Travis laughed out loud, shaking his head. “You poor, spoiled thing. Get dressed before they come and drag us out.”
Ten minutes later, hand in hand, Travis led her through the deepening twilight across the expansive yard toward where the fire had been built. Cheers of welcome and more hugs—this family was a hugging family, apparently—greeted them as they stopped at the chairs that circled the ten-foot-wide fire ring. Hand crafted Adirondack chairs were scattered around, some taken, others still empty. A long, wide picnic table sat just to the side, lit by the firelight, and masses of food trays covered the top.
Roxy was pulled away by Jodi and Serenity toward the table, and Travis’s eyes followed, as if taking his gaze off of her was impossible. There they were met by a taller version of Jodi, their hair the same dark brunette curls, though this woman’s hair was pulled into a loose French braid that fell over her shoulder. Sisters, if he had to guess by the similarities between the two. A Carhardt hoodie was pulled tight over a rounding stomach, just a touch rounder than Jodi’s.
Free walked up to him then, holding out a bottle of beer. Travis took it with a smile. “Thank you.”
“No, thank you,” Free said, notching his chin toward the redhead across from them. The taller pregnant woman was handing Roxy a mixed drink of some kind, and Free shook his head. “Christ, don’t let Shaun make too many of those for Roxy. Shaun doesn’t know what a light pour is.”
Travis laughed, grinning. “That your wife’s sister?”
“Yeah,” Free chuckled, nodding. “That’s Shauntelle. Her husband is, ahh—” Free stepped aside as another figure joined them where they stood. He was tall, blonde, with storm cloud blue eyes. Travis stared for a long minute, trying to place where he recognized the man from. “This is my cousin, Kasey. Kasey is Shaun’s husband, they just got married what, two months ago?”
The tall blonde extended a hand to Travis, and he shook it firmly. “Almost two months, yeah.”
“And both sisters are pregnant?” Travis asked, gesturing to both women’s rounding stomachs. Free laughed out loud, and the blonde, Kasey, groaned.
“Due four weeks apart,” Kasey muttered, shaking his head. “God help us. We’re due with twins in September.”
Travis’s eyebrows shot up. “Wow, congratulations.”
“So how do you know my cousin?” Kasey asked, notching his chin toward Roxy. Raising a bottle of beer to his mouth, he took a long pull, those gray-blue eyes laser focused on Travis.
“Uhh, I teach a kickboxing class that she was in. Roxy is your cousin, too?” Travis asked. He glanced between Free and Kasey, then to Roxy. “Doesn’t that make Roxy your cousin, Free?”
“Nah, Kasey is my cousin on my mom’s side of the family, and Kasey and Roxy are like fourth cousins by marriage on his dad’s side or something,” Free laughed. His striking aquamarine eyes came to Travis then, understanding lighting in those eyes. “I’m assuming she told you?”
Travis didn’t have to ask what he meant. He nodded. The man standing in front of him was good looking, his dark hairworn slightly longer than was fashionable, and a dark, closely trimmed beard darkened the lower half of his face. Despite the assurance from Roxy that their relationship had never been more than sex purely for maintenance purposes, he couldn’t help the flash of jealousy that coursed through him, knowing this man had been with her. “She did.”
“Good, I’m glad she did,” Free said quietly, looking over toward the redhead.
The hoodie that Travis had given her was huge on her, hanging down below the curves of her ass, and the too long sleeves had been pushed to her wrists. The sight of her in his clothing was enough to make him feral; she washis.
“I hope you understand that I love Roxy with my whole heart,” Free said. “She’s my best friend, aside from Jodi—” Kasey made a disgruntled sound at that, and Free rolled his eyes before continuing quietly, “—and that part of our history is just that; ancient history. She knew before I did that my heart belonged up here with that little thing—” He smiled lovingly over at Jodi, who was talking animatedly to the other three women, who were laughing. Travis watched as her hand dipped to cradle the swell of her belly, and he turned to witness the love radiating from the other man’s eyes as he watched. The aching tightness in his chest eased slightly, that feral possessiveness tempering just a little. Freeman turned his attention back to Travis, who took another long pull of the beer clutched tightly in his fingers, waiting. “I’m in your debt for getting her here safely. I’m glad there were no issues.”
“Fuck, me too,” Travis chuffed roughly, rubbing the back of his neck with his empty hand. “After that blown tire in Kansas, I was sure that bastard was going to catch up with us.”
“It took two days for that tire to get fixed?” Kasey asked, and Travis’s attention was brought back to the tall guy with moviestar good looks that stood with them. He still couldn’t place his face, but damn did he look familiar.
“Uhh, yeah. We had to stay an extra night,” Travis mumbled around another drink of his beer. Shit, would these two try and kick his ass for sleeping with their friend?
“Mmhmm,” Free hummed, chuckling, grinning knowingly. Turning to Kasey, he asked, “How long did it take you and Shaun to leave the bedroom after—”
“She hightailed it all the way from Colorado back home the morning after. And like you’re one to talk, fucker,” Kasey grunted, shifting on his feet. “Pretty sure you and Jodi were shacked up for like a week before either of you made a public appearance—”
“Was not a week,” Free protested, but he was grinning. “And my lady didn’t run away from me. Maybe you didn’t know what you were doing—”
An arm banded around Freeman’s neck in a chokehold, but the two men were laughing. “If I didn’t know what I was doing, how’d I knock her up that first fucking night, asshole? How long did it take you?”
Free’s hands were clutching the forearm around his neck. Travis watched on, a shocked grin tugging at his mouth. The women had stopped chatting and were now watching the two men as they struggled. “We weren’t activelytryinguntil after the wedding, you jackass, and it only took—”
“Welcome to the chaos,” Roxy muttered as she sidled up to him, sliding her hand in his. He turned to look at her, though she was watching the two men as they continued to grumble at each other. “I see you’ve met Kasey. He’s taking a hiatus this upcoming season to be here for Shaun and the babies.”
“A hiatus from what?”
She glanced up at him. “K.C. Corcoran? Nascar driver? Number 33?”
“Shit, I knew he looked familiar, just couldn’t place the face,” Travis muttered, shaking his head. “K.C. Corcoran is your cousin?”
