Page 183 of Beyond the Blue Horizon

Chaos was already in full force.

Otto, Theo, and Kane were in a pile on the rug in the living area wrestling around with the kids.

Nolan was on top of Otto, pinning him to the ground, and Otto flailed like he stood no chance of breaking free.

“You two make sure you’re being careful,” Charleigh called from the open kitchen, slanting me a soft smile from across the room as she did.

“Don’t worry, Momma Dog! We already know all the rules,” Nolan shouted. He turned back to Otto. “You’re a big monster and we gotta beat you, Uncle Otto! Your daddy is a monster, too, Maci. Get him!”

Maci squealed with laughter as she threw herself at Kane, knocking him back to the rug. He exaggerated the fall, holding her carefully so she wouldn’t be injured as they tumbled backward. “What? I’m no monster.”

“You’re a Daddy Monster!” she screeched as she tackled him.

Theo was sitting on the ground with his legs crisscrossed, and Finn stood in the middle of them, holding onto his shoulders as he bounced. “Feomonster!”

He pushed at Theo’s shoulders, trying to copy what the other children were doing.

“Ahhh,” Theo drew out, exaggerating that push since there was no chance Finn could budge him. Falling back, he pickedFinn up by the waist and flew him around. “And you’re a Finn airplane.”

Finn cracked up while Theo zoomed him around.

“I want to be an airplane!” Maci bounced on her knees right in the middle of her dad’s stomach.

Anoomphripped out of Kane as he tried to guard himself from her attack, though he was laughing the whole time, clearly enamored by the little girl who I knew had only come into his life last summer. “What, you want me to fly you when you’re blitzin’ me?” Kane teased.

Nolan threw himself harder at Otto. “We gotta fly so we can bomb the monsters.”

Otto caught him and swept him up the same way Theo was doing Finn, though Nolan was three times the size of my son. “Why do you have to be so mean and bomb me? I’m a nice monster.”

Nolan sobered, and his adorable face turned somber. “It’s only pretend, Uncle. We would never hurt you in our whole lives. We only help our family.”

Otto dropped him down onto his chest and wrapped him in his massive, tattooed arms. “No, we never hurt our family, do we?”

I could feel the emotion roll out of Raven.

Joy shined bright in her eyes.

“Those brutes are just kids at heart,” she muttered as she waved the intensity off and headed toward the gorgeous kitchen on the opposite side of the room.

It had an industrial vibe, the cabinets and countertops black and sleek, and everything was done with matte metal accents.

I couldn’t help but think it fit Raven and Otto to a T.

A large island separated the kitchen from the living area.

Off to the right were more of those enormous floor-to-ceiling windows with a view that was even more breathtaking than downstairs.

A swath of woods rolled down the side of the mountain before it gave way to the lake in the valley far below.

To the left side of the kitchen, there were two stairs that led up to a short loft, and double doors sat at the far side of it that led into what I assumed was a bedroom and another regular door to the left of that.

“Our bedroom is straight through there. There is an extra restroom in there if you need it.”

She pointed at the far-left door as she set the bowl onto the counter. “And that’s the baby’s room. We just had it added on since this place was only a one-bedroom before I came in and wrecked Otto’s world.” She tossed a saucy grin back at me from over her shoulder. “As if I wasn’t going to tame that burly bear.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t call me tame, darlin’.” Otto shouted it from the living room. There was no missing the innuendo.

River grunted from where he was slicing an onion in the kitchen next to Charleigh. He flashed the knife. “You’re lucky there are kids present.”