If it wasn’t for her baby sleeping in the small alcove fifteen feet from her bed, Phoebe Masterson would take out her hearing aid for the night.
Just so she could finally get some sleep. Sleeping next to Joel Masterson was like sleeping next to a freight train.
The man…just would not stop snoring. She knew her husband was completely exhausted, but wow.
The man was snoring worse than he ever had before. Phoebe almost swore the entire upstairs of their home had to be rattling. With the hearing aid in, she had almost sixty percent hearing in one ear. She needed it to hear her daughter in the middle of the night.
Joel’s snoring was about to drive her insane.
He flopped over onto his back, his large, muscled body taking up far too much of her side of the bed. That, she didn’t really mind. Sleeping pressed up against him was one of her all-time favorite things. She was surprised he hadn’t woken the neighbors he was so loud tonight.
The nearest neighbors were his brother and her sister Perci almost a quarter of a mile away. She almost called Nate and held the phone up to Joel’s face so Nate could find something to make his brother stop snoring somehow.
Before it drove Phoebe insane.
Joel flipped over again. The snoring stopped. One hard arm slipped around her waist. “Mmmm. Pretty smell. Woman. My woman. Caveman want my woman now.”
Well, he was awake, then. She leaned up and kissed him lightly. “You should be sleeping.”
“So should you. It’s early. Don’t you have to be at your dad’s by nine today?”
Phoebe nodded, as worry filled her again. Her father was what had had her worried enough to not sleep in the first place.
Joel’s snoring had just been an added…bonus. “Yes.”
“You’re worrying over something. Spill.” Joel snuggled her close. Phoebe rested her head over his heart. Near the scars. It had been almost three years now.
One finger traced the ridges of flesh lightly. Remembering.
“Honey? Talk to me.”
“I’m worried. About my father.”
“And the fact that he just showed up tonight with a woman we’ve never met, moved her into his house, and she’s now going to be taking over the primary care of the brothers you’ve basically helped raise?”
Talk about summing it up quickly. He’d nailed it. “Yes, something like that. She seems like a nice enough woman.”
“Reserved. Kind of shy. Reminds me a bit of our Pip, actually. Same…expression in her eyes. And she’s a very pretty woman.”
Did he have to emphasize that last point like that? “What’s that got to do with anything? What if she’s a serial killer?”
He laughed lightly. Phoebe tweaked some of the light chest hair over his heart. Butthead. “She’s not a serial killer. And she’s pretty—I think that matters because your father has definitely noticed.”
“What?” That hadn’t even occurred to her. Glenna was only a few years or so older than Joel. Maybe even the same age. Or younger. And she had three little kids. The youngest wasn’t even three yet. Surely she was too young for Phoebe’s dad?
“Yes. I think your dad is attracted to her. Doesn’t mean he’ll act on it. And honey, she’s not a serial killer. I called your father’s business partner. Asked him if he knew her.”
“And?”
“He said she’s worked with his wife at a women’s charity for a few years. Said Glenna’s a nice lady who is a bit down on her luck right now, who is friends with Lacy Deane. She’s not out to suck your father dry. I promise.”
“Still…this is all so sudden.”
“Well, sometimes a man sees a pretty girl, and his juices start to flow. And he’ll do anything to get her where he can…get her.”
Phoebe found herself on her back in a quarter of a second flat. With a gorgeous man looming over her with intent in his eyes. Ready to get her.
He should be far too tired for this. Her fingers flexed on the muscles of his arm. He felt like solid rock. Steady, perfect.
Her heart.
If she had lost him back when Rutherford had nearly killed him…
She hadn’t. She had him now. He was right there, and she loved him so much. To lose him would destroy her. She finally understood how her mother’s death had impacted her father. To lose the one you loved, to know your child had lost them, too…it would destroy her if she ever lost Joel.
“I don’t know if he’s ready,” she said. “He loved my mother so much.”
“I have no doubt that he did. Like my mom said when I asked her about Gerald after he started chasing her around everywhere…going through life alone is no way to go through life at all. Your dad has several good decades left in him. The boys will be grown and gone faster than he can blink. You girls are. Phoenix is. Pete only has a year left until he’s eighteen. Maybe your dad needs someone, too.”
“Maybe. I am still reserving judgment. I don’t want her to hurt him.”
“Whatever happens between them will be because it is meant to. Nothing we can do will stop that. Hurt or not.”
“No. But…”
“Your father is a grown man, healthy, and not all that old. Let him figure this out for himself. He’ll be ok. Now…baby still asleep?”
Phoebe checked, just as her husband did. “Yes.”
“Good. Now…I got you all to myself.” He whispered it close to her good ear. So she couldn’t miss it. She shivered at what he meant, at what his hands were doing.
Phoebe laughed quietly and held her husband close.
Maybe she wouldn’t clobber him after all.
But…she was going to reserve judgment about this housekeeper of her father’s. Just to be on the safe side.