With Cherry on Top [Loving in Silver 2] (Siren Publishing Ménage and More) Read Online Free Page B

know how much it had cost her both physically and emotionally. Her parents had worried, particularly her mother, but Cherry had been determined to do it.
    Though pain was radiating up Cherry’s right leg in fierce waves, she ignored it. If it didn’t ease up, she would take a pill for the pain. Until then, she would deal with it. Once again her experience as a police officer had allowed her to witness what happened when a person became dependent upon medication. She wasn’t foolish enough to believe that she wasn’t susceptible to the same pitfalls as other people.
    Sighing, breathing through the pain, Cherry stared at the ceiling until she fell asleep. When she woke up two hours later she had a new resolve.
    “Quit being such a baby,” Cherry told herself firmly, sitting up in the center of the bed. “No one likes a whiner. Suck it up. Move on.”
    Sliding out of the bed, she went to the bathroom, took a couple of over-the-counter painkillers she found in the medicine cabinet, and then rebraided her hair. Going back into the bedroom she got a fresh, wrinkle-free shirt and exchanged it for the shirt she had slept in.
    Once she was feeling more confident, Cherry left the suite and walked down the hall toward the kitchen, where she could hear the men’s voices blending in with her sister’s and the children’s. She paused in the wide archway, smiling as she looked at them seated around the table, the men with huge amounts of food in front of them, eating heartily, talking to their children between mouthfuls. Peaches was smiling and nodding, keeping track of falling food and tipping cups, as she chatted happily with her family.
    Don’t be a whiner. You can have this, too.
    Cherry stiffened her aching spine and headed toward the place set for her at the table. Everyone smiled at her. She smiled back.
    “I was just wondering if I should wake you. Did you have a good sleep?”
    Cherry sat down, spreading a napkin over her lap, before reaching for the ever-present bowl of fruit in the center of the table. Cottage cheese was next, along with a grilled chicken breast. Her stomach growled and her nephew giggled. She winked as she reached for the bottle of honey mustard. Peaches poured her a glass of iced tea. She took it before she settled in to eat.
    “It was a very good sleep. I think I’m ready for a little more action this afternoon. Does anyone mind if I groom a couple of horses?”
    There was silence in the room as the adults looked at her with concern. “Are you sure? It’s up to you, of course. You know what you’re ready for. It wouldn’t hurt to rest for a couple more days.”
    Cherry appreciated their concern. It warmed her heart. She nodded. “I’m good. I promise to quit if I get too tired. And I won’t overdo it. If I do, someone might have to carry me back to the house, but I’ve got to get back to doing things.” She wiggled her eyebrows at her handsome, sexy brothers-in-law. There were sexy chuckles and comical leers in response. Then she grimaced. “It can’t be any worse than anything I’ve done in therapy.”
    Going out to work with the horses in the stable became a daily activity. It was therapeutic in more ways than one. It helped her both physically and mentally. Cherry worked, she thought, and she unraveled her problems in her head. And she talked to the horses. A lot more than she wanted to admit to herself, let alone anyone else who might overhear. Some horses were more understanding than others. Some just didn’t care. Cherry didn’t mind. She patted them on the rump when she put them back in their stalls, all shiny and primped like teenage girls.
    Logan grumbled that his horses didn’t need to be so darn pretty. Cherry just stuck her tongue out at him, continuing to weave their manes and tails into spectacular braids. It was time consuming, but it was just one more way to work out her problems.
    The first couple of days Cherry’s body protested so much about the unfamiliar