Page 42 of Nothing to This (Nothing to… #8)
“I have never been so grateful to not be a guy,” she said, noticing JD’s ass first as he bent over the kitchen table to snag something.
He turned. “What?”
Sliding over, she patted his ass. “If I was a guy right now, the world would know it.” Her fingers slunk around to his fly. “How do you control these things?”
Grabbing her waist, he swept her around and up onto the table. “Practice,” he said, stooping to kiss her neck. “But it’s a lot easier when our women let us use it.”
Her legs snagged his, winding around him like they’d been most of the weekend. “Any time you want?”
“Any time we want.”
The tender kiss became something a lot hotter, a lot more insistent, in super quick time. Hands found their favorite spots to tickle and tease. Grasping and groaning came with fumbling buttons and zippers.
“Guess I don’t have to ask how your weekend went.”
Brenna’s voice broke them apart.
“Shit, Nana, you couldn’t have just turned around and walked out, given us some space?”
“Much as I’d love you to get back to making more babies for me to adore—”
The door swung open behind her, and the twins ran inside with Lotta at their back.
“My babies,” she said, crouching to catch them both as they threw themselves against her. “Did you have a good time?”
Chattering suggested they’d had fun. Each tried to tell tales.
“We went on a boat, Momma.”
“And ate bugs!”
Her gaze ascended to their aunts.
“Chocolate covered crickets.”
She cringed.
JD’s fingers spread on the top of her head. “Is that legal?”
“It’s legal, brother.”
“Daddy!” Kye leaped aside to tug on JD’s pants leg, father scooped son from the floor. “We was in a tent too.” The little one leaned closer, hiding his mouth with a hand. “Wasn’t as good as your den.”
“Daddy just does things better, son.”
Though she swatted for him, she didn’t make contact and got a laugh.
“You said they wouldn’t be out in the open.”
“The campsite was specifically for little ones. It’s walled in without access to bodies of water. No animals, no dangers. Plus, we had your super ninjas guarding us every second.”
“That’s what they’re paid for.”
“Gimme your backpacks,” she said, helping Kye remove his as JD put him down. Brenna handed over the bigger pack when she opened a hand for it. “Both of you come with me.”
The kids fell into line behind her, following her into the laundry room.
“Did you have fun, Mommy?”
She smiled. “Yes, sweetpea, I did.” She helped one kid and then the other remove their tee-shirts. “I missed both of you, like crazy.” Lifting them onto the counter beside the washer, she discarded their little boots. “We have to wash those later. Are you going to help me?”
“Did you get wedded, Momma?” Sky asked.
She hadn’t expected the question but wasn’t surprised hers had been swerved. “Married, honey. People have a wedding to get married.”
“Did you do it?”
Tipping the clothes in the packs into a basket, she sorted them into the washer. “No, sweetpea.”
“Why not?”
“Weddings aren’t like that. They’re not like the movies when it happens overnight. Weddings take a long time to plan.”
“Daddy could plan it,” Sky said, cupping her hair in a palm to let it slide through, like a pet running from one hand to the other. “We want Daddy to stay forever.”
“I know you do, sweetpea, but that’s not a reason to get married.”
“What is a reason?” Kye asked.
“People get married because they love each other.”
Sky’s inhale was so elated, it startled her. “Mommy loves Daddy!”
“Baby—”
“Mommy, we love him!”
Cupping one face, then the other, she kissed each of them on the head. “Yes. Because he gave me you. There’s nothing in this world I value more than both of you.”
“Everyone behaving?” JD sauntered up beside her to plant his hands on the counter on either side of the twins. “Did you miss me?”
Trust him to ask that question. “Can I have their pants, please?”
He got to work balancing each kid to slip off their tiny cargo pants.
“Daddy, we want you to stay here. Not go away like before.”
“I am staying,” he said. “Don’t you worry about that, Sproutette.”
“Will you wedded Mommy?”
“Will I what?”
“Madded,” Kye said, then frowned. “Mommy—”
“Married,” she explained, checking pockets for anything that shouldn’t end up in the washer. “You have a wedding to get married.”
