Bittersweet Catastrophe (Second Chances #2.5) by Maureen Mayer Page A

together. ”
    “Trust me, he will.” I kissed the top of her head. “Somewhere out there is a woman willing to put up with his stupid, stubborn ass, and the day he finds her, he’ll be wondering why he wasted all of his time chasing after you when he could have been spending it with her.”
    “Well, I think he’ll be looking for quite a long time. She’s probably hiding under a rock as we speak.” Liberty covered her mouth, letting out a quiet, muffled laugh. “Maybe we should all chip in and get him one of those dogs trained to detect drugs. Might come in handy.”
    I cocked an eyebrow at her. “Now why the hell would we do that?”
    “Because,” she bit back a smile. “Any woman would have to be on drugs to deal with his constant mood swings.”
    Ain’t that the fucking truth . “I know. It’s called chloroform.”
    She smacked my chest playfully, and her body shook with laughter. I brushed the pad of my thumb across her cheek and smiled. “There’s my girl,” I whispered as I kissed her lips. “What do ya say we head on home? I think the party is pretty much over now anyway, and you look dead on your feet.”
    “Yeah, you’re probably right. Let me just say goodbye to everyone before we leave.” She bit her lip and looked up at me through hooded lashed. “Do you think we could stop by the grocery store on the way home? Thing One and Thing Two have a wicked hankering for some Ben and Jerry’s.”
    Why am I not surprised?
    Then I remembered the pint of Cherry Garcia I caught her eating in bed and knew she’d want to get beef jerky to go along with the ice cream. On second thought… Nope. Not happening. I had a better idea. One that was much safer on my stomach. “How about this? We stop at DQ and get you the biggest fucking milkshake they have–”
    “Chocolate?” She quickly chimed in.
    I nodded slowly, wrapping my arms around her tiny waist, and lowered my voice. “Whatever you want.”
    She eyed me suspiciously. “Are you trying to butter me up? Because if I didn’t know better, I’d say there’s definitely some major buttering up going on right now.”
    “That depends. Is it working?”
    “A little.” She slipped her arms over my shoulders and around my neck. “Throw in a warm bubble bath and you have yourself a deal.”
    “Done.” That was easy.
    “Will you be joining me?”
    “Babe, c’mon.” I licked my lips and closed my eyes, imagining her body pressed up against mine with water lapping around us. My dick was growing hard as the image invaded my mind, and my mouth pulled up into a half grin. “Like you need to ask.”
     

I kept my promise to Liberty, keeping my worrisome thoughts to myself, not only for the remainder of that day but the following few days as well. It wasn’t easy by any means, and I often found myself leaving the house to clear my head. With my ass planted in the sand, staring out at the waves rippling up the beach, I allowed myself to worry in peace.
    How can she possibly ask me not to worry about her, when all I can think about is the possibility of losing her?
    I heard her quiet footsteps approach me from behind, as if she had picked up on my unspoken thoughts. Kneeling down beside me, she picked up a small shell and began drawing abstract patterns in the sand. She did this for a good fifteen minutes before uttering a single word, but the words she did speak were not the ones I wanted to hear.
    “My biopsy results are in.” She placed the shell down in the center of the heart she’d just drawn before letting her gaze calmly reach mine. “The doctor said we could come in this afternoon to go over them.”
    I nodded, focusing my attention back toward the waves. There wasn’t much more to be said. I’d been dreading this call for the last four days, and now that her results were in, I suddenly was in no hurry to find out. I now understood why she asked me to stop worrying. It was easier that way. Safer. Sometimes not knowing, being forever kept