"Of course not. Babies are pa.s.sed around this family all day. Get used to it." She grins at her son lovingly as I take him from Brynna and cradle him in my arms. He has a Seattle footfall beanie on his little head, matching the adorable onesie that looks like a jersey with the number eight on the front, tucked into the tiniest blue jeans I"d ever seen, and all wrapped up in a blue and green blanket. "That is the most adorable baby outfit, Meg. Thank you."
"Oh you"re welcome. I couldn"t resist it. But the girls are absolutely precious." Sophie, Isaac and Stacy"s older daughter, and Olivia are in matching green and blue tulle tu-tus and green and blue hair bows almost as big as their heads.
"Stacy made the tu-tus," Natalie grins and pats her daughter"s back.
"There"s not much you can do when you"re a thousand months pregnant," Stacy remarks with a frown. "I was bored out of my mind.
"That must have been a challenge with a one year old," I pull Liam up onto my chest, and he nestles down under my chin, sighs, and goes right back to sleep.
"It was, but Isaac was great. He was able to work mostly from home, and I had my mom and Brynna, and Nat and Jules, so I was never alone for long."
Luke joins us, kisses his daughter"s cheek and then his wife"s lips. "Want me to take her?"
"Sure," Nat hands the sleepy, dark haired baby to Luke and grins as he murmurs to the baby and walks back over with the guys.
"He"s hot with a baby," Brynna remarks with a sigh.
"He"s just hot," Stacy replies. "Sorry, Nat."
"Puke," Samantha remarks and makes a gagging noise. "That"s my brother, girls. And why does he always get to hold the baby? He hogs her."
"Because she comes from my loins," Luke calls back, having heard Sam.
"Oh G.o.d, don"t talk about your loins. I"m going to throw up."
"Don"t be sorry, Stace. You"re right," Natalie laughs. "Although, I think all the guys here are pretty hot."
I nod and look over at Will. He"s frowning, hanging back from the others, deep in thought. He"s beating himself up about today. How do I get him out of this mood? I purse my lips, rubbing Liam"s little back, and then it hits me.
With a grin, I balance Liam on my chest and pull my phone out of my pocket, and send him a text.
Would the thought of me sucking your c.o.c.k in the car on the way home cheer you up?
I hit send and kiss the baby"s head, half listening to the girls chatting around me. My eyes are on Will when he pulls his phone out of his pocket to check his phone. His lips twitch and his eyes meet mine from across the patio, and then his thumbs are moving across the screen.
My phone vibrates with his response. Are you wearing panties?
It makes me smile. I love how it turns him on that I don"t wear underwear often.
No.
He raises an eyebrow and pins me with a hot look, then focuses on his phone again.
"Meg, how was New Orleans?" Jules asks as she joins us, Sophie on her hip. The baby is playing with Jules" phone.
"It was so great," I respond and feel my phone vibrate.
Can I bury my fingers deep in your p.u.s.s.y while you suck me off?
"What did you guys do while you were there?" Brynna asks as one of her daughters, I"m not sure which one, climbs onto her lap. We are surrounded by children and I"m sending x-rated texts to my boyfriend.
Yes please.
"Ate a ton of food, took in a bunch of music, wandered around the city. I wanted to go on a ghost tour, but Will was chicken."
"I heard that," he calls from across the patio.
"I wasn"t trying to hide it," I call back, and everyone laughs.
"I"ve always wanted to go there," Stacy remarks. "Isaac and I will have to go sometime."
"You should," I nod. "It"s a lot of fun. And warm, which was fantastic."
Just for that last remark, I"m going to spank your a.s.s when I"m inside you tonight.
"You got a nice tan," Jules sets Sophie on her feet and she toddles over to me before I can respond to Will"s text. I look up at him and nod. h.e.l.l yes! He just laughs and takes a pull on his beer.
"Baby!" Sophie points a tiny finger up at her little brother.
"Is this your baby brother, sweet girl?" I ask her, earning a big, s...o...b..ry smile, showing off four front teeth.
"Baby." She holds her hands up, trusting that I"ll pick her up, so I cradle Liam in my left arm and lift Sophie up to sit on my right leg. "Baby." She points at him again and then sticks her tiny finger in her mouth.
"Yes, this is baby Liam. Isn"t he sweet?" I kiss her smooth cheek, then blow a raspberry on her neck, making her laugh.
"Meg, look up and smile." I raise my head at Nat"s voice and smile for her camera. The woman doesn"t go far without that thing. Even Sophie is so used to seeing a lens that she poses for the camera too.
"Dinner"s ready, everyone," Gail calls. The guys help her set bowls of salads and fruits on the long buffet table next to the house, while Steven piles steak and chicken on platters.
The food is abundant and delicious.
