Tempted by Love by Foster Melissa

Author:Foster, Melissa [Foster, Melissa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Romance, Humour, Adult, Contemporary
Amazon: B084P1G82Q
Goodreads: 51262761
Publisher: World Literary Press
Published: 2020-09-09T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

“DON’T EAT IT.” Hadley thrust her hand toward Jock with a palm full of peas and a scowl on her face.

Jock eyed Daphne with a coy smile, and she melted for the hundredth time since he’d come over. They were eating dinner, and when Hadley had refused to eat her peas, Jock had made a game out of it.

He moved his mouth toward Hadley’s hand and exclaimed, “My peas!”

She squealed and threw the peas into her mouth, giggling as she gobbled them down, making them all laugh.

Daphne couldn’t remember ever having so much fun during dinner. Just like at the pier when Jock had traded ice cream cones with Hadley, Daphne imagined how easily being with children probably would have been for him had he not lost Liam. She was sad for the son he’d missed out on raising and for the imprint it had left behind. But Jock was proving to be one of the strongest men she’d ever known.

“You do it,” Hadley said.

Jock dutifully put peas in his hand.

“Mine!” Hadley shouted, leaning forward.

Jock threw the peas into his mouth, making growling and chewing noises behind his hand. Hadley cracked up, and they continued playing until Hadley had finished all of her peas and asked for more. Daphne had never heard Hadley laugh so hard, and it filled her with joy. She loved having this time with the three of them, talking about their days and sharing laughs. She and Jock had talked about his writing, and she’d enjoyed learning about his writing process. He still wasn’t divulging story line specifics, but his enthusiasm bled into everything he said and did. Except, she’d noticed, for his lunch with Jules, which he’d been tight-lipped about.

As Daphne dished more peas onto Hadley’s plate, she said, “I really liked Jules.”

“Jules is pretty great.”

“She seems to really want you to go to your grandmother’s party.”

“I know she does. It’s a complicated situation.”

“All of life is complicated,” Daphne said. “Look what it takes to make Hadley eat peas.”

He gave her one of those wanting smiles that sent prickles over her skin and played another round of the pea game with Hadley.

Daphne knew this was a touchy subject, but now that she’d met Jules, his family no longer felt like faceless strangers in the way that people she’d heard about but had not met sometimes did. Seeing Jules light up at the sight of him and hearing her begging him to go to the party made Daphne think about her relationships with her own siblings. She took their closeness for granted, and now she realized how lucky she was to be able to do that. She had so many questions. What was the rest of his family like? Had they taken sides between him and Archer? Did they all accept the distance Jock put between them, or were some of them actively trying to get him to go the party, too?

Choosing her words carefully, she said, “I can’t imagine what it would have been like if my brother wouldn’t come to see me when I lived in North Carolina.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.