Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 99967 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 500(@200wpm)___ 400(@250wpm)___ 333(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 99967 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 500(@200wpm)___ 400(@250wpm)___ 333(@300wpm)
“Thanks for staying with me.”
“You’re welcome.” I kiss the back of her hand as I pull in front of Xander’s house, cut the engine, and turn to her. “Are you okay, sugar?”
“Yeah. It was an alarming way to start the day, but I’m okay. I did have a good time last night.”
I smile and cup her gorgeous face. “Understatement.”
She meets me halfway over the center console, and I kiss her, then graze my teeth over that delicious bottom lip, and kiss her some more.
“I don’t know when I’ll be free,” she whispers.
“We’ll wing it.” I tuck her hair behind her ear. “It’ll be okay.”
She nods and turns to open her door, but I stop her.
“Let me.”
I walk around the car and open that door for her, and when she steps out, I pull her into me, hugging her close.
“You sure you’re okay, sugar?”
“Better now. You give some really good hugs. You know that, right?”
Grinning, I kiss the top of her head. “It takes two to hug, baby. Have a good day. I’ll be at the clinic all day, but just call if you need me.”
“Thank you.” She boosts up on her toes to kiss me, and then she’s gone, up the stairs and into the house.
And I already miss the fuck out of her.
“So …” Bridger comes up to stand next to me, folds his arms over his chest, and we both watch as Dani, Birdie, and Bee fuss over Bryce. He’s smiling at them, and they’re both puddles as they make faces at the infant. “Harper.”
We’re at Bee and Connor’s place for Sunday dinner. We usually go to Beckett’s place, the house we all grew up in on the Double B Ranch, but our family is growing, and my sister’s house is bigger. Connor comes to stand with Bridger and me, watching the girls.
The others haven’t arrived yet.
“What about her?”
Connor raises an eyebrow. “I missed something.”
“Blake’s seeing a woman,” Bridger says, filling him in, and Connor’s green gaze turns to me.
“More than once?”
“Fuck both of you.”
They laugh, and then Connor claps me on the back. “Who is she?”
“A nurse,” I reply.
“Bryce’s NICU nurse at the hospital,” Bridger adds. “She’s hot. Super nice. Dani loved her to death.”
“Hot and nice,” Connor repeats, nodding as he crosses his arms, mirroring Bridger’s stance. “That’s a good place to start.”
“Who’s hot and nice?”
I turn to find Skyla standing behind us, with my brother Beckett grinning at me over her head.
Clearly, Bridger’s already filled him in. This family is full of a bunch of fucking gossips.
“Blake’s girlfriend.” This comes from Connor, who then opens his arms to hug his sister. “And how are you today, a stór?”
“Just fine.”
Beckett proposed to the pretty ballerina at Christmastime, and they’re planning for a fall wedding. I’m surprised he waited so long to ask her to marry him because it’s plain as day that they’re meant to be together.
“I want to know more about the pretty girlfriend,” Beckett says, but I’m saved when more family comes rolling through the doors. Brooks strides in, and when he sees the baby, his whole face softens.
He’s always such a grumpy ass, but he’s a softy for the kids and the girls.
Skyla and Connor’s parents arrive, followed closely by Skyla’s best friend, Mikhail, and his husband, Benji.
By the time my parents get here, it’s a full house. A chaotic one filled with noise and laughter, and it makes me grin.
“How are you, my boy?” Mom asks as she wraps her arm around my waist and leans into my side. I wrap my arm around her shoulders and hug her against me, kissing the top of her head.
“I’m great. How are you, Mom?”
“Oh, I’ll feel better now that it’s warming up outside.”
I frown down at her. I know that my mom’s rheumatoid arthritis is particularly bad in the winter for her. She doesn’t do well with the cold. That’s why they moved to Florida a few years ago, but they really missed the family, and with Bridger and Dani having another baby, there’s no way you could keep them away.
But I worry about her.
“Are you in a flare?” I ask her, keeping my voice low.
“Coming out of one.” She pats me on the chest. “I’m fine, sweet boy. Just sore and a little tired. But I want to hear about you.”
“Nothing big to report.”
Okay, I just flat-out lied to my mother. I’m falling in love with a gorgeous, amazing woman who has lit my world on fire.
“We’ll love her,” Mom murmurs and gives me a squeeze.
My gaze whips down to hers, and she just smiles.
“A mother knows these things.”
“I swear you’re psychic.”
She wrinkles her nose. “I know my kids. Whenever you’re ready, bring her around.”
I nod and kiss her head. She makes a beeline for that baby, and I go in search of my brothers, who slipped away when Mom walked over to hug me.