Quit Bein' Ugly Vale, Lynn (popular books of all time .txt) 📖

I rolled my eyes.

I’d be living this up if it were me.

Cookies. Ice cream. White bread. Banana bread. French bread. Sourdough bread.

Any and all carbs would be welcome.

“That look on your face makes me think you want me fat.” He chuckled as he walked with me out of the room.

I wrapped my arm around his bare torso and kept pace with him, surprised to find everyone on my couches waiting for us.

“Sorry,” Croft said as he moved toward the couch where his sister was laid out. “I fell asleep. Move over before I sit on you.”

Raleigh moved, obviously knowing he would do it.

She stood up completely and went to snuggle with her husband who was on the oversized chair across from us.

I sat down on the very corner of the couch, and Croft surprised me by not only laying down, but moving to where his head was in my lap.

“Got a blanket?” he asked, shivering slightly.

I reached for the one that was on the arm of the couch and unfolded it over him.

He turned so that his face was pressed against my stomach and then closed his eyes.

Before long, he was asleep again.

I studied his face, my fingers automatically going to his hair where I sifted them through his lustrous locks.

His face was peaceful now. The shadows of pain no longer there now that he was asleep. My stomach unclenched at the sight.

When I looked up, it was to find Raleigh and Ezra grinning at me.

“What?” I asked them.

“Nothing,” Ezra said at the same time that Raleigh all but cheered. “You’re going to be my sister!”

I was already shaking my head.

“I don’t know about that…” I started.

But it was Mrs. Crusie who said, “I’ve never seen my son so comfortable with a woman before in my life. And saying that, I’ve seen him with a lot of them. But you, my girl? You’re special. I’ve never in my life seen him act the way he’s acted with you over the last hour. Not once.”

I felt my insides warm.

“I think it’s the pain meds,” I hedged, not wanting to think too much into what I was feeling.

Because thinking led to thoughts of ‘what was to come’ and I didn’t know what was to come for us.

Croft was an enigma to me. A beautiful trophy to look at, but never to touch.

And he might’ve given me the time of day today, but I wasn’t kidding myself. Just because we had sex didn’t mean that he would be there forever and ever.

It meant for now.

Which sucked because the more time I spent with him, the more I realized that he did mean the world to me.

That he was special.

That… I loved him.

Shit.

“I ordered pizza,” Mrs. Crusie interrupted my thoughts. “I hope that you like pepperoni, because that’s all anyone in this family likes. The weirdos.”

I snickered. “I actually like just about anything on mine. Though, admittedly, meat lover’s is my favorite.”

“Oh, thank God.” Ezra groaned. “I thought I was going to be stuck eating pepperoni pizza for the rest of my life. With you here, we can share a large now and I won’t feel bad.”

I grinned. “Next time.”

He winked.

“My kids and husband are weird,” Mrs. Crusie continued. “But I’ve gotten to the point where I just go along with it, because it would take me a week to get through a pizza on my own. And I guess Ezra just wasn’t enough of a reason to get the good stuff.”

I snickered at Ezra’s look. “I resent that.”

“So tell me about your cruise?” I suggested. “I heard that there were some storms.”

Ezra wrinkled his nose as Raleigh started to laugh.

“Storms are an understatement,” she said. “There was a tropical depression that turned into that hurricane that barreled down the coast. The ship was rocking so bad that at one point we almost went vertical. Did you know that everything in a ship is nailed down besides food, drinks, and whatever the passengers bring on board? You want to know why? So they don’t fucking die.”

“Language,” Mrs. Crusie admonished her daughter.

“I almost died. If that’s not worth a fuck, I don’t know what is,” Raleigh countered.

“It was pretty bad,” Mr. Crusie admitted. “There was one point on that last day that I seriously thought that I might not make it home. The worst part was knowing that my grandson was on board with me. That was fucking awful.”

They were silent for a few long moments, and I thought about my own parents.

With them both being dead for a while now, I only had Flint to think about. But just the thought of Flint and Camryn being on a ship that might sink made me feel somewhat sick myself.

The doorbell rang, saving us from any more talk about death and almost death.

Ezra got up to get the door and came back with four pizza boxes.

He set them out on the table between all my chairs, and I felt for the first time that my living room furniture was being put to use.

It made me feel good to have everyone here.

Flint and Camryn, when they made it over, just didn’t completely fill the room like the Crusies were doing.

Pizza was passed out, and a slice was handed to me from Raleigh.

I took a bite and moaned.

“Oh, man,” I groaned as I ate. “I haven’t had anything this good in a while.”

Pizza was a no-no when you owned a CrossFit gym.

At least, according to Flint it was.

I tried to set a good example, but when I was in the privacy of my own home, sometimes that didn’t happen.

Ezra chuckled. “It’s been a while for me, too. Though these last few days I’ve eaten more than I have in the last few months.”

“I heard that cruise ships will do that to you,” I admitted, taking another bite.

A pepperoni slid off and landed directly on Croft’s forehead.

He blinked his eyes open and stared at me.

“What is that?” he asked, his eyes crossing trying to see what was