She huffs a breathy laugh, her tongue darting out to wet her lower lip.
The sight of her tongue flicking over that bottom lip, the one that I want to nip at sharply and hear her gasp out my fucking name, makes my dick throb in my jeans.
“You know I do,” she whispers, raising her eyes to mine again.
“Teddy.”
“Yeah?” she asks, her voice high pitched and breathy again. Pink tinges her cheeks. So fucking pretty.
“I’m going to kiss you,” I breathe.
It’s not a question. I’m warning her.
Her eyes dart to my mouth and then slowly, so fucking slowly, climb back to mine. And then she nods. “Okay…”
Holding her baby in one arm, I slide my free hand up until I can clasp the back of her neck in my palm, angling her head up toward mine as I drop my mouth to hers. Sipping at her lips gently, repeatedly, I finally linger, pressing until I feel her lips open beneath mine. Darting my tongue into her mouth, I taste her. Just for a moment. Just long enough to give myself a raging hard on at the feel of her mouth and the taste of her lips.
Reluctantly, I pull away. Damn I could kiss her forever and not get tired of it. Dragging the backs of my fingers along her cheek, I smile when she opens her eyes. That same look from earlier is on her face. Soft and serene. Happy.
It’s like a drug, one I know I’m absolutely powerless against now that I’ve gotten a taste of it. I want to be the one that makes her happy like this.
And dammit, but I’ll do whatever it takes to make sure that I do just that.
The guys shoved us girls out of Xander’s duplex as soon as dinner was over, refusing to let us do the dishes—and who am I to argue with that?—so we’d allowed ourselves to be shooed out to enjoy the last of our wine and quiet girl time. Sitting around the little patio table out the back sliding door of my duplex, we’re laughing and chatting and I’m so blissfully content it’s a little disconcerting. I haven’t felt like this in so long, it’s almost foreign.
A citronella candle is lit on the small glass tabletop between us, the flame flickering in the light breeze that just barely stirs the evening air.
Leaning back in my chair, I sigh and close my eyes. “I should really get my kids to bed but I’m so comfortable I don’t want to get up.”
Violette hums in agreement, though none of us make any move. “I know, I should be getting Hols home to bed, too. But this is nice. Relaxing.”
We can hear the guys talking and the kids laughing from inside Xander’s house as they clean up the dinner dishes.
“It’s nice to not have to do it all alone,” I admit quietly, myeyes still closed, head tipped back. “Does that make me a terrible person to say that out loud?”
“Not at all,” Scottie says softly, and then I feel her hand squeeze mine gently. “You’ve been doing all of this alone for months, Teddy. It’s okay to let someone else help you. Especially if they look that hot doing it.”
“Are we talking about Xander or my brother?” I ask, cracking open one eye to look at her. She laughs, tipping her head back.
“Pfft, I was talking about us,” she laughs, shrugging her shoulders. I grin, then let my eyelid drop closed again. “Cal adores your kids, by the way.”
“I would hope so,” I laugh lightly, rolling the back of my head along the back of the chair. “He’s the one that was begging me to give him nieces and nephews. He just likes that he can spoil them absolutely rotten and then send them back home all cracked out on sugar.”
Scottie snorts a laugh, nodding. “Isn’t that the truth.”
We’re quiet for a time, listening to the guys and kids inside. This weird, patchwork family that seems to have been stitched together at random but feels so right, somehow.
I roll the pad of my thumb over the smooth underside of my wedding band on my finger, then look down at it. Taking a deep, steadying breath in, I whisper into the fading twilight to the two women that have become like sisters to me, “Thank you for letting me be a mess, you guys. This has all been so confusing. Both in my head and my heart. Thanks for allowing me to try and talk it through without judgment.”
“You’re not a mess, you’re a human,” Vi says gently, reaching out to squeeze my hand. “And this is a judgment free zone. You know that.”
Before any of us can say anything else, an indignant cry reaches us from inside Xander’s house and I sigh. “Well, that’s my Mom-cue.”
The slider door opens and closes next door and then Cal appears around the walled partition with a now fully awake and hangry Bea in his arms. I silently thank myself for switching to water after my second tiny glass of wine earlier.
“Okay, okay, little miss crabby pants,” he mumbles, bringing her to me. “I get it, I’m your least favorite person right now.”
“Only because you don’t have working nipples,” I laugh, teasing lightly. His nose wrinkles and he makes a disturbed sound in the back of his throat, which makes Vi and Scottie laugh.
