“Trust me, your lives are way more interesting than mine.” She raises her brows, lifting them till they disappear under the heavy fall of her bangs. “Do I need to start shopping for another fancy dress, or are you just going to live in sin forever?” She lifts up both hands, palms toward me. “No judgment. I’m all for sinning.”
This question is actually a little easier to answer than the last one, but I don’t feel entirely ready to tackle it just yet. “I’m not entirely opposed to getting married.”
Definitely not a collection of words I would have expected to be saying after the way my last attempt at marriage unfolded. But I didn’t really want to marry Matt. I was simply trapped with no other options.
“What about you?” Mariah turns to Maren. “You think you will ever get married?”
Maren snorts. “Let’s be real. Do you think there’s a man who can handle me?”
Mariah looks at me, and somehow I know we’re both thinking the same thing.
It would take someone with a pretty strong personality to handle Maren. Somebody who isn’t afraid of her and is willing to stand up to her when she’s wrong. Who respects a backbone and is a little turned on by snark and attitude. Someone who can be an asshole when he needs to be, but deep down is a good person. Anything less, and she’ll plow over him like a runaway train.
A man like that exists, but I’m not pointing it out. I don’t know where Mariah keeps her cake knife, but Maren might, and I don’t want to be the one who gets shanked with it.
Mariah looks over the coffee table, her lower lip pushing out. “I thought you guys were bringing snacks.”
“We did. We just got so distracted by your current state, we forgot about them.” Maren jumps to her feet, going straight to the kitchen to collect the treats she brought. “In related news, if you want to induce labor, I heard walking can help.”
I force myself up even though I’m already crazy comfortable. “What if we just feed her jalapenos instead?” I pad to the kitchen to get the bag of goodies I brought. “Walking sounds like so much work.”
I might have spent too much time in the pool today, and my muscles are feeling it. I’m still gonna spend too much time in it again tomorrow though. The salt water feels so good against my skin, and there’s just something so calming about floating around, listening to the waterfall built into the area where the hot tub and pool meet.
“Good point.” Maren carries in her portion of the food while I follow behind with mine. “What if we just stuff our faces and then pass out instead?”
“I think that sounds amazing.” Mariah reaches up, wiggling her fingers when she sees what Maren has. “Gimme.”
Maren hands off the special crunchy, caramelly bar things she makes as she sits back on the couch. Her eyes move over Mariah’s belly as our friend digs into her favorite salty-sweet treat. “What are we gonna do once you have those babies? Girls’ night isn’t going to be the same.”
Mariah shrugs. “Guess you’re just gonna have to have pool parties at Brooke’s house.”
She says it so casually.Brooke’s house. Like I have some real claim to the place.
It’s weird. On paper, I don’t actually have that much more control over my life here than I did in California. I live inTobias’s house. I drive his SUV. I don’t pay a single bill, and I work for his company. But never once have I felt controlled. Like my voice didn’t matter. Like I was trapped.
A hostage.
A smile takes over my face as I look at Maren, the love I have for the man waiting for meat homegrowing just a little more. “We can totally have pool parties at my house.”
29
Tobias
It takes me a few seconds to figure out what in the hell is making so much noise. It’s the weekend, and after spending half the night showing Brooke how much I love her, I was looking forward to sleeping in.
And then showing her a little more.
Instead, my cell is raising hell on the nightstand before the sun has even come up.
Rolling away from the warmth of Brooke’s body, I reach for the phone, grabbing it from the surface with the intent of silencing it and going back to sleep.
Except it’s Titus’s name displayed across the screen, and my oldest brother isn’t in the habit of calling people unless he absolutely has to.
I grunt, dropping my feet to the floor as I connect the call. Stumbling out into the hall so I don’t wake Brooke, I finally ask, “Do you know what time it is?”
“Excuse the fuck out of me. I thought you’d want to know you’re an uncle.” Titus sounds out of breath. “I guess I’ll let Tucker know he’s gonna be the favorite uncle.”
“Like hell he is.” I pace down the stairs, fully awake now. “How’s Mariah?”
