“Yeah, it beats you having to sneak out again.” She grins over at Talia. “They had a serious makeout session under the bluff last night.”
Talia shoots me a huge smile and leans in closer. “The Melnikov men are crazy talented, aren’t they?”
I laugh before I can stop it. “They are,” I agree.
“I thought I was going to swoon a little bit when he said he’d be taking a piece of Oregon back with him,” Allie says.
Talia puts her hand on her heart and gives me a sappy look. “That was so sweet.”
“It was,” I agree. “I’m sure my dad will be thrilled to hear it.”
They both pull me in for a quick group hug. “We’ll figure it out,” Talia says. “Our families will make it work.”
“Absolutely,” Allie says, nodding her head in agreement. “But if they don’t, I’ll help sneak you onto his plane.”
I laugh while Talia says, “Me too. Either way, you two will end up together. I can see it in his eyes every time he looks at you. He’s not letting you go, Sitka.”
“More like I’m not letting him go,” I say. “I’m glad he’s hanging on, too, but it’s definitely not one-sided.”
“Oh, we can definitely see that,” Allie says while Talia nods. Both of them looking at me like I’m an idiot if I thought for one second I was fooling anyone.
“Yeah, well, at least we don’t need to pretend around you anymore. Once Allie’s mom leaves, we can be normal until the others get here,” I say before squeezing Talia’s hand. “Unless you’re not comfortable with that. I don’t want you to feel like I’mputting you in an awkward position or to make you feel like you need to lie to anyone.”
“Max and I already talked about it,” she says, surprising the hell out of me. “And Bran picked up on it way before we did.”
“What? Bran knows?” I ask.
“Bran never misses anything,” she says, “and you know Max and I can’t keep secrets from each other. We can always tell when the other is hiding something.”
Allie leans in. “And just how does he pull these secrets from you?”
Talia grins. “He’s a pianist. He’s very skilled with his hands.”
We laugh and finish cleaning up so we can join the others. Allie’s mom is still holding Lyra while Damien and Ev sit across from them, entertaining her with stories of their nieces and nephews. I don’t miss the way Talia and Allie make sure to leave the spot right next to Damien open so I have no choice but to sit there.
The corner of his mouth lifts, and when Svetlana looks away, he reaches a hand out, letting his fingers quickly brush along mine. I’m anxious for Allie’s mom to leave, but she seems determined to visit for as long as possible. Finally, Lyra gets fussy with hunger, and when Talia picks her up to feed her, Svetlana gets up and starts to hug everyone goodbye.
“Text me and let me know where you’ll be sleeping,” she tells Allie, and it takes everything inside me to not turn my head and look at Damien. It hadn’t crossed my mind that we might sleep here, but now that it’s in my head, I know I’ll do everything I can to make it happen.
“Sure, Mom,” Allie tells her while helping her gather up her stuff before finally walking out the door.
“I’m going to take care of this hungry gal,” Talia says, kissing her daughter’s head and walking towards the nursery. She looksover her shoulder and teases, “Allie and Ev, make sure they don’t do anything too wild.”
“We’re on it,” Allie says, grinning when Damien quickly wraps an arm around me and pulls me against his side. She points a finger at us. “You two behave.”
Ev looks over at her. “You know they stayed out all night, right?”
Allie laughs and takes the seat next to him. “They must’ve been freezing their asses off.”
“Their very bare asses, I’m sure,” Ev says.
“Hey,” Damien tells him. “We stayed warm.”
“I bet you did,” Ev says, making us all laugh.
Damien kisses the top of my head before standing and pulling me up after him.
When he starts to pull me out of the room, Allie asks, “Where are you going? We’re supposed to be chaperoning this thing.”
