“Sweetheart, I’m always good.” I smirk, giving her hand a squeeze.
She sucks in a deep breath as her eyes search mine. “I’m hoping you are because I’ve never wanted you as much as I do now.”
“Who is this bold woman?”
She smiles. “Your family is rubbing off on me.”
“I don’t know if that’s a good thing.”
“It is,” she says before she licks her lips, causing my stomach to flutter in anticipation.
“Earth to Iris and Brax,” Zoey says, snapping her fingers and killing any spark that was zipping around us in the air.
“It’s gross but kind of nice to see him like this,” Lulu says as Iris pulls back, settling into her chair and facing the group.
As if on cue, Wylder, Mason, and Nino grab chairs and wade into the conversation.
“What’d we miss?” Nino asks.
There isn’t a single one of us who’s like the others, besides looks. The Italian runs deep in this family in appearance and attitude, but we all have a quirk or two that makes us unique.
Lulu has her need for organization. She doesn’t know how to relax unless she’s tied down and forced to sit still. She’s wound so tight sometimes, I worry she’s going to spiral herself right off the edge of mental sanity.
Zoey is a free spirit and flits through life like she doesn’t have a care in the world. Two sisters could not be more opposite. Sometimes it’s hard for me to come to grips that they grew up in the same household. Zoey didn’t get the obsessively clean gene that Lulu got from somewhere…probably her father. There’s no denying they’re sisters, but they have different biological fathers, and that’s where the recipe must’ve swapped a few ingredients.
Nino is an only child, and he acts like it sometimes too. We’ve made it our mission as his cousins to keep him grounded in reality. Not everyone is going to service his every whim to make him happy like his parents have done his entire life. He’s spoiled but not bratty. Any bit of that part of him was beaten out of him as a little kid by our own hands.
Amelia is also an only child, but Uncle Vinnie and Aunt B made sure she didn’t turn into a nightmare. She has Aunt B’s sweetness, but she’s still young, andthat could change as the world makes her more jaded. She has a dream of becoming an author like her mother, already working on her third novel, which is impressive for someone barely into her twenties.
My brother Mason is hoping to join my sister’s business at Inked. He has dreams of becoming a world-renowned tattoo artist like our cousins in Florida, but I think he’s doing it to get women and for the fame, not the love of the art. He’s a good guy, although he’s led about by his dick at this point in his life. He’s a bit too cocky and sometimes he can get on my nerves, but he’s solid and good straight down to his core.
My sister Tate is a mouthy little thing. She beat my ass more times than I can count growing up and is probably the reason why I’m not a hellion as an adult. We’ve been through a lot of shit together, losing our biological mother when we were little. Tate somehow made me her responsibility even though Dad married Tilly before I really have many memories. She’s a great pseudo stepmom to Wylder’s two girls and is going to be an amazing mother to her own once she finally pops the news to the entire family about her little bun in the oven.
“So, Wylder and I have an announcement,” Tate says to the table, clearing her throat like she does when she’s nervous.
Thank God. She’s finally going to tell people so I don’t have to keep this secret. I complain about thefamily being gossips, but I’m one too. We don’t have secrets, and no one judges anyone for the boneheaded shit we all do. We learn from one another’s mistakes…for the most part.
All eyes at the table turn toward her and Wylder, and all talking dies.
Tate glances at Wylder and smiles. “You tell them.”
Wylder shakes his head, sliding his arm around Tate’s back. “No, baby. This is your family—you tell them.”
I brace myself for the screams of joy that are going to shoot around this table, liable to make my ears ring like a sudden explosion too close to my head.
“Okay. Okay.” She takes a deep breath and holds out her hand. “We’re getting married.”
My eyebrows shoot up on their own. That wasn’t what I was expecting to come out of her mouth. They call each other husband and wife, and I’ve fallen into that too. I think of them as married because they act like they are, and they are for all intents and purposes.
“Oh my God, when?” Lulu asks, clapping her hands like it’s the most exciting news she’s ever heard.
My eyes find Wylder, and he gives me a smile. We both know what’s up. He’s knocked her up, and now he wants to marry her before the baby arrives. It’s not like they have to hide their sex life from the family. We all know they’re doing it.
“Congrats, sis,” I say to her, giving her a lift of my chin.
“Thanks,” she says.
“When? When? When?” Lulu asks again. “We need to start planning.”
