“You found them!” Averi squeals when I pull their aprons out of the pantry. I had them hanging on the door.
“Yes, and I ironed them just for the night,” I admit. The smiles on their faces are priceless. They only get wider after I tie their aprons on.
“You don’t have one, Mommie,” Romi says with a tiny pout.
“It’s okay. I’ll try not to make a mess,” I tell her, then wink and kiss her cheek. “But guess what?”
“What?” she asks, curiosity replacing her pout.
“I got Nana’s recipe so we are making the toast with bacon and eggs.”
“Finally,” Averi exclaims and I laugh. “I’m mixing the sugar,” she says.
The next hour is amazingly curative for all our grieving hearts. We test the toast first, and when they both approve the first piece, I cook the bacon and together we scramble the eggs. When everything is finished, we sit in the living room, eat our perfect cinnamon toast, and just talk. They fill me in on every detail of school today and the glorious plans for Friday. I just laugh when I learn Romi promised her class special cookies from her MeeMee’s cookie shop.
“Why are we back here?”I ask Xai as he turns right instead of left toward the waterpark.
We are at Blue Mountain, one of the most popular tourist destinations in Crescent Falls. Here, the streets are lined with beautiful boutiques, specialty shops, and novelty food spots. On the actual mountain is the resort where my mom worked for years, with a huge hotel and casino. Behind the hotel and casino are cabins, many privately owned and some available to rent.
“Just wait,” is all he says while continuing in the wrong direction.
When we reach the main entrance for cabins, there’s a security gate. I look for an open area for him to U-turn but there isn’t one. I guess he doesn’t see one either because he drives up to the security gate. An older looking guard steps out and Xai lowers his window.
“Rental pass and ID, please,” he says.
“We just need to—” I begin but stop when Xai opens his visor and grabs a piece of paper and his driver’s license. As he hands it to the guard, my mouth drops open in pure surprise.
He got a rental?
When the guard takes the paper and Xai’s license to the booth, Xai turns to me with a sexy as hell, smug look on his handsome face. I merely smile back, speechless in awe.He rented a cabin for us.
“Enjoy your stay, Mr. Watts,” the guard says when he returns with Xai’s license and a keycard for the cabin. Your cabin is to the left right past the gate. The third one on the right.”
“Left, right, third one. Thanks,” Xai says, then turns to me. “Did you get that?”
“Yes,” I gush. “You got us a cabin for the night and it’s to the left, the third one on the right,” I say, smiling, showing all thirty-two pearly whites.This man.
Xai follows the directions and we pull into the small, pebbled driveway of the cabin. When he kills the engine, I lean over his middle console, plant my elbows, then purse my lips.
“Give me a kiss,” I say playfully.
“For what?” he asks with a slight smile.
“Do I need a reason to kiss my man?”
“Never but I just wanna know.”
“Kiss me because you’re the most thoughtful and loving man I know and I need to make sure you’re real,” I tell him.
“I’m real as shit,” he utters, then looks back at the girls. It’s so cute how he tries hard to curtail bad words around them. He’sgood though because they are both knocked out. It doesn’t take much to get them to sleep, especially not in a car.
“Then prove it,” I challenge and he accepts. His hand grips the back of my neck and he pulls me a little closer. His lips commandeer mine and he masters my challenge with his lips and tongue.
“That work?” He smirks.
“Absolutely.” I smile, then glance at the cabin. “Thank you so much for this. They are going to love it.”
“You good, love. No need to ever thank me. That pretty ass smile is thanks enough.” He pecks my lips then unlocks the doors. “You ready to wake them up?”
