Hours after the first guest had arrived, the yard had finally cleared out, the only stragglers Rory’s sisters and him. Rory stood under the canopy with Will and Mac as they gathered the cloths from the picnic tables, her head tossed back in laughter and her eyes alight in genuine happiness.
A happiness he’d go to the ends of the earth to make sure she felt every day for as long as she’d have him.
“You’re lookin’ at Momma like you wanna kiss her.”
He glanced down to find Ava smiling up at him, Ella standing between the two of them, her face pinched in a grimace as she split a look from him to Rory. “I kinda do. Does that bother you?”
Ava shook her head at the same time Ella yelled, “Gross!”
He laughed loud enough to draw Rory’s attention, her eyes softening as she stared at the three of them. And damn if he didn’t melt a little bit when she looked at him like that.
Ella heaved a sigh and leaned against his leg. “This is gonna be happenin’ a lot, isn’t it?”
“Momma already talked to us about it,” Ava said, elbowing her sister. “I dunno why you’re so surprised.”
Nash’s eyebrows shot up his forehead. “She did?”
She’d wanted the whole town to know that she loved him, but somehow knowing she’d discussed the two of them with her daughters—with the two most important people in her life—made it all…real.
“What, um… What’d she say?” He scratched his jaw, hoping his eagerness wasn’t obvious.
Ava shrugged. “That she loves bein’ with you, and she hopes you love bein’ with her.”
“I do. A lot.”
Ava offered him a smile so much like her momma’s it nearly knocked him on his ass. “I’m glad you make her happy.”
He reached out and rested his hand on her head. “Me too.”
“Well,I’mglad you’re gonna be around more so you can take me fishin’.” Ella looked up at him, her lips pursed. “You have a fishin’ pole, dontcha?”
“Yes,” he said with a laugh, lifting his eyes to meet Rory’s across the yard. She studied the three of them, her head cocked to the side and hand resting against her chest, as if she loved every bit of what she was looking at.
The feeling was mutual.
Rory steppedout of Ella’s room, quietly closing the door behind her. It’d been a long day—hell, it’d been a long couple days—and the girls had conked out just as soon as their heads had hit their pillows. The last partygoers had finally filtered out. Mac and Will had left a bit ago after helping them clean up. And that meant Rory and Nash were alone. Finally.
He stood at the end of the hall, leaning his shoulder against the wall. “They asleep?”
Rory nodded as she twisted around, the doorknob gripped in her hand. “Just us now.”
He pushed off the wall and prowled toward her until he was so close, his breaths swept across her cheek. “Remember how you had plans to tell me how much you loved me in front of everyone?”
“Mhmm,” she said, her body going boneless as he kissed his way up her neck to her ear.
He nipped her earlobe. “You didn’t do that once the whole party.”
On a gasp, her eyes popped open. “Dammit!” she hissed. “That’s two fails in one day.” She fisted his T-shirt and tugged. “Are you upset?”
“A little bit. I have an idea for how you can make it up to me, though,” he said, one hand palming her ass as he pulled her up against him before walking her backward down the hall.
She raised her eyebrows. “Does your idea happen in my bedroom?”
“As a matter of fact…” He nipped her bottom lip as he reached behind her to open her door. “Before we get started, though… How hard do the girls sleep?”
She tilted her head to the side to make room for his questing lips. “A tornado could come through, and they’d be oblivious.”
“Probably a good thing, considering you’re just as loud as one.”
