“Fine, fine. Isa, take this outside.”
Isabelle takes the cake and carefully runs outside. And just in time, Julian runs inside with Grace at his hip, both dressed for the barbecue. “I locked him out.”
“He has a key!”
Julian shrugs and sets Grace down and she runs to hug my leg. She reaches up with her baby arms and I pick her up because I can’t resist her—no one can. “Hey, Gracie baby.”
“Uncle Christian is outside.”
“That’s because your daddy is a giant silly man.”
Grace chuckles but Julian glares, and the front door swings open. “Grace, come with me, baby. We have to go outside.”
I set Grace down and hiss at Natalia, “Get everything outsidenow.”
I run to the front door just as Christian is taking off his sneakers and I stop right in front of him, trying to block his view of anything behind me. “Hey, how was the gym?”
His brows pinch quickly. “Good. Julian locked me out for some reason. Are you okay?”
“Yep, fine!” I nearly shriek. “All good.”
“Okay? Baby, are you?—”
“Go take a shower,” I blurt a bit too loudly.
Christian drops his gym bag and he’s so fucking sexy, I hate him. Strands of sweaty hair cling to his forehead, Julian not giving him the time to shower or change. When he crosses his arms over his chest, his biceps flex and they must be larger than my head.
Is that even humanly possible?
Probably not.
“What’s going on?”
“Please,” I breathe. “Just…take a shower and change.”
“Lana…”
I stand on my toes, put my palm to his cheek, and give him one soft kiss on his lips. “Happy birthday, Christian.”
Back on my feet, I keep my hand on his cheek and watch his bright coffee eyes soften. “You didn’t give me the chance to kiss you back.”
I shrug with a small smile. “Consider it my birthday gift.”
His smile is just as small as mine, like he’s holding back. “I’ll go shower.”
I nod and step out of his way. I follow behind him as he turns into the small hall under the stairs and immediately into the bathroom. The shower starts and I sigh, raking my fingers through my hair and tossing it aside.
“That was cute.”
I jump, my hand over my heart. “Shit, Natalia.”
“Can I show you the other cake while he’s gone?”
I dip my chin and she takes the cake out of the fridge. It’s a much smaller, round one—enough for just two people. Thefrosting is vanilla like the other one, but this writing is in yellow.
I don’t know if I want to yell at her or not, so I just laugh. “Natalia, I swear?—”
Smiling, she puts it back in the fridge. She looks at me and winks once it’s closed. “I knew you’d like it.”
