Her Cruise Ship Surprise | ✔

Chapter Two

The minute the door opened, the pitter patter of little feet raced down the hallway. Grace first, followed by two-year-old Ricky.

"Auntie!" they cried in unison.

It happened to be Caleb's visitation weekend with his daughter, which didn't happen as often as she knew he'd would like. The kid's mother made his life a living hell, but her brother gave as good as he got in that regard, and in the end much to Karen's displeasure, he was given joint custody.

Tamara picked Grace up and swung her around. She hadn't seen her niece and nephew in what felt like forever. She'd been working four twelve hour shifts, 4 days on, three days off and vice versa.

Ricky clung to her leg. Putting Grace down, she picked him up and tickled his oh-so-addicting belly, earning her a round of giggles. He was the spitting image of her brother with his head full of black hair, and the mesmorizing grey eyes that were one day going to dazzle a lady.

Once she finished greeting the kids, she turned to Maria. "God, girl, what are you packing in that belly of yours?"

She never expected her brother to get married, let alone marry a bookworm. He'd seemed too wrapped up in BDSM world to be interested. A world he thought no one else knew about, but she knew. He couldn't hide things from her.

Tamara knew the world as well as he did. She just never said anything and didn't bother participating in his group. Hers was more of an online community. The only meetings that took place were of two people, the rest were faceless and nameless, unless you chose to hookup.

Maria placed a hand on her large round belly, smiling. "Blame it on your brother. He seems to like me bare foot and pregnant."

"Speaking of which, where is my meathead of a brother?"

"Him and your dad went out to buy a Christmas tree."

Carting Ricky over her shoulder, Tamara plunked him down on the couch, making him giggle again. "Dad actually managed to get him out this year?"

"Again," Ricky cried, holding his little arms up. "Again."

"Now you've done it," Maria said, shaking her head as a wicked grin spread across her face. "Once he gets going, he won't stop."

Tamara didn't mind. She'd be going home after dinner, and her brother could deal with the kids excess energy afterwards-the joys of being an aunt. She chuckled under her breath as she picked him up again, carefully tossing him back on the couch.

She'd thought about having kids, but that meant getting involved and after what happened with her superior officer and her last boyfriend, well, that wasn't going to happen anytime soon. Her plans were only to have the odd hook-up to satisfy her needs.

Carla, her best friend, was the only person in her life that understood why she didn't care about getting married. Everyone else thought she was being petty and picky. What else did they expect when her last serious boyfriend, Harley, wound up in jail for trying to kill her brother?

Seriously, wasn't that enough to show everyone that her judgment of men was skewed? Hitching the kid on her hip, Tamara asked, "Where's Mom?

"She's in the kitchen, fighting with the turkey."

They had all decided to gather at her Mom and Dad's house one final time before it was sold. Her parents were downsizing into a three bedroom apartment. The house was beginning to be too much for her mom to handle.

It was hard to believe that they were going to be losing their childhood home. There were many fond memories that existed inside these walls. Despite not living at the house, it was comforting knowing that her parents were still living here, and her room is as it always had been. They probably kept it the same because they thought she'd be back like before. Unlike her brother who left at Nineteen and never moved back, she was the yo-yo. Always coming back after a relationship didn't work out. That's what happened after moving in with two guys far too quickly. Neither time worked out as she'd planned.