Wild Heart (Viper's Heart Duet Book 2) Read Free Page A

turned slowly, she reached up and wiped the corner of her eye with a tissue. “Sorry. It’s just so funny.”
    “Wait. This is for real?” Michelle exclaimed. “When did you get a Segway? And who were you with? Whose flowers did you ruin?”
    Gam walked across the kitchen and handed Matthew an oatmeal cookie, then broke another one into small pieces for Maura and set them on her stroller tray.
    “It wasn’t that big of a deal. Marge ‘I-Haven’t-Had-A-Boyfriend-In-Forty-Years’ Cooper got her undies all in a bunch and called the office on me and Regina for having a little fun.”
    “You skipped the part about getting a Segway,” I grumbled, feeling more like her overprotective father than her grandson.
    “Phil’s grandson sells them. We got a great deal,” she answered nonchalantly.
    I held my hand up. “Wait a second. Who’s Phil?”
    Gam stared at me blankly before her eyes shifted over to Michelle. “You didn’t tell him?”
    “Tell me what?”
    “I didn’t have a chance yet,” Michelle answered Gam, ignoring me.
    I let out a heavy sigh, my frustration growing. “Someone better tell me what’s going on right now before I—”
    “Oh, calm down, you big baby,” Gam interrupted. “Phil is my friend. He comes over often and has dinner with me. Sometimes we watch movies. Sometimes we go for a walk.”
    “Sometimes they hold hands,” Michelle added with a little giggle.
    “You have a boyfriend?” I roared.
    Gam put her hands on her hips and glared at me. “He’s not a boyfriend, he’s my friend. ”
    “You’re almost ninety years old. What do you need a boyfriend for?” I complained, completely ignoring what she’d just said.
    She looked straight at me, raising her eyebrows slowly. “I don’t know, Lawrence. What do you need a girlfriend for?”
    My stomach rolled as Michelle let out another giggle. I decided to stop asking questions about Phil right then and there.
     

 
     

     
    After we visited with Gam for a while, went to the zoo, had ice cream, and went to Matthew’s favorite train restaurant for dinner, we all went back to Michelle’s house for the night.
    Maura’s sweaty little head rested on my shoulder as I carried her into the house and up to her room. It was barely dark out but she was already having trouble keeping her eyes open.
    “You tired, baby girl?” I asked as I changed her diaper and slipped pajamas over her head.
    She yawned and rubbed her eyes, her cheeks pink from the sun. When she was dressed, I picked her up off the changing table and walked over to her crib. As I started to pull her away to lay her down, she whimpered and gripped me tighter. Closing my eyes, I wrapped my arms around her and laid my head on the top of hers and rocked back and forth.
    After a couple minutes, I heard the door push open against the carpet and Michelle quietly walked up next to me. “Well aren’t you two the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.”
    “She didn’t want to lie down yet, so I thought I’d rock her for another minute.”
    She leaned her head against my biceps. “It must have worked. She’s sound asleep,” she whispered.
    “Seriously?”
    She nodded.
    I cradled Maura’s head in my hand and gently laid her down in her crib. She sighed and immediately rolled onto her side as I covered her with her fuzzy pink blanket.
    Michelle stepped up next to me and stared down at her. “Isn’t she just the cutest thing you’ve ever seen?”
    “She really is.” I nodded before looking over at her. “Where’s Matthew?”
    “He was out before I left the room.”
    I arched an eyebrow. “Oh, really?”
    “Yeah. Why?”
    I wiggled my eyebrows up and down before picking her up and tossing her over my shoulder.
    “Ahhhh!” she squealed. “What the hell are you doing?”
    “Shhh! Don’t wake the kids,” I warned. “It’s been six days and at this point, even if they wake up they’re just gonna have to sit in the hallway and wait until we’re done.”
    She chuckled