“No, sir. Even though the recipe called for Maker’s Mark, I just used the cheap crap you keep on the bottom shelf.”
“Sure went quiet in a hurry in here,” Teddy observed as he pulled out the empty chair next to mine and sat down, immediately draping his arm across my shoulders. “Y’all talking about me again?”
Sky nodded emphatically. “Always. Actually, we just learned that Mom’s considering taking up sunrise hiking with Cali, and I for one would love to know your thoughts on that.”
Teddy’s hand, which had been idly playing with the ends of my hair, went still. “That so?”
I kicked Sky under the table, earning a yelp, but the damage was already done. His fingers tightened on my shoulder—not painfully, but enough that I felt the possessive edge creeping in.
“She’s joking,” I said in my best warning tone—the one that used to make the kids straighten up immediately. “I was making a point about not having everything planned out.”
“Mm,” Teddy grunted, the muscle in his jaw flexing. “And this point required mentioning Wright specifically?”
“It was more about the concept of spontaneity,” Addie offered diplomatically, though I could see her fighting a smile. “The sunrise was just an example.”
“Right. An example.” He took another deliberate sip of my hot chocolate, his eyes never leaving mine. “Baby, you wanna go watch a sunrise, I’ll take you. Don’t need some thirty-five-year-old pretty boy showing you around my mountain.”
“Your mountain?” I repeated, arching an eyebrow.
“My mountain,” he confirmed, utterly serious. “My woman. My sunrise.”
Sky dissolved into giggles while Addie pressed her lips together, clearly trying not to laugh.
“Theodore, it was hypothetical?—”
His arm slid from my shoulders to band around my waist, hauling me closer until I was practically in his lap. “You wanna see him hypothetically buried on the side of a mountain, Kels?”
I bit back a smile at his growly tone. “I thought you said he was a good guy.”
“He is,” he agreed. “Which is why it’d be a damn fucking shame to have to kill him.”
I could have pointed out that he was being ridiculous. That I had zero interest in going anywhere with a man I didn’t know, much less at sunrise. That his caveman routine was unnecessary and borderline absurd.
But the truth was, I kind of liked it. Liked being wanted this fiercely, this unapologetically. Liked that even the hypothetical idea of another man showing me a sunrise made him pull me closer.
“That’s very sweet, but I’m not actually planning to?—”
“Good,” he interjected, the tension in his shoulders easing slightly, though the possessive gleam in his eyes remained. “Because I ain’t big on sharing, especially when it comes to you, baby.”
“Not exactly breaking news,” I murmured before tipping my face up to kiss him. Right in front of our daughters, with my hands cupping his bearded jaw and my tongue sliding against his until he made that low, rumbling sound in his chest I’d loved hearing since we were teenagers.
Sky made a gagging sound. “And we’re back to the gross couple stuff. You guys are at an eleven, and I’m gonna need you to dial it back to like a six. Think you can do that?”
“No,” Teddy and I said at the same time.
“C’mon, keep it PG, you two,” Addie chimed in. “There are children present.”
“Children who orchestrated an elaborate con to get us back together,” Teddy pointed out dryly. “Pretty sure you forfeited the right to pearl-clutch about our relationship, kiddo.”
“There’s a difference between wanting you back together and wanting front-row seats to—” Sky gestured vaguely at us. “—all of that.”
Before I could formulate a smart-ass remark, our phones began buzzing in rapid succession, a cascade of notifications that could only mean one thing.
Sky lunged for hers first, nearly knocking over her mug in her excitement. “It’s from Uncle Dane,” she squealed. “He’s here! We have a new cousin!”
I covered my mouth, my heart squeezing as I opened the attached photos. The baby was perfect, with a shock of dark hair and a scrunched-up little face. He had one tiny fist mashed against his cheek, lips pursed as if he wasn’t thrilled he’d been evicted from his warm, cozy home.
Piper looked exhausted but somehow still radiant, and Dane—who took after his oldest brother in both build and appearance—had tears streaming down his face as he cradled them both.
