“Merry Christmas,” I said against her lips.I loved giving her sentiments while my lips brushed against hers.It was an intimacy I hadn’t allowed prior to Emily.
With a happy moan, Emily returned her love and damn, it would never get old.It couldn’t get old.
I watched as she stepped into the shower, regretful that I couldn’t—well,shouldn’t—follow her in.Instead, I did my puppy-parent duties and walked out of the bathroom, leaving the door open a crack, and quickly pulled on my lounge pants and an old ratty sweatshirt.I pulled out leggings and a sweatshirt for Emily but saw a tee-shirt dress under it all.Assuming that was for today, I pulled out the dark green fabric and put it on the bed for her before moving to kneel in front of the puppy crate.Looking at the size of Teddy’s paws, we would need a bigger crate soon, I mused.
“Good morning, Teddy girl,” I said, unlatching the door.With a yip and a wiggle of her butt, the puppy bounded out of the small space.Not wanting her to piss on my brother’s wood floors, I scooped her up.She climbed up to rest her front paws on my shoulder, happily panting in my ear as I left the room.
The hallway was pretty quiet yet with the doors to other bedrooms closed, but I could hear my brother and Stone talking down the way.Sure enough, in the kitchen in their own sleep clothes, stood my brother and brother-in-law, mugs of coffee in their hands, standing on either side of the kitchen’s peninsula counter.
“Morning.”I nodded in their direction before moving further into the kitchen, passing the guys and the kitchen table to let Teddy out into the fenced in backyard.All that was back there was a swing set and a sand box; she couldn’t get into too much trouble back there.
As I turned back to the guys though, I saw that Stone was laughing behind his hand and Con was doing a piss-poor job of keeping a straight face.
“What’s up?”I moved to grab a coffee mug of my own, filling it to the brim with steaming hot java.
Again, Stone laughed, this time the sound erupting from his mouth in an explosion of air, as if he was trying to keep it contained behind tight lips.
What the fuck was so damned funny?
“So you andEmyhave figured things out since we last talked?”Con finally said, lifting his mug toward me before taking a sip.
“Well, yeah?”My brother fucking knew this.He knew about the puppy, he knew about the damn—
The gift she was getting today.
He knew damn well I loved the woman.
He also knew we—
Fuck.
“Oh, Emy.Fucking A, Emy,” Con said in a low voice now, humping his kitchen counter.
Jesus fucking Christ.“Grow the fuck up,” I grumbled into my coffee.
Stone slapped me on the back just as the hot liquid met my lips.With a curse, I put the damned mug down.
“Glad to hear it’s working out for you, man,” he said around a snicker.
“I, for one, am glad to hearyougrew the fuck up.Took what you wanted,” Con said, adding in his own two cents.
I sure as hell wasn’t about to tell him that it was Emily who took whatshewanted.
“How the hell did you know?”I mean, yeah, we weren’t quiet but…
“I was putting Ava back in her bed after she spent the last three hours in ours,” Con informed me.Ava’s bedroom was the one right next to the one Emily and I were sharing.
I could be cool with my brother taunting me about sex, but I wasn’t entirely sure I was ok with my baby niece hearing all that.“Did she sleep through it?”
Please say yes.Please say she did.She was only two but I couldn’t imagine she wouldn’t have questions.She had questions abouteverything.And I wasn’t looking forward to having to pay for her therapy…
“Naw, yeah.She slept.”Conor chuckled and took another sip of his coffee before pushing away from the counter.“But I’m happy for you, bro.”
“Just don’t bring it up to Emily,” I said, pointing to Con and then swinging my gaze to Stone.“Don’t.She’ll get all embarrassed and shit.”
“I love how you bring out your bad boy words with us.I bet it’s all flowers and poetry withEmy girl.”Conor could be such a fucking ass when he wanted to.
“And you don’t?”I glared at my brother, then my brother-in-law as well because, while he didn’t agree or disagree with Con’s statement, I knew damn well how he was with my sister.
