Page 45 of The Grump I Loathe (The Lockhart Brothers #3)

EDDIE

T he kitchen was a blur of movement and chaos.

Cathleen raced around wearing an apron that said gobble, gobble while her fiancé, X, chased after her with a turkey baster and an old recipe card.

Connor’s brother Finn had bet Grace she couldn’t gobble louder than he could.

His fiancée, Sierra, was patiently rating said gobbles to determine the winner.

And Liam had offered to set the table while Mia bounced on a medicine ball in the living room.

She was four days past her due date and was well and truly ready for this baby to be out .

I’d never experienced a family gathering like it. And I was loving every second.

“You can wear my turkey hat if you want,” Grace offered, taking a break from her gobbling. She passed off the ridiculous mound of feathers to me.

I plopped it right on my head. “Thanks! I love it. Also, your hair looks really cool. ”

Grace beamed, touching the ends of her lavender highlights. “I think purple is my favorite. And it matches the new laces in my Converse!”

“It’s a pretty epic color,” I agreed.

“Where are the soup bowls?” Liam called.

“I got ’em!” Grace said, grabbing the stack of bowls from the counter and wobbling toward the dining room.

“Be gentle with it, sweetheart. That’s the good china,” Cathleen called out.

Connor and I darted after her, saving the day just as Grace hit the slippery hardwood.

“Hey!” Grace complained as Connor took the stack of bowls.

“Crisis number twenty-five of the day averted,” he said, passing me half the stack as he pressed a kiss to my forehead.

We divided and conquered, helping Liam finish the table while he told me about the Thanksgiving in college when Connor drank so much he slipped beneath the table halfway through the meal.

“It was one time!” Connor complained. “Let’s not forget about the time we had to completely strip the wallpaper in your room because you decided you were a professional mixologist at sixteen.”

A fond look crossed his face. “Ah, the good old days.”

“Days you’ll soon have to look forward to with your own kid,” I said.

“Not before Connor,” Liam pointed out.

Connor winced, looking down at Grace, plucking feathers out of her turkey butt. “No,” he whispered. “My baby’s not allowed to be a bratty teenager. She’s so perfect and innocent. ”

Liam threw his arm over Connor’s shoulder. “Teendom is coming. Be afraid. Be very afraid.”

“Yeah, well, the newborn phase is coming for you,” Connor shot back.

“It’s probably bad that I’m excited, right?”

I grinned at the look the brothers exchanged. The entire family had stood just inside the door when we’d entered, waiting there with bated breath for Connor to announce that we were back together. The resulting cheer had almost deafened me.

Connor had grabbed my hand and tugged me into the middle of the crowd, showing me off proudly, and my heart had melted.

Because this wasn’t the CEO of LockMill who holed himself away in his ivory tower.

This was the real Connor, with a real offer to be part of his life.

His family . And it was everything I’d ever wanted.

“C’mon,” Grace said, grabbing my hand and tugging. “Auntie Mia was helping me make decorations.”

I happily let her drag me away. In the living room, we found Mia, still bouncing on her medicine ball, cutting out handprints they’d been turning into turkeys. I plopped down on the floor beside her, picking up a handprint from the coffee table.

“You think red feathers are okay on a green turkey?” she asked. “Or is that too Christmasy?”

Grace took the red handprint from her. “I’m gonna fix it.”

“You go, girl.”

Liam appeared a moment later with a bowl of hot peppers and a fork. He bent down and kissed Mia, handing over the bowl.

“Ugh,” Mia complained. “I’m gonna have spicy burps for weeks. ”

“No luck?” I asked.

“Baby is moving up a storm,” she said. “But labor just isn’t happening. We’ve been trying everything. Tons of walking. Spicy foods. I’ve been bouncing on this damn ball for days. I’m getting desperate.”

“I have no reference for this,” I said, “but have you tried simply asking the baby to come out?”

Liam burst out laughing. “That’s exactly what Grace said.”

“I did,” Grace confirmed.

I smirked. “Great minds think alike.”

Mia touched her belly. “Baby is obviously just very comfy in here.”

Liam arched his eyebrow. “Well, with the chaos in here today, I’d probably stay where it was quiet and cozy too.”

Connor walked in, handing me a drink.

“Thanks.”

He sat down on the couch behind me and leaned over, close to my ear.

“Good news. Finn and Sierra have volunteered to take Grace for the rest of the weekend. So, if you’d like to come home with me,” he whispered, trailing a hand down my arm, eliciting a full body shiver, “and finish talking everything over, you’re more than welcome. ”

I tipped my head back. “Talking, huh?”

He nodded. “So much talking.”

I grinned at the hungry look on his face before dragging it down to mine to kiss him. “I could use some good talking.”

Thirty minutes later, we were back in the kitchen, taping turkey decorations to every vertical surface, including Connor’s back. It was silly and ridiculous, but it felt like hanging out with the family I’d always dreamed about.

“When do we get to play laser tag?” Grace asked. She sucked her arms back into her costume, then popped them back out a moment later, holding two tiny matching laser blasters.

“So this is how the turkeys fight back?” Finn joked.

Everyone burst into laughter, including Mia, who doubled over at the island counter, trying to catch her breath.

“Ah!” Grace shouted suddenly, dropping her laser guns. “She’s leaking!”

A puddle appeared on the floor before our very eyes. Mia’s jaw dropped as she clutched her belly.

And then all hell broke loose.

