Page 28 of Starting Over with You
CHAPTER
ELEVEN
Kenni
My mouth is dry, my head is pounding, and I’m pretty sure I threw out my shoulder when I whipped my arm around my head a little too hard to “Unbelievable” by EMF.
But my heart is full.
Especially when I open my eyes to a pair of bright blue ones that belong to my sweet niece. Her eyes are such a gorgeous sky blue that makes her name even more special. When I felt someone get into bed with me, a bed I don’t know how I ended up in, it jarred me awake. I was about to complain before I realized who was next to me.
While I had kids before Missy, and my heart belongs to my boys, there is something insanely special about the bond between an aunt and her niece. I was there when Skyye was born, I cried all over her as I held her so close to my heart and prayed to God to give her all her hopes and dreams. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t talk to her, by text or FaceTime. I love this girl, and I know she loves me.
She reaches out, moving a piece of hair out of my eyes. “You look like roadkill.”
I scoff, stretching out as I groan. Yeah, I messed up my shoulder. “I’m sure I look like I’ve been ridden hard and put up wet.”
Skyye snorts at that as I roll back to my side to gaze at her. She’s so, so stunning, and it kills me that she isn’t a baby anymore. Skyye is her daddy made over, with the shape of his eyes but the color of Missy’s and mine. Her hair is dark this month, her natural color that matches Dean’s dark brown. It curls along her temples like his does. She changes her hair more than she changes her underwear, but her parents don’t care. I love that. Let the girl be expressive. Just like Dean, she has the cherubic cheeks that made him look like a baby when we were younger.
Now, though… Jesus, he is all man.
I wasn’t expecting him to look so fucking sexy.
I’m pretty sure Dean Moore came out of his momma and was named the most gorgeous baby in all of Tennessee. But the man I saw last night?
Those tight cargo pants?
His even tighter bright-red firefighting shirt?
The boots?
The crinkles along his eyes?
The stache?
I mean, hot damn, I couldn’t get a warning?
It’s totally unfair how good-looking he is. It should be illegal, honestly. Especially with his being the fire chief. He’s more than likely out there setting fire to all the women’s undies in Thistlebrook.
I know mine were seared the moment I met his gaze.
I’m instantly embarrassed by the heat that gathers in my core while lying in bed with his child. I close my eyes and moan loudly. “Just kill me dead.”
Skyye snorts. “No way. You’re my favorite aunt.”
I peek at her through hooded eyes. “You probably say the same to Sadie.”
She beams. “Never.”
“Liar,” I accuse as she giggles softly. She sits up and hands me two pills with a bottle of water. Once I take it, she hands me a latte from Noelle’s Nibbles. My eyes widen with excitement before I take a sip of the magical caffeine that only Noelle can make. When we were younger, she’d have me over to try all her little creations. Her dad was amazing, always bought her the best coffee and made her different syrups himself. I was jealous of how much her daddy loved her and went out of his way for her since mine didn’t do that. Reminds me, I need to go see her. But first, I need more of this coffee. “God bless you.”
“Dad brought it over for you,” she tells me with a little smirk. “He also brought you some ibuprofen, since we only have Tylenol, and a bear claw.”
I swallow the sip I just took, and my heart starts to race. Tylenol has never sat right in my belly, and Dean knows that. There isn’t a moment I have when Dean wasn’t taking care of us. It’s wild to me because he’s younger than his sister; he should be spoiled rotten, but that’s not Dean. He has always looked out for us and cared for us.
Case in point, the coffee I’m sucking down, wishing it were an IV instead.
“Your dad is a good egg.”
