“I told you that you needed to keep your voices down,” I lectured.
More eye rolling.
The men finished in no time, then joined us in the dining room.Tom’s hand found my shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze.I glanced up at him.“Ready to go?”
“Only if you are,bella.”
“I am.I’ll just let Sam know I’m going.”I got up from the table and went to find my child in Laurel’s room.“Now, you’resureyou’re okay with my leaving?”I asked her again, my hands on her shoulder.
“I’m fine.Laurel, Honor, and I are having a sleepover.Aunt Gabrielle said that we could maybe bake cookies later tonight.”
“And if not, definitely tomorrow,” Laurel added.
“See,” Sam said.“All good.Go snuggle and kiss Tom, or whatever grown-ups do.”
“Maverick bit my mom’s neck one time when they were kissing,” Laurel said, making a disapproving face.“Left a bite mark.It’s so weird.”
“Grown-ups are weird,” Honor added.“If my husband, or boyfriend, or whatever bit me, I’d bite him back—harder.So he knew never to do it again.”
Sam and Laurel both nodded in agreement.Meanwhile, I’m sure my face was the color of a tomato.It was certainly warm.
“Anyway,” I said, leaning forward to press a kiss to Sam’s forehead, “I’ll message your aunt when I’m on my way back to pick you up.”
“Nottooearly,” Sam said with a pout.
I didn’t plan on leaving Tom’s bed at the crack of dawn, let alone at a reasonable hour.And I knew for a fact that he wouldn’t let me.But I simply nodded, kissed her again, and said my goodbyes.
“Ciao, piccola,” Tom said to Sam, since she had followed me out and to the door.
“Love you,” she said to him, a sassy grin on her face.
“Love you too.”He winked at her.
My cousins all exchanged bewildered expressions among themselves, but I chose to ignore them and instead, just waved goodbye and followed my handsome footballer out the door.We stopped by my place to grab my overnight bag, but I didn’t even make it four steps into my foyer before he had the door closed and my body pressed up against the wall, his lips devouring mine.
“Bella,we have not consummated this relationship onyourbed yet.Does it squeak terribly?Is that why?”
I snorted as his mouth traveled down my jaw, my neck, and back up to my mouth.“No, it doesn’t squeak.Your bed is just better.”
“Let us see this,” he said, grabbing my hand, toeing out of his shoes and carting me through the carriage house apartment toward my bedroom door.It was easy enough to see which one was mine, which was the office, and which was Sam’s since all the doors were open.When we reached my room, he picked me up at the hips, makingmesqueak, and plunked me on the bed.Then he climbed over me, his forearms all sexy and veiny beside my shoulders as I reclined to my back.“Let us see thisnot so goodbed of yours.”Then he proceeded to bounce, mimicking a thrusting motion, his eyes narrowed in a serious, yet adorable way.“No squeak.Good bounce.Your bed is good.Let us be here.”
My mouth twisted, and I glanced away.“I’m just … it feels weird being here.What if Sam walks in?”
“You are worried she will come home?She seemed pretty settled at Gabrielle’s.”
“But maybe she forgot something?It’s happened before.”
Still with a scrunched brow, he sat back on his heels, a noticeable bulge in his jeans.“Next day she is at school then?I will come here, and we will make this bouncy bed bounce?”
Chuckling, I reached for him, and he covered me again, resting a bit more of his weight on me this time.“Yes.After spring break is over and she’s back at school, the very first day, you can come over here and we’ll make the ‘bouncy bed bounce.’”
“Promise?”He held up his pinky finger.
This man was so full of surprises and green flags it was overwhelming and blinding in all the best ways.I linked my pinky through his and nodded.“Promise.”
Then he was back up, off the bed and on his feet, hauling me to mine as well.“Okay then.Andiamo.We shall go make my bed bounce then.”
I grabbed my overnight bag off the chair in the corner, our hands still linked together, then let him haul me toward the door.
