Doctor With Benefits: A Fake Engagement Billionaire Romance by L.A. Pepper

Author:L.A. Pepper [Pepper, L.A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-01-19T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 10

Audrey

I was lying on my back, on a blanket in our favorite part of Riverside Park, staring up at the sky.

The sky was pure blue, with fluffy white clouds and just off to the west, the Hudson River shone silver. Overhead the trees were turning yellow and orange and everything smelled like childhood. It was perfect weather for sitting in the park enjoying oneself.

Except.

I wasn’t enjoying myself.

I should be enjoying myself. It was one of our traditional Bradford-Prescott family picnics, with picnic baskets made by Alice with all our favorites.

There were more of us now, husbands and wives and children, so there were more favorites; smoky manchego and chorizo quiche, heirloom tomato salad, olive tapenade, shrimp salad with lime cilantro dressing, and fresh spring rolls with peanut sauce, along with more child-friendly peanut butter and jelly sandwiches cut into dinosaurs, mac and cheese with and without crumb topping, every kind of fresh fruit imaginable cut up into toddler-size pieces, and the inevitable green smoothies.

For some reason I had lost my appetite. I almost never had a problem eating, so it was troubling.

I put the book I’d been unable to read– a mystery where I was pretty sure the murderer was the husband’s affair– over my eyes and groaned.

“What’s the matter, Audrey?”

I dropped the book to the blanket and turned to India, the stepsister closest to my own age. She was sipping green juice and keeping one eye on her year-old twins, who were over in the park playing with her husband, Jamie.

All the kids were in the playground. From our eleven-year-old half sibling twins, to Poppy and Joel’s youngest, six-month-old Malachi, tucked into a carrier on Joel’s chest.

I sat up.

Actually, not only were all the kids in the park, but all the men in the family were too. The only people on the blanket with me were my sisters, both step and in-law: Poppy, India, Liv and Naomi. I looked back and forth between the women, and the chaos happening in the playground.

They all had husbands. And they all had kids. They would know how to deal with my problem, wouldn’t they?

And they wouldn’t tease me the way Ty and Benji and even Jamie would. Meanwhile, Joel would probably threaten Jeremy and assign me a full-time bodyguard. He could be a little overprotective. But none of them were here to listen to my misery.

“What is it?” Poppy was staring at me, concerned. She was the oldest of us and tried to take over the place of our missing stepmother. I knew that. Even though I didn’t really need a mother’s advice. I needed a woman’s advice, one who knew about love affairs and strange feelings.

“I have a question.” I sat up and crossed my legs, turning to them more fully. “A problem that I can’t figure out a solution to.”

They all looked at each other. “I hope it’s not about curing cancer, because I don’t think we can help.” India smiled and leaned forward.

“Don’t be ridiculous, I wouldn’t ask you for science advice.

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