“Molly told me. We'll eat together before you leave.” I let my fingers play over the planes of Sebastian’s face. His cheekbones, his jaw, his throat. “I’ll be here when you get back.”
“You wanted me tonight, didn’t you?” Sebastian grinned sleepily. “You wanted to tap my fine ass.”
“I did.” The fantasy of being inside him was a boner in progress. “We’ll get there someday.”
“Mmhm.” He smiled so sweetly I couldn’t help kissing his swollen lips again. When I could catch my breath, I left the room with Morrigan padding softly in my shadow.
Molly sat at the kitchen table with a glass of wine and a Clive Cussler novel. She glanced up at me and then went back to reading.
“I won’t ask,” she said. Sebastian had been a little loud.
“I won’t tell,” I replied, though I’d noticed the rising level of sexy noises at the time. I’d liked his cries way too much to stop them. “Hypothetically speaking, am I necessarily required to accept my heart’s desire if it collides with my bland but comfortable reality?”
“Would you like a glass of wine while we ponder that?” She held up her bottle—white this time—a pinot grigio.
“I’m beginning to sense a theme with you.” I opened the cupboard and retrieved a bottle of bourbon and a shot glass.
“I don’t work for the California wine board if that’s what you’re thinking.” She topped off her glass. “And to answer your question, reality’s totally overrated.”
Ask a silly question…
“Good talk.” Morrigan plopped onto my feet. “Ow. Morrigan, must you?”
My dog made herself comfortable in stages, wriggling, then crossing her paws one over the other, then finally placing her muzzle on them with a hearty sigh.
Molly watched the show. “That is a human in a dog suit.”
“Is not. I’ve checked.” I poured a shot and knocked it back. Then I poured a second.
“What’s got you lining up shots tonight?”
“Change is inevitable, isn’t it?” I spun the glass on the table clockwise. Counterclockwise. Maybe there was some combination I could dial and the answers would all become clear.
“Are you worried about falling for Sebastian because he’s a dude?” Molly asked. “How will your family take it?”
“Honestly? Tag and Ariel won’t care. My parents might, but I’m almost forty. That’s not what I’m worried about.” I hesitated before spilling my guts. “I haven’t seen my ex-wife or my kids since the divorce four years ago. I’m more ashamed than sad about how the marriage ended. What’s killing me is the way I left things with my kids…I didn’t even keep in touch.”
“That doesn’t sound like you,” she said gently. “Why would you do that?”
“I couldn’t be around them while I was in denial about my PTSD. So when things between me and their mom finally fell apart, I’d already put them through too much pain.”
“I’m sorry your family went through that.”
“My wife had someone else by then. A good man.” It hurt to think back on those awful final months. “My kids were scared of me.”
“Obviously you’ve had some breakthroughs since then.” She lifted her glass to her lips and drank. “More than just Morrigan, I mean.”
“Yes, but when I got better, I let things continue the way they were. I thought it’d be easier. They seemed happy with Serena and her new husband. All I could do for them was dredge up a painful past.”
“What does this have to do with Sebastian?” she asked. “Why is this an issue now?”
Why now?Because Serena would be at Artemis’s naming ceremony. But even without that, was it time—past time—that I made things right.
“Serena will be at a family event on Saturday. I’ll have to face her then.”
“At the Wiccaning?”
“Guess Tag invited you?” I asked.
