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FriendlySeduction Page 11


  Her heart pounded. What was she doing? What was she going to say? Crap. Maybe it wasn’t too late to—

  “Sara!” She turned back at the sound of Mrs. Sinclair’s voice. “W-what are you doing here?”

  Somehow she found her voice. “I-I get it. I understand that this isn’t normal. That it isn’t what you expected of me or Marc or Rob.” She took a deep breath and looked into Mrs. Sinclair’s eyes. “But we’re happy. We love each other. And we hope—with time—you can accept it. You’ll be able to look at us again as your children.”

  Sara paused as Mrs. Sinclair’s mouth opened and closed but no sound came out.

  “I spent my entire childhood wishing you were my mother. And I hope you can be again. We will never write you out of our lives. Whenever you feel you can handle this, we’ll be waiting.”

  Sara turned and walked away. She didn’t need an answer from Mrs. Sinclair. She didn’t expect one today. But Mrs. Sinclair would come around—she loved them too much.

  “Sara?”

  She turned back. “Yes?”

  “Take care of them. They deserve to be loved,” Mrs. Sinclair said before softly closing the door.

  Sara smiled to herself as she walked back to the car. It wasn’t a ringing endorsement but she’d take it. She got behind the wheel and started the engine. She couldn’t get home fast enough. Home. With Rob and Marc. That was her home now.

  A police cruiser passed her going in the opposite direction. At the sound of squealing tires and flying gravel, she watched in the rearview mirror as the cruiser flipped a U-turn, lights flashing. Sara cursed. Looking at her speedometer, she knew she wasn’t going over the speed limit but who knew how fast she had been driving a few minutes ago?

  She pulled over to the shoulder and tried to get her breathing under control. She had never been pulled over in her life. Oh God, her perfect record. Sara panted. Registration! She scrambled to open the glove box and searched for her details. She knew it was here. She always kept it updated and inside the car. Where was it?

  She flinched at the knocking on the window. Sara punched the window control without looking up as she continued her search. There it was! She held it up triumphantly. Now where was her proof of insurance?

  A throat clearing grabbed her attention.

  She coughed but continued her search. She needed to find her insurance card. “Uh, what’s the problem, officer?”

  Silence.

  Her breath froze in her chest. Crap. That wasn’t a good sign.

  “Where the hell have you been?” Rob’s irritated voice broke through her panicked search.

  She glared at the shadowed figure on the other side of her door. “You dirty son of a bitch! How could you do that to me? I was so freaked out.” She gasped as the passenger door ripped open and Marc plopped down in the seat.

  “Where the fuck have you been? We thought—” Marc broke off as he looked at Rob.

  “We thought you bailed,” Rob finished quietly.

  “Bailed? I’ve only been gone—” Sara gasped as she looked at the clock. Seven? When did it get so late? What had she done for five hours? How long had she sat in the parking lot after her shift?

  “I-I…I’m sorry, guys. I just needed to think.”

  “About us?” Marc asked quietly.

  “And our families and the town. I just wanted to make sure that I—that we—were going to be okay. That we were… I don’t know.”

  “Where were you?” Rob demanded.

  “I, uh, I was…at the Sinclair farm,” she finished under her breath.

  “Fuck, Sara!”

  She flinched at the rage in Marc’s voice. He had never been quick to anger. This was so not good.

  “She’s my mother. If she doesn’t want to be part of our life, it’s her loss. I’m fine with it, why aren’t you?”

  “She’s my mother too. She might not have given birth to me but she practically raised me. And you’re not fine with it, Marc. You’re kidding yourself if you think that. I know you better than that.” She gave him a penetrating look he tried and failed to evade.

  “Yeah, well.” He shrugged helplessly. “There’s nothing we can do about it. Either she accepts us or she doesn’t. I love you and nothing my family says or does is going to change that.”

  Sara melted at Marc’s declaration. Her sensitive guy always knew what to say to make her all gooey inside.

  “Awww, I love you too.” She leaned over and covered his lips with hers in a tender kiss. She drew back after a moment, resting her forehead against Marc’s. She couldn’t believe after all her heartache with all those wrong guys that the right one was under her nose the entire time. The right two guys.

  She looked over at Rob. “Are we okay?”

  “Yeah, we’re okay. We’ll be okay. There are three of us to lean on. That is, if you still want to lean on us. Both of us.”

  Sara couldn’t believe the questioning tone in Rob’s voice. “Yes, of course I do. I love you and Marc, nothing has changed that.”

  “Good.” Rob leaned through the window and covered her lips with his own trademark rough-and-hungry kiss. He pulled back at Sara’s muffled moan. “I think we should move this party to someplace a little more private.”

  Sara giggled. It probably wouldn’t be a good thing for Rob to be literally caught with his uniformed pants down.

  “I think that’s a fantastic idea. Let’s go home.”

  The End

  About the Author

  Multi-published author Gillian Archer has always loved books. And has had a serious soft spot for romances ever since the tender age of twelve, when she would steal her mother’s Harlequin books and read them under the covers with a flashlight. But the writing bug didn’t hit until over ten years later after a dare from the husband. (It might have also involved a wall-bangingly bad book.) Now she can’t imagine doing anything else.

  Outside of writing, Gillian loves to spend time snuggling with her husband, playing with their dogs and traveling to exotic places. After living abroad for four years, she is very happy to be back in the U.S. with the wonders of Walmart.

  Gillian welcomes comments from readers. You can find her website and email addresses on her author bio page at www.ellorascave.com.

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