She’s so damn beautiful, my chest aches with a yearning that’s as plain as a billboard. I want this. I want her.
But not too long ago, it’s what I wanted with another woman. Am I rushing things? Is my midlife crisis making deals with a pretty young woman and dumping all my upended hopes on her?
That’s not fair to Campbell.
A light smile plays across her lips. “Durban. Long time no see.”
It’s felt like forever. “Nice you could make it to the party last night.”
I pry my gaze off her and the Tilt-A-Whirl it creates in my chest.
Jamison is curled into the corner of the couch. Her hair is in the messiest bun I’ve ever seen, there are bags under her eyes, but she smiles like she’s exactly where she wants to be.
Kacey’s sitting on Avery’s lap in a recliner, poring over her cardboard books. Avery’s watching me with a blond brow cocked. Thea’s sprawled on the floor at Avery’s feet, her short dark hair sticking up in all directions.
I tip my head to them. “Avery. Thea. How was the drive?”
“Long,” Avery answers, her gaze jumping from me to Campbell.
Shit. Did everything I was thinking play across my expression? “You staying for a while?”
“Yes.” Avery’s eyes flash. “We’re moral support only. I’m not attending the wedding.”
Thea tosses her arm in the air, giving a thumbs-up in what must mean solidarity. “Team Campbell.”
“Me too.” Kacey puffs her lips out. That’s my girl. “I don’t like Stan.”
Campbell beams. “I have the best posse in the world, but you guys need to go to the wedding so you can tell me how awful January looks and how tacky Stanford’s outfit is. He’s going with a tux, refusing to wear the crisp black jeans and white dress shirt that January wanted him to wear.”
“Is it bad I was worried I’d miss the train wreck?” Avery asks.
Thea sits up and crosses her legs. “I don’t want that wedding to be a hot mess, for your sake,” she says to Campbell, “but I want January to be a hot mess.”
Tavis squawks and squirms. Campbell adds a little bounce to her side to side. “You want that too, don’t you?” she coos. “That’s why you’re my favorite nephew.”
“Until Durban or Haven give him some competition,” Jamison says with a yawn.
Avery cocks her head, her sharp gaze pinning me like a bug on display. “Planning to give Tavis some competition, Durban?”
Thea taps Avery’s knee. “That’s intrusive.”
“Sure is,” Avery answers, but her challenging stare remains on me.
Campbell has rocked herself so her back is to her sister. Her flushed cheeks are on display, and her gaze is darting everywhere but me.
I might’ve been bowled over by baby fever, but she’s not. Why would she be? She’s not even thirty, and she’s kick-starting a brand-new career. I’m seeing things that aren’t there again.
“No baby making is going on,” I say. I hold my hands out and close the distance between me and Campbell. “Mind if I hold the little guy?”
Her blush deepens, but she lets me take him. He’s a warm weight in my arms. The smell of baby powder mingles with Campbell’s summery scent. That’s stamped into my midlife-crisis brain now too.
Fuck. All the sex is scrambling my brain. I’m conflating it with the wedding festivities, and my mind is taking off on a tangent. I hold Tavis and remember his sister at this age.
“Ready for the luncheon tomorrow?” Campbell asksme. Just when I can’t believe that she’s brought it up in front of her family, she wiggles her fingers toward them. “They were going to boycott that too, but January was upset.”
“She’ll have no one at her precious lunch,” Avery says snidely, “while Can’t Stanford will have a full house.”
“January will die thinking about how Campbell would’ve filled that pavilion,” Jamison pipes in.
