“Come on, Claire Bear,” he says, resting his forehead against mine. “We’ve got a surprise party planned by Landry Reed to attend.”
“Oh, Bingo!” I straighten and call out. “That square was right beside ‘falling for a thirty-something-year-old virgin’ on my card for this year.”
He snorts and kisses me again before he comes around to get my door, and we hold hands as we amble down the road to Loren and Blake’s house.
Rowan’s parents are the first ones to greet us, and they don’t seem scandalized or even surprised by our more intimate demeanor. His mom smiles knowingly when he pulls away from her embrace and immediately clasps my hand again, but she doesn’t ask any questions.
The rest of the LaFleur clan seems more eager to speculate about our relationship status, though. Magnolia watches as I reach up to wipe some of the lipstick I smudged over Rowan’s neck earlier, and he meets her scrutiny with an assertive gaze, staring her down until she turns away.
“What’s that about?” I whisper.
“Nothing I can’t handle,” he replies cooly, and he’s so incredibly sexy that I have to talk myself out of sneaking him into another room to reapply some of those lipstick stains.
Oh, hell. There’s no reason Ican’tdo that, is there?
I trail a finger down his chest. “Are you my bodyguard now?”
“Your bodyguard?” he asks, blinking.
“I need to find the ladies’ room. Care to escort me, in case any mean girls try to corner me on the way?”
He smirks when he catches on and glances around the room for an escape route, but Loren finds us before we can slink off.
“Hey, you two. Glad you could make it …together,” Loren says, bouncing her eyebrows suggestively as she switches one of her twins to the other hip. “How’s that soft launch going?”
“Trying to keep it soft,” I mumble, and Rowan cocks an eyebrow, making Loren snort, and I suppress a smile as I continue. “I don’t want to steal the birthday girl’s thunder, but it seems like there’s a spotlight on us.”
“They’ll get over it by the time Daisy arrives,” she reassures me before she scurries off to herhostess duties.
Blake follows with the other twin in tow, stopping to shoot me a wink as he mumbles an aside that makes Rowan blush, and we earn an appreciative nod from JD and a ‘that’s what I thought’ look from Tenley.
“Oh, they’re here,” one of Daisy’s sisters shouts from near the window, and Loren pulls up the doorbell camera on the living room TV as everyone takes their places. Rowan moves in closer and grins at me before he looks up at the live feed of Daisy and Landry climbing down from his Jeep.
“You know what would make this an even better birthday dinner?” Daisy muses, her voice slightly muffled. Loren turns the volume higher so everyone can hear.
“What’s that, Blondie?” Landry asks, their voices ringing out more clearly now that they’re closer to the camera’s microphone.
“If my stupid brother and my dumb-dumb friend would stop pretending they aren’t in love and just admit how badly they want to be together, so they could have joined us tonight without it being awkward.”
My stomach dips and Rowan stiffens beside me, but he doesn’t say anything. And I don’t dare bring my eyes up to see anyone’s reaction.
Landry chuckles. “At least he’s willing to admit he loves her, despite the way things started.”
Daisy gasps and stops short. “Did he really say he’s in love with her?”
“Yep.” Landry urges her onward.
“Ugh, that makes it even worse! You can already cut the sexual tension with a knife every time they’re in the same room. I guess it’s a good thing they didn’t actually sleep together the night they met, especially since she was still technically married, but I’m afraid Rowan’s just torturing himself at this point,” Daisy continues as she reaches the door. “How long can one man hold on to his virginity when he’s actively throwing himself in the face of temptation?”
And, just like that, we’ve been outed in front of all our friends and his family.
I should probably ask Loren to turn off the camera feed, but my eyes dart over to check Rowan’s expression instead. It’s blank, and I watch his chest rise and fall as he continues staring up at the TV. I brace myself for the worst when I hear a few errant snickers and giggles in the background, but he doesn’t move.
“Give him a break,” Landry replies. “Forcing yourself to stay away from the woman you love takes a whole lot of willpower. Especially when she’s actively trying to lure you into bed.”
Daisy clicks her tongue and elbows him in the ribs, and my own face heats when Rowan’s gaze flickers over to me. His shoulders relax, and he shoots me an apologetic smile, to my relief.
“You don’t need to knock. Lo said we could let ourselves in,” Daisy tells Landry when he lifts his knuckles to the door.