“That’s my next grandbaby!” Cathleen cried, racing around the island with a wooden spoon in her hand.

“THE BABY!” Grace cried. “YAY!”

“What do we…Uh…Breathe!” Liam said, clutching Mia’s hand. “Like they taught us. In. Out.”

Mia lifted her hand to touch his face. “Sweetheart, I love you, but we’re not at that point yet.”

“Right,” he said. “The go-bag!”

“In the car,” Mia assured him. “We’re good.”

“We’re good,” Liam said. “We’re having this baby.”

Mia laughed under her breath. “We’re having this baby.”

Liam’s eyes widened suddenly. He turned to his brothers. “I’m gonna be a dad! ”

Cheers erupted again. Grace ran around the island, laser blasters in hand once more, pretending to fire off celebratory shots. “I’m gonna be a cousin!”

“Um, is the turkey supposed to smoke this much?” X called, wafting dark smoke away from the oven.

“The bird!” Cathleen shrieked, darting after him.

Connor snagged the front of my sweater and pulled me close in the midst of the chaos. “Welcome to the funhouse,” he murmured against my cheek as Liam and Finn raced out to start the car. “You’re sure you want this?”

I released a laugh of disbelief that this was all mine . “More than anything.”

“It was sweet of Finn and Sierra to still take Grace,” I said, hours later, my head pressed against Connor’s bare chest as he held me close. The sound of his breathing had lulled me to sleep once already.

“She’ll probably be passed out all day anyway,” he said. “It’s the easiest babysitting gig ever. She’s never stayed up so late before.”

I chuckled. “It was a worthy cause. She’ll have a great story to tell her cousin one day.”

Mia had been in labor for eleven hours, but at about four in the morning, we’d all finally gotten to meet Cameron Jacob Lockhart.

Grace had immediately dubbed him Baby CJ.

The name had stuck, and there was already a dedicated family group chat to pictures of that adorable face. A group chat Cathleen had added me to.

My chest still warmed whenever I thought about it .

After we’d left the new little family to their privacy, Finn and Sierra had whisked Grace away, and Connor and I had returned to his place—to his room , not one of the guest rooms—and we’d immediately…passed out.

“I don’t know how they waited that long to find out the sex,” I said. “I don’t think I could.”

“No?”

I lifted my head, grinning at the contentment on Connor’s face. “I’d want to know right away. I’d be so impatient, there’s no way.”

Connor chuckled softly, running his hand down my bare arm, tracing lazy patterns. “We found out with Grace accidentally. The sonogram operator let it slip without realizing.”

“Were you upset?”

He shook his head. “No, I think it made it more real for me, though. I mean, I’d known from the start I’d take responsibility for my baby.

It’s why I proposed to Ali right away. But in that moment, it really hit home that I was going to have a little girl who’d be mine .

Mine to take care of. Mine to make happy, and to keep safe. ”

“And you’ve done a great job of that,” I whispered.

Connor’s hand drifted up my arm and across my collarbone, tapping at the hollow at the base of my neck. Then, slowly, his hand drifted down my chest, over my ribs, sliding along the curve of my breast before thumbing a nipple to attention.

I sucked in a sharp breath, a throbbing pulse starting between my legs. “What time is it anyway?”

Connor circled his thumb several times, catching the peak of my nipple between his thumb and forefinger, squeezing gently. “Not sure. ”

Was it noon or past dinner? Had we slept away an entire long weekend? It was sort of hard to care with the waves of desire spreading through me. I leaned into the touch, sighing his name as he kissed his way down the side of my face, sucking at my neck.

My hands crawled across his body, over ribs and muscle and the curve of his shoulders. I chased his spine like a ladder, kneading his ass as he rocked against me. I could feel his cock harden between us, and my entire body shivered in response.

“Mmm,” I gasped as his lips found mine. “I need you.”

He reached over to snag a condom, pulling me back into his arms as soon as it was in place. “Tell me exactly what you need,” he said, the demand gentle but insistent. “Tell me how you want to be fucked.”

I squirmed at his words. “I need you inside me,” I moaned against his mouth. The ache intensified quickly, and my body craved him. “Please.” I kissed him again. Harder. Pressing my tongue into his mouth, pulling away only long enough to beg once more, “ Please .”

Connor rolled us, positioning himself on top, and I spread my legs, feeling the weight of his cock settle between my hips.

He kissed my temple, nuzzling at my hair, and then I felt the tip of him at my entrance.

“Yes,” I hissed as his cock stretched me. The motion was smooth, the friction delicious. I’d missed this ache, missed him, and as I clutched his shoulders, tears burned at the backs of my eyes. It was good. So, so good. I don’t know how we’d ever survived being apart.

Connor sped up, his hips snapping, his breath growing ragged in my ear. He shifted onto one arm, reaching between us to finger my clit.

I moaned, sparks of pleasure already starting to leak across my body .

He focused his attention, rubbing steady circles, and my hips started to move, started to chase the pressure of his fingers, and suddenly I was coming, moaning and tensing. Then Connor was picking up his rhythm, driving me wild as he chased his own orgasm straight through mine.

He grunted, going still in my arms. I clung to him like I never planned to let go, pressing soft kisses to his chest.

Contentment blossomed inside me as the lingering waves rocked over me, making me lightheaded and giddy. There was no more hiding. No more squirreling away, trying to steal a moment without people knowing. This was real, and he was mine .