Page 19

Isaiah

“ Okay, like this is…wow.”

Becca, the latest infant tucked against her arm, grinned. “Yeah, I thought you’d be impressed.”

“We were gone for two weeks. Played three games.” I spun around the living room. “I come home and everything’s done.”

Mama wrapped an arm around my waist. “Your man was particularly helpful.”

I arched an eyebrow.

Becca laughed. “We told him what to do, and he did it. You picked the perfect partner.”

In more ways than one. Travis might be a pussycat when with others—happy to go along and be amiable.

In bed? A dominating tiger who took me to new heights of pleasure every night.

Then my words from our last night in New Zealand flashed in my mind.

"You be my man now—you're family. You just inherited all these relatives. "

He’d understood. Then he’d gotten down on one knee—before Nana and my entire family—and asked me to marry him. Oh, and he’d told me we had Mama’s blessing. He’d called and asked her. He’d begged her to fly out for that moment, but she truly couldn’t get away.

I’d accepted, of course.

And our first night back in Vancouver, we’d taken Mama out to the Top of Vancouver Restaurant.

In her entire life, she’d never gone to the revolving restaurant.

I loved we were able to give that to her.

I loved that she demanded Travis sit across from her so she could hold his hand on the table and offer a watery smile as she made him promise to take care of me.

Then she’d turned to me and demanded I make the same commitment.

Of course I had. Without hesitation.

We closed on the house the next day.

And wow, it probably should’ve been torn down. But I loved the old bones and, after seven weeks of intense work, she’d finally been ready for us to move in.

Then I’d gone for the away games.

Travis had stayed behind—promising I’d be thrilled when I returned.

Becca and Mama ensured that happened.

As Mama gave me a tour, she pointed out something each team member had given as a gift. From a vase Jason claimed he’d chosen himself—which I totally believed—to the huge team photo, signed by everyone, that Johnnie had framed.

I’d teared up.

Roger and Becca’s gift was a stunning comforter in purples, golds, greens, and blues.

Well, their second gift.

The first had been asking Travis and me to be godparents to their fifth child.

Badarse might’ve sputtered—pointing out that two atheists as godparents maybe wasn’t the best idea.

Becca had pressed her hand to his. “My entire family can teach the baby religion. You can teach her how to live a good life. No matter what befalls her.”

I might’ve blinked back tears.

We might’ve agreed.

Kristiane Angelique had been born less than a week later at a very healthy nine pounds.

Travis had questioned—to me alone—how that worked.

I pointed out I’d been eleven pounds.

He’d winced.

We hadn’t discussed the matter since.

My nose twitched.

Travis appeared from the kitchen and grinned. “I didn’t hear you come in.” He glanced behind him. “Okay, kind of not surprising.” He made his way over to me, wrapped his arms around me, and smacked me on the lips.

“Hey!” Mama, of course. She appeared at the doorway to the kitchen. “Where’s my kiss?”

Becca nudged me. “Go check out the feast we’ve made.”

“The guys will be here shortly. I was…”

“In a hurry?”

“I might’ve offered the cabbie more money if he got me here sooner.”

Johnnie was grabbing my bag and the rest of the squad were joining us. Thank God this was a big place—but we were still facing standing room only.

“I love you.” Travis pulled back to gaze into my eyes. “I didn’t know I was allowed to be this happy.”

“With me? Always.”

I flashed to our simple wedding at the pub where we’d met. Jemi, the bartender, had obtained a license to officiate.

Mama insisted on a priest to bless our union.

Fortunately, the guy’d been pretty hip, choosing to wear a Hawaiian shirt.

As had everyone else, including Travis’s friends, Dodge and Annabelle.

Dodge who’d let it slip that Travis was starting as a junior supervisor the next week.

I’d grinned. Because maybe I’d been the one to let Dodge know Travis had taken some courses. And maybe Dodge had been the one to approach the foreman. And since the crew had just lost a supervisor, the foreman had been happy to promote Travis.

A couple of the guys had grumbled.

Everything now, though, had settled.

I didn’t really worry less—given he was still at the top of a skyscraper, but I did like he wasn’t putting as much strain on his body.

Which left more energy to regularly put me through my paces. “I love you too. Now, shouldn’t we grab food before the hungry masses show? Those pretzels on the plane won’t have been enough—”

“Honey, we’re home.” Johnnie’s booming voice rang out.

Travis and I met each other’s gazes.

“Race you?” He grinned.

“For the rest of our lives.”

We hotfooted to the kitchen before my teammates got there first.

Thank you for reading Hot Rucking Canadian . The next book in RUCKED BY YOU is Sweet Rucking Temptation .