Nobody, and I had my sister to blame for how obsessed her niece was with fashion and make-up.
I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Get up and leave your sister alone.” My eyes fell to the open suitcase with a balled-up pair of socks and two T-shirts hanging haphazardly from it. “Tell me that’s not the suitcase you’re planning on taking with us?”
“Yeah.”
My patience frayed further. “The car will be here in thirty minutes. Get up, get ready, and pack, or I’ll change your seat, so you’re stuck next to your sister the entire trip.”
His mouth fell open, and I shook my head, turning from his room and running smack into the cause of his annoyance.
“Daddy, he messed them all up.” Blue eyes that could break even the coldest heart and that matched Tori’s looked up at me.
“It’s lip gloss, Ariella, not the end of the world. Pack two and get your suitcase downstairs.”
She gaped at me. “Two? But I need one for every day.”
I almost didn’t want to ask, but I did. “Why?”
“Because a lady always changes her shade to keep them guessing.”
Strangling Liv had been a natural urge since she had taken our daughter under her wing. “And who would a twelve-year-old girl need to keep guessing?”
“Her imaginary boyfriends,” Reid chimed in from behind me.
“Pack, Reid. Now.” I said, shutting his door and moving Ariella back before she went feral on him. I could see it in her eyes, that same look her mother had when she was ready to sink her fangs in.
“He’s so mean to me.”
“Are you packed?” I asked her, ignoring the constant friction between the two. Reid loved his sister, but he also knew how to push her buttons. I was glad he was in college because as much as I missed him while he was gone, I didn’t have to deal with this.
“Yes. Is Auntie Liv here yet?”
“They’re meeting us at the plane.”
She bounced on her toes, gave me a quick peck on the cheek, and ran back to her room. Another shake of my head and I peeked in our room, looking for Tori. The bed was made, the curtains open, but no Tori.
Heading back downstairs, I checked outside, seeing her figure in the distance on the beach. The waves were crashing against the surf when I reached her. Folding my arms around her waist, I kissed her cheek. Just having her in my arms soothed the tension the kids had caused. A sigh came from her, and she placed her hands over mine, leaning into me.
“Escaping the chaos?” I asked, inhaling the salt air and the scent of vanilla and cherry blossoms on her skin.
“Something like that.”
“Just think, in ten hours we’ll be in Italy, the kids will be busy with their cousins, and we can sneak away.”
She chuckled, turning to face me. “How many years have we been making this trip?”
Since the year we’d married. Tori had arranged the first trip, somehow convincing my father to give her the information on my mother’s family. That first year had been a reunion too long in the making, and it had been like returning home to see the family who had always welcomed us when my mother was alive. We’d been taking the trip every year since, Liv in tow.
“Fourteen years,” I said, knowing the number because it was the number of years we’d been married. Each one as wonderful as the first.
“And you think we’ll have time to slip away?” Cornfield blue shimmered with humor.
I pushed a strand of hair from her cheek and tugged her closer to me. “I do. In fact, I plan on keeping you and this body to myself the entire trip. We’ll say our hellos, sneak off, and lock ourselves in our room until it’s time to return home.”
Her smile lit her eyes, and I marveled at how even after all these years she was still the most beautiful woman in the world.
“I like that plan,” she murmured as I threaded my hand through her hair and brought her mouth to mine. Kissing her still set the crevices of my soul ablaze, and I drew her as close to me as I could.
“Mom, have you seen my phone?” Reid’s shout broke the magic of the moment, and I dropped my head to Tori’s neck.
