Blinking, I nod. “Yeah, I am. I’m coming.”
Guess I’ll just get pizza.
We all drive to a place calledPizza Italiano, which has some of the best brickstone baked pizza in the city. After we’ve piled into a large corner booth and order several large pizzas, the guys start on their favorite topic of conversation—their women.
“How’s Stacey and the kids?” Jensen asks Owen from across the booth.
He grins. “They’re doing great. Stacey’s excited to get back to work in a few weeks, but she’s loving being home with the baby right now. Seeing her with a newborn… it’s just…damn…”
He trails off, a small glisten in his eyes as he thinks about his perfect little family. I sometimes forget that he missed out on the first few years of his daughter’s life, so being around for little Henry must mean a whole lot more to him.
Weird to think that we were at the club together not that long ago—him for drinks, me for fun—and now he’s a family man. So much has changed in such a short amount of time.
“Man, I can’t wait until our baby’s born,” Zander says, grabbing another slice of pizza. “Though, I have to say, Rylee’s been way more…um…let’s say eager for intimacy lately.”
Carson lets out a laugh. “You mean she’s horned up from pregnancy hormones and jumping your bones left and right?”
Zander’s cheeks go pink and he shyly grins. “More or less.”
Owen chuckles. “There are definitely some perks to pregnancy.”
Jensen looks at Carson with a curious grin. “How do you know about pregnancy hormones, Carson? Are you hiding a secret pregnancy or something?”
“Well, no, Skyler isn’t pregnant,” Carson laughs. “She’s working on this new game that’s adapting a graphic novel, and I don’t understand any of the computer wizardry she does, but she’s so excited about the project. She’s also insisting I read the whole series.”
“And?” Zander asks with an eager smile. “How do you like it? It’s awesome, right? Such a great read!”
“Honestly? It really fucking is.”
“Yeah, Grace was talking about Skyler’s game the other day,” Jensen nods. “Grace was putting together a list of potential media contacts for Skyler to bring in to help with promotion. If Grace’s work wasn’t so focused on sports, she’d have jumped at the chance to do it herself.”
“Do you ever think how our women could take over the world if they wanted to?” Carson asks with a smirk.
“Dude, they wouldn’t even break a sweat,” Zander agrees.
Suddenly, Wilder looks my way. “What about you, Vaughn?”
I blink, confused. “What about me?”
“You’re being pretty quiet,” he points out. “What about your lady?”
His gaze is unflinching as he watches me expectantly. He looks like he’s daring me to say something specific, but I don’t know what he’s digging for. Why’s he seem like he knows something I don’t?
“You’re being just as quiet as me.”
He folds his arm and arches a brow. “I don’t have a woman to brag about.”
Shrugging, I say, “I mean, yeah, Sutton’s great, but you all know we’re together because of a mutually beneficial agreement, nothing more. Wouldn’t make sense if I gushed over her like the rest of these whipped fools.”
Carson lets out a snort. “Riiight. You don’t have any feelings for her whatsoever. I totally buy that.”
I frown. “Like I said, she’s great, but our arrangement is strictly platonic.”
The guys all exchange looks with each other, none of them looking convinced.
“I mean, that proposal was pretty fucking epic,” Jensen shrugs. “And when we were at the bar, I saw you two dancing. You seemed pretty cozy.”
“Like really close,” Zander adds.
