It was a very distant second.
“Pop?” Max’s voice sounded from the doorway. Despite him just turning eighteen, the deep baritone of his voice still threw me off sometimes. It was like it’d happened overnight.
The girls had started to take interest long before that. All my kids were gorgeous. Especially Emmie.
I was so fucked.
“Yep.” I grunted, heaving one last rep up and over before slamming it back into its cradle. I might be approaching sixty but I’d kept myself in shape. I had more energy than ever. I smiled to myself thinking of the way I’d proven that very fact to Jill just the night before, twice.
“All right?” he asked as I sat up, wiping the sweat from my brow.
“Yeah, bud. I’m good.” I nodded. Max had always been a thoughtful, serious kid—traits that had only intensified with age. “You ready?” I asked him, despite knowing the answer.
He’d been ready since he was seven years old.
He grinned. “Yeah.”
“Daddy?” Emmie’s voice called from inside the house.
I’d never get tired of hearing her call me that, not even after all these years.
“Coming,” I replied, wiping the sweat from my forehead and chest before following Max into the house, grasping his shoulder briefly and squeezing.
I found Emmie and Mason in the kitchen, pouring cereal. Such an ordinary morning routine for a day that was anything but.
Today, Max would become a patched member of the Knights. After prospecting all through high school, he’d proven himself many times over. What made the day that much more meaningful was that it would be Cole who patched him in—as the new president of the Knights, starting today.
The Knights would always be a part of my life, a big one, but it was time to pass the torch to my oldest son. He’d make an exceptional Prez.
“Daddy?” Emmie asked again, breaking me from my thoughts. I looked over at her, feeling my heart expand in my chest at the sight. At fifteen, Emmie was a stunner. She just didn’t know it yet. And I wasn’t in any hurry for that to happen.
“What is it, Em?” I asked her, chugging a bottle of water.
“Mom says you still have to sign the paperwork—for my trip?” she prompted.
I inwardly groaned. Emmie had been pushing to be allowed to study abroad for the summer. I wasn’t ready to let my baby girl be that far away. She was still so young.
“Yeah,” I grumbled noncommittally just as Jill swept into the room. With her long dark hair still mussed from sleep and her edible body wrapped in a robe, my gaze tracked her hungrily.
Her eyes scanned my bare chest appreciatively before landing a beat longer on my mouth.
I should have woken her up this morning.
“Moooommmm,” Emmie complained. “He’s stalling,” she accused.
“Your voice is so annoying,” Mason complained. The two of them squabbled a lot but there was a deep love there as well.
“Is not,” Emmie protested shrilly.
A soft smile lifted the corners of Jill’s mouth. She walked to me and I pulled her close, dropping a kiss on her soft lips. “He’ll come around,” she assured our daughter, still looking at me. It was clear she had bigger things on her mind. “Big day,” she murmured. “You ready?”
I looked into her gorgeous dark eyes, more in love with her today than I ever had been. “Yeah, baby,” I replied. “Time to let my boys take over. I’m ready.”
I could take a step back from the club.
I had her.
Our back door opened as Tag let himself inside, followed by his wife, Laurie. Each carried a squirming toddler in their arms. After years of trying, they’d ended up with twins.
