“What happened to watching something without bothering Mom and me for a while?” I asked them with a raised brow.
“Cinderella happened,” Maddox chimed in, his eyes on the game in his lap. “She’s too old for that movie anyway.” He complained. As the oldest, Mad often did his own thing while the younger kids argued over what to watch. He helped out and was good to his siblings. They were all good kids.
“Livie, you need to find something that Holden and Caleb want to watch too,” I reminded her. “But it’s time to get ready anyway. Grandma’s coming to help. We all need to be at the club in an hour.”
“Is Grandpa Mike coming too?” Caleb asked. Sophie’s mom and Piper’s dad had gotten together a few years ago.
“I think he’s helpin’ Uncle Ry with your cousins,” I answered. With three kids of their own, Pipe and Ry had their hands just as full as we did. Anytime the Black families got together, it was utter chaos.
I fucking loved it.
Sophie wandered out, her hair still mussed from my hands, a flush still lighting her face. Now in her midthirties, age had only made her more beautiful. I still thought we could handle one more kid but the look I got every time I suggested it told me pretty squarely that we were done.
Didn’t mean we couldn’t still practice.
Holden immediately scrambled off the couch, eager to be held. She scooped him up, kissing his neck. “You want some breakfast, baby?” she crooned.
“Cereal?” he asked hopefully.
I bit back a laugh. After ten plus years, my girl still couldn’t cook for shit and all the kids knew it.
She rolled her eyes good-naturedly. “Yeah, honey. Cereal.”
Ryker
“This the last of it, Tink?” I asked, carrying a box of merchandise out from the storeroom and placing it on the counter.
“Yeah,” she replied, looking up from the computer at the front. “Thanks, babe.”
I moved behind her, pulling her into my body, kissing her neck. She was engrossed in what looked like an inventory review but I was determined to get her attention for a few minutes.
She’d turned Dixie’s, the boutique her mother had opened when she was young, into a huge success. Not only was it one of the most popular stores in Hawthorne, we’d expanded to Vegas and had opened an online shop as well.
We were doing well.
My girl could afford to pull back a little, not that she would. She worked just as hard today as she had from the beginning. She loved it and she was fucking great at it.
Her dad was with the kids and we’d run over to get a few things done before one of our managers opened. We’d be at the club most of the day.
“Your mom said sales are up,” she commented as I stayed focused on my distraction technique.
My mom had moved to Vegas to open our store there. Sober for over a decade and Pipe’s business partner, she was a huge part of our lives.
“I don’t want to talk about my ma right now,” I rumbled, my lips against her neck.
She turned in my arms, her brow raised. “No?”
I dipped low, taking her mouth in a scorching kiss before replying. “No.” I took her hand and led her back to the storeroom. We had a bit of time before we had to be home. Not as much as I’d like, but enough to work with.
Definitely.
Cal
The burn in my muscles intensified with every rep as I pressed the bar up and over my chest in an unrelenting rhythm.
I’d been up since dawn, unable to fall back asleep.
I knew Jill had trouble sleeping last night, probably thinking about today. I didn’t dare wake her. This was the second-best thing to burn off some steam.
