Page 37 of Playboy Husband

MAISIE

Life had such a funny way of just carrying on. No matter what had happened, good or bad, or how big it had been, the world just kept right on turning.

Brody half-dragged his gear bag across the floor, his hair already sticking up in all directions as he muttered about Gage’s strategies for their home game today.

It was like he’d already forgotten what Callum had talked to him about just a few days ago, but while I’d been struggling for weeks about how to break the news of our impending nuptials to him, Callum had simply told him over burgers—and he was absolutely fine.

There had been no tantrums. No tears. No sense of betrayal or abandonment.

In fact, when I’d gotten home that day after dropping my mom off at the airport, neither the fact that we were getting married or that Callum would be moving in had been Brody’s biggest worry.

They’d been playing video games when I’d walked in and he’d stabbed the pause button on his controller, looking up at me with his features so grave, I’d nearly had a heart attack.

The reason? “Mom, I don’t think there’s enough space in our garage for all of Callum’s cars.”

Callum had been quick to reassure him that all his cars—I honestly didn’t even know how many he had but the phrasing had been ominous—were safely parked at his house on the Westwood Estate. And that had been that.

Life had carried on.

My mom, of course, had thought it was hilarious. Her response had been simple when I’d told her about it after she’d gotten back home.

“Maisie, my baby, you know I love you, but you overthink things way too much. Not everything needs to be analyzed and calculated half to death. Sometimes, you just have to roll the dice without trying to predict how they’re going to land.”

The sound of a car engine outside drew me out of my thoughts.

I pulled back the curtain in the kitchen window, peeking out just in time to see Callum’s truck pulling into the driveway.

Swigging down the rest of my coffee, I wondered how exactly I was supposed to follow my mom’s advice and stop being an overthinker.

I had been overthinking the issue ever since that conversation we’d had. I just didn’t know how to not to analyze. To calculate. It was who I was. Who I always had been.

That was what had made me so good at diving. It required extensive planning, mastering complex routines, and a ton of strategy in dive selection. I’d studied mathematics, for heaven’s sake, not philosophy.

Yet, as I watched Callum climb out of his gleaming truck with a tray of takeout coffee in one hand and a grease-stained paper bag in the other, I had to admit, his strategy with Brody had worked. He’d ripped off the band-aid, and my boy was just fine.

Brody opened the door for him now, beaming. Callum strode in, grinning at us like this was the most natural thing in the world. “Delivery. Anyone order a breakfast sandwich?”

“Me!” Brody’s hand shot up as he followed Callum to the kitchen. “Is it bacon and maple syrup?”

“With egg,” Callum confirmed, smiling and walking right over to brush the lightest of kisses to my cheek. “I also have a chocolate chip croissant in here with your name on it.”

“Be still, my beating heart,” I teased, but also, not really. Pushing away from the counter, I helped him unpack breakfast, giving his hand a quick squeeze while Brody unwrapped his sandwich. “You’re spoiling us.”

He shrugged, sliding his arm around my hips and tugging me into him for just a moment. “You ain’t seen nothing yet.”

“I don’t like that song,” Brody muttered around a mouthful of food. “Grandpa loves it, though.”

“Eat first, baby,” I said. “You can talk when you’re finished chewing.”

He groaned but made quick work of his sandwich. I accepted my coffee and croissant, but I’d barely finished eating by the time they were racing toward the truck. Eventually, I took the coffee with me, content to sip it on our way to the rink while Callum psyched Brody up for the game.

When we got there, however, I was surprised to find a cluster of familiar faces waiting near the entrance. My eyes went wide as I twisted to stare at Callum. “Your brothers are here.”

“Yep,” he said cheerfully, that dark hair flopping over his forehead like he was the coolest kid in school. “Their wives, too. They wanted to be here to support Brody.”

“Awesome,” he shouted from the back seat, then sprinted toward the locker room as soon as we were out of the truck.

When he passed the Westwoods, he held out his hand like he was running out of the locker room and expecting high-fives, and every last one of them obliged. All I could do was shake my head, my cheeks a little flushed by the time we reached them.

“I’m so sorry about that,” I said immediately, mostly to Laney and Sadie. Sterling scared me a little and I honestly didn’t know what to make of Jameson. “Did he at least say hi?”

