Page 53 of The Sculptor

“Will that help you talk about what we’re going to do about Langston?”

I shrug, lying back against the pillows, naked. “We can always try and see what happens. You never know what might make me chatty.”

She laughs but climbs over my hips, hovering just where I want her. “Now, tell me what’s going on in that pretty head of yours, Dr. Potter.”

Gah, her tits really are perfection—smooth, pear-shaped globes with pretty pink nipples, which are currently at attention for me.

Langston was such a fucker, wanting to change them.

I reach out to stroke the nipple that is now mine, but Ray stops me, catching my hand before it can take purchase. “We need a plan, Duke. What are we going to do about Langston now that you refuse…”

I grin. “Now that I refuse to share?”

I smack her hand away and grab her hips, yanking her up my chest, her pussy hovering dangerously close to my greedy mouth.

“Yeah.” She breathes heavily. “He’ll come for your practice—for you. He won’t take it lightly that you made him look bad.”

I did more than make him look bad. I married his fiancée.

Inhaling the scent that is my wife, I grin. “Gah, I really fucking hope so.”

She slaps my chest. “I’m serious, Duke. What are we going to do?”

At that, my face turns serious. “Wearen’t going to do anything. You’re tapping out of this fight.”

“I’ll be damned,” she says with outrage, trying to wiggle off me, but my grip is too tight.

“You did your part, Ray. You carried this burden and fought with honor. You kept our family’s memory alive.” I secretly love the glare she pins me with. “Now, you have to share the battle. It’s my turn.”

“This is our battle.Ours, not yours alone,” she insists.

Sitting up, I hold her angry fists to my chest. “Tell me something, Ray.”

I wait for her to calm down and relax before I continue.

“What happens if we find Jude, and he’s had a wonderful life with his adopted family?”

She shakes her head, but I keep moving forward. These are hard questions, but ones we must ask ourselves before we pursue this adventure—Langston’s involvement or not.

“What if he doesn’t want to see us? What if he doesn’t know he’s adopted or wants nothing to do with us? What will you do then?”

A tear streaks down her face, and we watch it fall to my stomach. “Then I’ll let him go, knowing he’s happy and lived a good life, despite not knowing us.”

I arch a brow.

“What?” she snaps. “You don’t believe me?”

“I didn’t say that. I just want to know that once this is over, and we find our son one way or another, will you still feel the same aboutourrelationship if we walk away without Jude?”

She may have held on to a dream all these years, but what happens when that dream doesn’t become a reality?

“Because I won’t set you free, Ray. I’m selfish enough to keep you in either scenario. But I want to know if there is hope that you could love me without him in our lives?”

Because I’ve seen his death certificate.

I’ve seen where his ashes are scattered.

Holly Ford might have lived with guilt over her relationship with her daughter.

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