Rogue Wave Isabel Jolie (books for 20 year olds .TXT) 📖

around our feet where she’d no doubt kicked it. She’d been up several times during the night getting water. She and Poppy had had quite a bit to drink by the time we met up with her at Jules. When we got home, we’d had drunken, sloppy, loud sex. I had every intention of encouraging her to go out with Poppy more often.

I kissed her shoulder and caressed her bare buttocks. The rough pads of my fingers against her smooth skin caused her to stir. She groaned and pressed a hand against her head. She wasn’t so young that she was impervious to the after-effects of alcohol. I found her some Advil and refreshed her water, then went downstairs to get the coffee started.

I picked up my phone to check email and news and discovered a text from Gregg asking about morning plans. I’d gone so long without using the phone much, or even having family in my address book, that I responded with a smile. Ludicrous. Luna came up behind me and pressed a kiss to my shoulder.

“What are you guys going to do today?” she asked, reading the message over my shoulder.

“I don’t know. I suppose he’ll want to go to brunch. He’s into that kind of thing. Maybe I can get him to go out surfing. He used to be good. But I’d bet he hasn’t been up on a board since high school.” I circled so my back pressed on the counter and I could pull her against me. “How are you feeling?”

“Oh, I’ll be fine. I just need some OJ.”

“I don’t have any, but I can run get some. The market should be open by now.”

“That’s okay. I have some at home, and I think I might crash. Sleep a little later and then spend the day working on a paper.”

“You know, you’re welcome to take your nap here, even work from here. I have plenty of room.” Even when I asked, I knew I sounded like a clingy lover, and maybe I was evolving into one. I didn’t like the idea of her being away from me. Even if we weren’t going to spend the day together, I’d prefer for her to be in my space.

She stood on tiptoes and pressed her lips to my chin, then patted my chest. “You need to spend time with your brother. And I’ve got work to do. But, you know, you’ve got to actually text him back. That’s how the phone works. Once you read the text, you type a response and hit send.”

I pinched her smart ass, and she grinned as she slipped on her flip-flops. I followed her outside like an obedient seal and leaned down to kiss her when she got behind the wheel.

She smiled and drove away, waving goodbye with her golden hair flying out behind her, carefree. The farther she drove away, the more she looked like any one of the teenagers who zipped by on golf carts, young, easygoing, and free.

Chapter 20

Tate

“Hey, sweetie pie! I miss you. I’m here with your Uncle Adrian, and he says he’s going to come up and visit with you soon.” Gregg grinned at me.

A few heads turned our way out on the deck of the Sandpiper, mainly because Gregg almost shouted into the phone in an entirely different tone as if he was talking to a dog. When he hung up, he shrugged his apology.

“Sorry. I’d offer you the phone to speak to her, but she’s three. It’s kind of a one-sided phone conversation. She’s much better on FaceTime, but the signal out here, it doesn’t work.”

“No worries.” I couldn’t imagine I’d have anything to say to a toddler I’d never met, anyway. “What you said, about me seeing her soon, you want me to visit?”

“That’s one of the reasons I’m here. Williams told me I shouldn’t be handling this through the courts. He pointed out our parents wouldn’t want this.”

“I would’ve never hired a lawyer, but your lawyer told me I needed to get one. You get that, right?” I ask, completely exasperated.

“Yeah. And we’ll still need lawyers, most likely, to wrap this up. But you and I can work out the specifics on the business. Because of the timing of your return, I assumed the worst.”

“You always do.”

He sipped his coffee as he looked out over the marina, giving no hint he heard me. When he set his mug down, he slid it back and rested his arms on the table.

“You think one day you might have kids?”

“Save the speech.”

“No. I was going to make a point. Once you have kids, you’re going to understand so much more about what I did and why. The company isn’t just about me, it’s about them. It’s about their future.”

I crumpled up a napkin and leaned back in my chair. “Actually, I’ve applied to adopt.”

His jaw dropped open.

“I doubt the application will be approved. Or I don’t know. Maybe it will be. I have a lawyer working with the adoption agency on it. One day I think it’ll happen, the next I don’t think it will.” The adoption remained the one thing out there that might be me making a difference. It would mean my time away would be for something.

“I’m so lost right now. Why would you apply to adopt a kid? You’re living out here like a…”

“Vagabond? Loser? Where are you going with that one?” We’d been having a good conversation, but his judgment always set me off. My muscles tensed.

“No, it’s…” He scratched his neck with his mouth still partially open, then he pushed his chair back and sat straight, looking me in the eye. “You seem like you are trying to find yourself. When I think of someone adopting a child, I think of someone who is stable and maybe married. I suppose that’s not required, but…you don’t even have a job right now.”

I wanted to fight him, but he wasn’t wrong. “I didn’t apply the way people here