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One of his hands leftit down to the buckle of his belt Our gazes locked as I undid it along with the snap of his jeans I carefully lowered the zipper But when ers found the band of his boxer briefs, I hesitated, nervousness hitting me for the first time

I wanted to touch that part of him, wanted to knohat it felt like—what it would taste like This was one of thosewith Braxton

Sensinghis thu Sing hard, I shook my head, unable to find the words to tell him as in my head And my heart

Pulling my head down to his, he brushed his lips overyou, and there’s no need for that,” he said just loud enough for me to hear him over the music “We have all the time in the world, Kitten Forever”

I closed my eyes as I let that one word float overI didn’t know needed to be soothed With one hand, he cupped the back ofdown h hs wetter and wetter with every breath I took It only made my heart ache more because in that moment, I felt cherished and precious to him

Chapter 11

Nevaeh

It was late by the time Barrick pulled Aunt Emmie’s SUV into my parents’ driveway Braxton opened the door and stepped out before reaching in to help round, I wrapped my arms around his waist and breathed in deeply

Coh my hair, he tilted my head back and kissed the tip of my nose “I’ll meet you at the airport”

“Okay,” I whispered, alreadyhim PopPop’s jet had an early takeoff ti to be a few hours until I saw hiain, but I didn’t want to leave him

With another kiss, he walked me up to the porch and waited until I unlocked the door before turning to go Sing hard, I sloalked through the house to the kitchen to get a bottle of water before going to bed

Pushing open the door, I stopped when I saw Daddy sitting at the kitchen table I stopped , dark hair was sprinkled with strands of gray, his blue-gray eyes full of worry

Giving inger to help with my nausea”

I tried to sether, I didn’t think I pulled it off “Sure,” I choked out

Standing, he walked to the stove where the teakettle was resting Placing a tea bag in a rabbed the honey and a spoon on his way back to the table where I’d sat down