Page 61 of From the Start

“This is not news,” Zane says. Paisley hisses at him and he jumps back. “Sorry. Eli is a control freak and we should…”

“Not listen to his orders,” she fills in for him.

“Agreed,” Zane, Miles, and I say in unison.

“Oh no.” She groans.

Eli’s face pales. “What’s wrong? Are you feeling contractions?” He tries to lay a hand on her swollen belly but she steps out of his reach.

“I am not feeling contractions. I’m moaning because the Three Stooges have arrived. I’ll be in my lab.”

“Your lab?” Eli chases after her. “You shouldn’t be working.”

“Eli Raider, if you tell me what I should or should not be doing one more time during this pregnancy, I’m moving back into my house.”

“You sold your house.”

She cocks an eyebrow. “I did?”

“What’s going on?” Rhett asks as he arrives with Jaxon.

“Shush,” I hiss at him. “Eli is about to explode.”

“And it’s going to be a big one,” Miles adds.

“Does this mean I can go home?” Jaxon asks.

Rhett throws an arm around him. “There’s no sense going home. Blossom is out for the evening with Dakota anyway.”

I frown. “Hold on. The women are going out? Why didn’t they ask Harper to join them?”

Are they excluding my woman? And make no mistake about it. Harper is my woman. We’re taking it slow for her benefit, but I don’t plan to ever let her go. She’s it for me.

“I should have brought popcorn. I didn’t realize there was a double feature tonight,” Miles says.

Zane pops open a beer and hands it to him. “You keep track of the Kai drama. I’ve got the Eli drama.”

“There is no Kai drama,” I claim.

Miles points at my face. “Except you’re gritting your back teeth. Goofball Kai is no longer. Welcome to Destroyer Kai.”

“I’m not destroying anyone. I’m merely asking why no one asked Harper to the girls’ night out.”

Rhett chuckles. “As much as I’m enjoying this, the truth is, Dakota did ask Harper. She couldn’t get the night off.”

I frown. “She works too hard.”

Rhett squeezes my shoulder. “Been there, bro. Tread cautiously.”

Zane elbows me. “Unlike Eli, who apparently doesn’t understand the word cautious.”

“Are you serious? You didn’t sell your house?” Eli asks Paisley.

“Do you have pregnancy brain? We agreed to keep my house and rent it out.”

Eli’s shoulders drop in relief. “There you go. You can’t move back into your old house. There are renters in it.”

“There are?”