“Never mind. I know my mother.” A moment bounces by where it’s just Marshall and me, this heavenly handsome as all hell being with those cutting maroon eyes and a sly smile that screamsthe better to eat you with. Marshall was there for the birth of the boys, and now he’s planning their first birthday party. For some reason, the fact he was embroiled in the event that involves the two pieces of my heart floating around on the planet makes him vexingly sexy on a dangerous level. “So”—I clear my throat—“can I use your home? Just one room. Trust me, they’re used to tight confined spaces. A whole room will feel like theTaj.”
“You have a home, Skyla. House themthere.”
“The Landon estate?” A laugh gets caught in my throat. “If I do that, you can add Tad to the number ofcorpses.”
Marshall frowns and nodswest.
Wait—what’s west? West,west? As in West Paragon High? No, they have enough zombified bodies wandering around campus. The only thing past that is the estateswhere—
I suck in a quick breath. “The old Walshhome?”
He forces his lips to curl in a nefarious grin. “I believe it is the new Oliver home. Yes, Skyla. You yourself have referred to the hovel as a haunted house. And now you can have all the ghosts you wish to fillit.”
“Very funny.” The old Walsh home, my home, is a death trap at the moment. I’m pretty sure it’s not safe to house corpses in—resurrected ornot.
I think on this for a minute. God, what do I say? I’ve never needed Marshall’s full support on this level before. That horridsurprisespirit wedding that took place years ago crosses mymind.
“Lest I remind you that I let you marry me.” I blink up at him in a weak attempt to seduce him toward my line ofthinking.
He glances up, almost bored with the fact—not the slightest bemusement on his part. It wasn’t so much that I let him marry me than the fact I was sort of ambushed and ithappenedtome.
“Okay, so I didn’t really let you marry me, but I totally would have if I had my better judgment about me. Good thing you stepped in when you did. Shall we have Demetri throw us a vow renewal in the Transfer? There’s nothing like a bunch of disembodied spirits to make it feel official.” I should know. I did the very same thing last September withGage.
He folds his arms, his affect unflinching. “A party for the ages—at the devil’s house no less. My, Skyla, you do dream big, don’tyou?”
“I dream of you.” It comes out wistful and for good reason. Marshall has been haunting my dreams—or more accurately, my subconscious has been haunting my dreams with Marshall. And, mind you, these are not your average nocturnal wanderings. These are sultry, erotic, panty-melting, grip-the-sheets sex-rated dreams. Nothing at all the stuff that should be filling the head of a very married woman. But, honest to God, there’s no getting off this sexual merry-go-round. The more I try to fight them, theharder—pun intended—they seem tocome.
My lips purse for a moment as I reflect on Gage and how hurtful it must be knowing this goes on each and every night. He figured it out a long time ago and has never held it against me. If Gage were having nonstop porn dreams about Kresley, I would have hung him by his oversized balls bynow.
“My”—a dark laugh strums from Marshall—“that took you away to a specialplace.”
A light tap falls on my shoulder, and I look up to find Laken hovering above me. “Speaking of special places. Fancy seeing youhere.”
“Laken!” I jump up and give her a strong hug. “God, I’ve missedyou.”
“I’ve missed you. And my God! Look how big these boys are! It’s only been a few weeks since we saw you at the bowling alley and they’ve already doubled in size.” She holds her arms out as Nev hands Barronover.
“What’s up?” Cooper comes from behind. “You ready for another Retribution League sit-down?”
“You read my mind. I’ll schedule it soon. You won’t believe the ace that just crawled up oursleeve.”
Laken and Coop exchange a quicklook.
“Don’t worry. This is going to be brilliant.” Nathan starts to fuss and I try to take him from Ezrina, but she spins on herheels.
“Mine.” She presses a kiss to the top of his head and evokes a bubbling laugh fromhim.
“Ezrina,” I cry in awe at my happy babyboy.
Laken bounces Barron a few feet away over to where Ezrina is holding Nathan hostage, and I steal the opportunity to have a quick one-on-one withCoop.
I lean in and whisper, “Have you kicked Wesley’s ass yet for stealing your wife’s virginity?” I give a single nod because I’d love for it to be true more thananything.
Coop gives a quick shake of the head as Laken and Ezrina bounce back in thisdirection.
Laken rubs her cheek over Barron’s feather soft hair. “You’re so lucky you get to love on these two little cuddle bunnies all day and allnight.”
“Don’t I know it. But soon enough, you’ll have an entire fleet of mini-Coopers to love and cuddle all day and night. And I do mean all night. It turns out cuddle bunnies are in extreme opposition to getting anysleep.”
