I sighed and took the coffee upstairs with me, deliberately not focusing on the sound of the water running in my shower. Callum was in there. Naked.
But Brody was in his bedroom getting dressed just down the hall and the Westwoods were expecting us. Even so, when Callum came out of the bathroom with only a towel wrapped around his hips, the corner tucked in right in the center between those defined fuck-me lines, a soft moan slid out of me before I could swallow it back. My gaze raked across his damp torso.
Callum laughed, but I saw the heat flickering in those blue eyes. “Say the word and I’ll have Sadie or Laney come pick Brody up for lunch. You and I can join them later. Maybe.”
My cheeks flushed. Quickly closing the distance, I pressed myself up on my tiptoes to plant a chaste kiss on his lips. It felt amazing to be able to do that. Less amazing when I backed up again just as fast.
“Maybe next time. Once he knows them better.”
Callum groaned but nodded. “Yeah, okay. I guess I’d better get dressed then, and you definitely need to stop looking at me like that, you little devil.”
I grinned. “I don’t know. I kind of like looking at you like this.”
The next thing I knew, his arm had snaked around my hips and I landed with a soft thud against his chest. He smirked, and his mouth descended to mine for a hard kiss that made my knees weak. But then he let go.
“Shit,” he muttered. “I really wish we had, like, ten minutes.”
“Wow. You really have a lot of faith in your stamina, huh?” I teased him in order to distract myself from the need coursing through me. Laughing, I danced out of his reach when he made to grab me again.
Somehow we made it out of the house. By the time we arrived at his parents’ place, the rest of the family was clearlyalready there. Right as we walked in, laughter and overlapping conversations echoed from the dining room.
“Finally!” Sadie called, standing up and swiping Brody into a hug first. “You’re late and we’ve all been starving.”
“It’s not my fault,” Callum said, deadpan as he shrugged out of his jacket. “Maisie sleeps like a rock.”
Heat rose from neck. “Excuseyou?”
The table exploded with laughter. Harrison clapped him on the shoulder when he stood up to greet us. “Bold move, brother. Real smooth, putting the blame on her before she’s even married you yet.”
Brody grinned as Sadie passed him to Laney. “It’s true, though. Mom sleeps forever.”
“Traitor,” I muttered, but he just laughed, almost immediately launching into the story about how he beat Callum in their snowball fight.
Every adult at the table gave him their full attention, laughing at all the right moments, doting on him like he’d been theirs forever. Even Harlan, the patriarch I was still much too intimidated by to even speak to directly, leaned forward, joining the banter and teasing his own son for being beaten by a seven-year-old.
After lunch was served, the focus of the ribbing shifted from Callum to Harrison, with Jameson and Callum giving their little brother hell overbeing next. Sterling was a little more subdued in his teasing, but I caught him glance at Harlan a few times.
Neither he nor CC gave any indication of who was right, the others for thinking Harrison would have to get married soon, or their youngest son, who seemed convinced that the expectation didn’t apply to him.
“Callum’s off the market now,” Jameson said, a wide grin on his face as he glanced at me. “Poor Maisie has to live with him for the rest of her life. My condolences to you, Maisie, butthat leaves you, little brother. Want me to help you navigate the mysteries of convincing some lovely, unsuspecting girl to marry you?”
“Here we go again,” Harrison groaned, dragging a hand over his face. “Even if it was going to happen, I wouldn’t need any help. Especially not from you. You married your best friend’s sister. My best friend doesn’t have a sister.”
Sadie leaned her head on Jameson’s shoulder, her eyes sparkling. “I heard you went on a date last week. Best friend’s sister or not, we want to hear about it.”
“That wasn’t a date,” Harrison said, his voice flat. “It was a meeting. Are you guys seriously going to start dissecting every conversation I have with a woman?”
“Meetings don’t usually end with lipstick on your collar,” Sterling chimed in. Then he glanced at Laney and winked. “At least, they don’tusuallyend that way.”
Laney blushed beet red but focused on Harrison. “You are so busted. We both saw you at the office after thatmeeting. There totally was lipstick on your collar.”
“It was ketchup,” he protested, though the tips of his ears turned pink.
I didn’t feel like it was my place to point it out. These people were starting to feel more and more like family, but I wasn’t quite at the point where I felt comfortable teasing Harrison about his father’s potential plans right in front of said father.
“Who thinks it was ketchup? Who’s going to take lipstick?” Callum joked. “We’re starting a betting pool, but either way, you’re definitely getting married before the end of the year.”
“That’s rich coming from you,” Harrison clapped back, widening his eyes at his brother. “Last I heard, you two haven’t exchanged your I-do’s yet. Even if I was next, which I’m absolutely not, you’ve still got to seal the deal first.”
