Family Bonds- Ava and Seth (Amore Island Book 5), Natalie Ann [world of reading TXT] 📗

she’ll have children and still work as hard as she has been.”

“I wouldn’t expect you to be a stay at home mother,” he said. “It’s not for everyone, but that doesn’t mean you couldn’t be a good parent. My mother always worked and she was the best. Money wasn’t much of an issue in our house, but it wasn’t Bond money.”

She smiled. “Not many do have Bond money. So, what did your mother do?”

“Oh no,” he said. “You are going to tell me why you’re still single and why you made the comment about not many think you’re a special person.”

She didn’t think she’d get off that easily. “I’m still single because my education and career has come first. It had to. I’ve worked too hard to not put it first.”

“Understandably,” he said.

“I dated in college but never thought any of them would be the one. After I finally started practicing, I had one boyfriend for about a year, but I expressed that I wanted to end up on the island and he didn’t. He worked in Plymouth and said there was no way he was going to commute on the ferry and the island was a great place to visit or have a second home, but to live daily, no. He wasn’t having any part of it.”

“So that didn’t last,” he said. “And I can understand that too. The young attorney from Boston was out for fun, and Amore Island wasn’t the life she wanted.”

“So that is the story of my dating life.”

“It doesn’t mean you aren’t a special person,” he said. “I find that you are.”

“I’m glad you think that and not just my family members,” she said, smiling. “But I never had a lot of girlfriends either. I guess some might think I’m distant.”

“Which is very odd to me because I don’t find that at all.”

“I don’t think I was that way in high school. But definitely in college and med school. Things can be cutthroat and I didn’t want any part of it. Once I started working, I learned that some only wanted to be friends because I was a doctor or from the Bond family if they recognized the name.”

“So no one really felt like they wanted to get to know you?”

“That was my feeling at times. Even at work, I just decided to keep my distance. I wanted to go in and do my job but not get close to anyone. I’ve always been one that wanted to separate the two.”

“You must have done a good enough job of it judging the reaction of your former coworkers tonight.”

“Oh, I got along with everyone. I talked with everyone too. But again, detached.”

“There is no hard and fast rule you have to be friends with anyone at work. I don’t understand why many feel that way, but I see it at the bank. More with women than men.”

“Men don’t seem to care as much,” she said.

“Not really,” he said. “I’ve got a few guys I can go get a beer with at work, but it’s hard, being their boss. As for friends, I had some close ones in college, but after I got married, I found our friends were other couples.”

“What happened after Ellen passed?” she asked.

“They faded away. I realized after that they were friendships she cultivated. None of them started out as my friends.”

“You don’t seem like you are lacking any social interactions.”

“No. I get enough at work. If I have time to do anything with another man, it’s with my brother, Adam. We are pretty close still, but he’s busy with his life and as I said. It’s not like I’ve got an abundance of time.”

“Is that a warning for me?” she asked.

“No,” he said firmly. “I’ll make the time for you because I want to. I guess therein lies the difference. I haven’t wanted to make the time before.”

And she really couldn’t get a better answer than that.

19

What He Lost

The next morning Seth rolled over and saw Ava still sound asleep on her side in his T-shirt. He looked at the clock and noticed it was only seven. For the first night with someone else in his bed with him, he slept like a baby.

He’d never been one to snuggle into sleep and it seemed Ava wasn’t either.

Sure, they’d made use of their alone time and got a few more rounds in before both falling into an exhausted slumber.

He moved his hand across the sheets and then under his shirt that was bunched up around her hips. He spread his fingers out and tapped her light enough with his pads. Enough to tease, maybe a whisper of one, to see if she’d wake up.

She made a grunting sound, not a pleasant one either, and he stilled and smiled. When she flopped over on her back, he let his fingers go to work more on her flat belly.

She had one hell of a body on her. Thin and toned, but not a lot of muscle, enough to know that she did some kind of activity but didn’t live and breathe by it or skate by on her good genetics.

He suspected that would cause some jealousy with people too if she did. Women could be harsh, he knew. He’d seen it with Ellen’s half-sisters. One from her mother and one from her father. Both were spoiled and almost nasty to Ellen at times in life.

No, he didn’t say those things to Ava because they weren’t relevant. Ellen was five when her parents divorced. She was seven years older than one half-sister, eight years older than the other. She had a half-brother she was ten years older than. No one was close with her and he was almost thankful for that making it easier for her to walk away.

He hoped she had no regrets. Then he wondered how many times he’d lain awake in bed wondering what Ellen’s last thoughts were.

He had to remind himself that she lost consciousness in the ambulance and