“Who has time to say hi?” Jameson asked, grinning. “He got his good luck high-fives. That’s all he needs. Hey, who’s hungry?”

“Me,” Callum said immediately, pulling each of his sisters-in-law into a quick hug before he and Jameson practically stormed the concession stand with Sterling in tow.

I stared after them, feeling painfully out of place until Sadie suddenly took my arm and started guiding me toward the stands. She smiled happily as Laney took my other arm. “Don’t worry about them. They’ll buy at least half the concession stand—”

“Or the actual stand itself,” Laney added.

Sadie inclined her chin and shot Laney a grin. “True. Or that. Either way, there’ll be enough snacks for us too. I just really hope Jamie gets me a slushie. Do you know how long it’s been since I’ve had one of those?”

“It’s freezing in here,” Harrison piped up from behind us. I hadn’t even realized he wasn’t with his brothers. “Do you really want a slushie?”

Sadie glanced at him over her shoulder, grinned, and then pointed at her slightly swollen belly. “I have built-in heating these days. Bring on winter, and bring on that slushie.”

“I’d better go tell him.” Harrison darted away and Sadie giggled, checking to make sure he was gone before she sighed. “Do you think he’s figured it out yet?”

I frowned. “Figured what out?”

“That he’s next,” Laney said.

My eyes widened. “Do you really think so? Isn’t he only in his early twenties?”

“Yep.” Sadie released my arm when we reached the stands, half-turning to keep speaking to us while she climbed. “Harlan’s serious about all this, though. He’s not even going to let Harrison get out of it.”

“Do you really think so?” I couldn’t imagine that. “He’s the baby of the family.”

Laney glanced toward the concession stand, watching the brothers together for a moment.

All four of them were impossibly tall, broad-shouldered, and way too good-looking.

Between them, they probably also had enough money to buy several small countries and yet, right now, they were shoving each other playfully, laughing and looking relaxed as they tried to balance too many snacks.

“They look so normal,” Laney said as if she’d plucked the thought right out of my head. She turned to glance at Sadie and me as we took our seats. “Don’t be fooled, though. They’re not. Harrison is next and he doesn’t have as much time as he thinks he does.”

When the guys reached us, it seemed all that playful shoving and laughing had been because they were teasing him about that very same thing. Jameson rolled his eyes and smirked at their youngest brother as he dropped into a chair next to his wife.

“Dude, you might as well go see a man about a tux and book a honeymoon,” he said. “Get a head start on this thing, you know?”

Harrison scoffed and handed over Sadie’s slushie before he collapsed into a chair next to Sterling. “The only thing I’m booking is Christmas in the Maldives. That way, I won’t have to spend the holidays with you assholes. I have years before Dad calls me in for the talk.”

Callum and Jameson exchanged a look. Sterling simply arched an eyebrow at Harrison, shaking his head as he turned toward the ice. “Keep telling yourself that if it helps, but you know we’re right. It’s not like any of us were expecting it either.”

Laney’s jaw dropped open in mock outrage. “You mean you didn’t see it coming that you were going to have to strongarm some poor, unsuspecting business owner into marrying you within a week?”

“It wasn’t a week,” he retorted playfully. “It was, like, at least two. Maybe three. Besides, it all worked out pretty well for you, didn’t it?”

She winked at him, her thumb absently stroking her swollen belly. “If by working out pretty well for me, what you mean is that I’ve been nauseated for months, then sure. It’s been working out great.”

He laughed, bending closer to whisper something in her ear that made her blush. Sadie shook her head as she watched them, but there was a smile on her lips. She launched into telling me all about her and Jameson, and how they’d gotten started.

The more I listened to them, being included in their conversations and made to feel like an actual part of their group, I started thinking that maybe this wasn’t so crazy. Maybe marrying into this family didn’t mean I was signing away my sanity for going about this the way we were.

Maybe it just meant more people around. More chaos, I was sure, but also more shoulders to lean on. Laney and Sadie had recently been through this themselves and they looked spectacularly happy with their men as the game got started.

Callum shouted encouragement to Brody. Jameson, Sterling, and Harrison were as loud and excited as he was.

I realized that they had already accepted us as part of their family and they didn’t seem to mind it.

Warmth spread through me, making me feel—for perhaps the first time since I’d walked into that bar to see whose ad I’d answered—like this wasn’t crazy at all.