jerked up. “Of course not.”

“Then I’ll be fine.” She leapt lightly into the pile, landing on her knees. The crackle of the leaves and their fresh scent invigorated her. She laughed and threw an armful of leaves in the air, then tried to cover her head when they came raining back down.

“Incoming!” Ben called, and before she could scramble too far over he came crashing into the pile with her. He gave her a big grin—the first she’d seen with no shadows, no pain in his eyes—and tossed a handful of leaves at her. “So, what do you think?”

She threw some back at him. “It was worth the wait.”

He laughed. “Yeah? Awesome.” He turned and flopped back, folding his hands under his head. “I’m guessing you never looked at cloud shapes either?”

“Stop reminding me how deprived my childhood was,” she scolded him with a laugh, and he snaked out a hand and pulled her head down to his. The sweetness of this kiss after the passion of the earlier one threw her.

When she pulled back, searching his face with her gaze, he touched her cheek, twining his fingers in her hair. “I’m sorry,” he said.

She arched a brow. “For what?”

“For all you missed. I assumed, growing up as you did, you had everything.”

She shrugged and pulled a leaf out of his hair. “I had everything material you could want. Only I didn’t actually want it. I didn’t get time with my parents. But I see now my mom didn’t know how to raise us. She was so caught up in perceptions that just letting me be a kid wasn’t possible. She meant well, but...” She sat up in the leaves. “We turned out okay, Kevin and I. Him more than me,” she added with a little sigh, thinking of her struggling shop, her pregnancy and her money woes.

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