“You have to wedding Mommy,” Sky demanded. “Now, like now.”
“Okay.” That smirk in his voice tickled the back of her neck. “Vegas?”
“Don’t encourage them,” she said. Before she could reach up to the high shelf for the detergent, he’d retrieved it for her. “Thank you.”
“Mommy says people get wedded if they love each other.”
“Yes, that’s true.”
“Mommy loves you.”
“Does she?”
“Yes, she said so. Mommy loves you. Do you love Momma?”
“Okay,” she said, getting in there before he could answer. “You two, stop stirring things up.” She pointed at each of the kids, then gave JD a shove. “And you stop looking so proud of yourself.”
“Come on, Momma,” he said, scooping an arm around her to bring her into the circle between him and the kids. “It’s an easy question.”
“One we won’t be answering today.”
“I want a baby sister.”
“Oh my God,” she said, her head falling back as a single burst of laughter came from the man at her back.
“Ha! Sky, sweetheart, you are my hero.”
Holding up both hands, she tried to push back, but JD just wrapped his arms around her.
“Did you pay her to say that?”
“That little girl works for me,” JD said into the top of her head for all to hear. “We’re increasing their allowance.”
“They don’t get an allowance.”
“Not a boy,” Sky said, in her own world, as usual. “No more boys.”
“Well, see…” she said, bowing closer to her daughter. “That’s up to Daddy. He decides whether our baby would be a boy or a girl.”
“Daddy, I want a baby sister.”
“Thanks, put that one on me.”
“Just telling her how it is.”
“It’s not a conscious choice, Sproutette. But I’ll take as many shots as necessary to get you a baby sister.”
“You do not mean that,” she said, bumping her hips against him. His embrace loosened to slide his hands onto them. “As many shots?”
“Yep.” The beaming pride in his tone shook her head. Was this guy for real? “If we get a boy first, second, third—”
“We’re out of here, baby Dawes’!” Brenna called from beyond the room.
She put Sky down as JD set Kye on his feet so both of them could run and say goodbye to their aunt. JD turned, but she caught his hand.
“Don’t encourage them,” she whispered.
He cupped her face. “They want our family together,” he said. “They’re happy.”
“I thought we weren’t telling them about us.”
“I didn’t tell them. Did you?”
Her head fell to the side. “A wedding?”
“You told them you love me.”
“That was a different—it wasn’t now. I said it in context of—” the sly curl of his lips was far too pleased with himself. “You’re making me the bad guy.”
“You’re not the bad guy, babe,” he said, gathering her in his arms. “You’re the smartest, most levelheaded of all of us. And Sky knows what she wants, we shouldn’t punish her for voicing it.” Good point. “Have you decided you’ll never marry me?”
“No.”
“Have you decided there’s no chance of us having more kids?”
“No.”
“Then just go with it, babe. Don’t break their hearts.” Okay, maybe she was putting more meaning in their requests than they held. “Brenna said they ate. Want to watch a movie?”
“Bathtime first. If we get them in their PJs, it’s easier to put them in their beds after if they fall asleep.”
“You want me to do that while you do this?”
Not so long ago, the apartment had been hers, responsibility for the kids there had been solely hers too. Yes, she could be a slight control freak, but this didn’t feel like him encroaching on her patch. It felt like they were a team, like they were family.
He nodded once and his hand drifted from her cheek. She snagged it again, stealing his attention back. So open, so ready, so raw. There were no misconceptions between them anymore.
Like he read her mind, he came back, scooping a hand under her jaw to stoop and kiss her. They wouldn’t stay secret for long if they kept stealing moments like these.
She dipped her head to break the kiss. “We know where that’s heading if we don’t stop.”
“Yep,” he said and kissed the top of her head fast. “Don’t be long.”
Always don’t be long. He wanted them together, that much was obvious, in a relationship and physically. It was a cocoon, a safe den they could nestle in, just the four of them. The sooner she could join them, the better.