"This is the last time this year we"ll grill. Until next summer, we"ll have family gatherings catered. It"s a lot of work to feed all of us," Natalie tells me as she stands and takes Sophie from me, planting her on her curvy hip.
"I can see that," I respond and kiss Liam"s head again.
"Meg, you look good wearing a baby," Luke remarks as he joins his wife, Olivia asleep against his muscular chest.
"So do you," I wink at him, and he laughs.
"Stop flirting with my brother-in-law," Will scowls as he joins me. I stand and hand him the baby.
"I"m not flirting. I"m just paying extra attention to someone who"s very attractive." I reply seriously, my eyes wide and earnest, trying to hold the grin in. Luke smirks and kisses his wife as Will"s scowl deepens.
"He"s not attractive. He"s family."
I laugh, hard, grab my stomach and practically double over. "Will," I gasp. "Have you seen your family? You all look like you stepped out of an Abercrombie ad."
"Do not," he mutters and kisses Liam"s tiny head.
"Yeah, you do," Natalie nods. "It"s a nice family to be a part of."
"See?"
"So getting spanked later," he whispers to me as we join the others to eat.
"Dude, give me my kid." Isaac holds his hands out for the baby. "And I know he"s the size of a football, but don"t pa.s.s him off to the wrong guy. You seem to have issues with that today."
"f.u.c.k you, Isaac," Will growls as he hands the baby gingerly to his oldest brother.
"Mouth!" Gail snaps.
"You"re an a.s.shole," Will mutters at Isaac so their mother can"t hear them.
"I was just giving you a hard time. Too soon?"
"Too soon."
"What was the issue today, man?" Matt asks, now that the subject has been brought up, and Will sighs, runs his hands down his face and sits heavily a chair, staring down at his full plate of food.
"It was just an off day," he mumbles. "I think we took too long off last week."
I bite my lip. We were on vacation last week.
"Stop it," he catches my attention, his eyes fierce. "This is not your fault. I just should have taken advantage of the hotel gym when we were gone."
"It"s okay, bro. Next week," Caleb claps him on the shoulder and sits next to him with a full plate.
And just like that, the subject is dropped. Conversation continues around us, the twins run and play in the yard, babies fuss.
It"s loving, amazing, wonderful chaos.
And I can"t believe I"m here.
"Hey," Jules nudges my leg under the table and leans in to chat with me so only I can hear. "Have you heard from Leo?"
"No," I whisper to her.
"Not at all?" She whispers back.
I shake my head and keep my eyes on my food.
"How long?"
"Three years," I whisper.
"I"m sure his number hasn"t changed." I meet her worried blue eyes with my own.
"Neither has mine."
She nods and takes a bite of potato salad. "Good point."
I look up in time to see Brynna and Caleb share a look, then quickly turn away from each other. What"s going on there? They"re obviously attracted to each other, but they don"t really interact with each other. They just watch each other.
I"ll have to ask Will later.
"So, let"s talk wedding," Jules claps her hands and bounces a bit in her chair while the guys all groan.
"Can"t you and the girls talk about the wedding later, when we can escape to watch football or something?" Caleb asks, earning a glare from Jules.
"No. We"re less than a month away. Besides, I don"t have much, Alecia is handling most of it all anyway." She takes a drink of wine and pulls out a list, causing the guys to all groan again and I can"t help but giggle.
"The date, as you all know, is October twelfth. Six in the evening. You have invitations with the address and all that c.r.a.p." She takes another drink as we all listen, the guys fidgeting. "Since it"s just Luke and Nat in the wedding, this is going to be easy on all of you. Dress nice, don"t give us any gifts, and come ready to party."
She tucks the note back in her pocket and resumes eating.
"That"s it?" Matt asks.
"Yep," she replies with a smile.
"You didn"t tell us anything we didn"t know."
"I know, I just wanted to talk about my wedding for a minute." She"s smug as she takes a bite of steak and smacks her mouth as she chews. "Oh! And the bachelorette party is next Sunday night."
"Why on a Sunday?" Sam asks with a frown.
"Because we have some stupid business thing on Sat.u.r.day." Jules rolls her eyes and Nate chuckles. "So, it has to be on Sunday. Every other weekend is full of wedding and football c.r.a.p."
"I love you too, sis," Will throws a roll at her, and she blows him a kiss.
"So, everyone just take Monday off work to recover."
I giggle to myself. Jules is so not a selfish woman, she just thinks that things are simple. Like, everyone in the world should have no problem taking a day off work to recover from a hang-over.
"You"re coming," she pins me with a glare, daring me to say otherwise. I quickly run through my schedule in my head, aware that Will"s eyes are on me.
"I believe I have next Sunday night off. I"ll let them know I"m not available for on-call that night."
"Good," Natalie grins. "It"s going to be a lot of fun."
Steven stands, holding his beer in the air. "I want to propose a toast. To my family, which has grown by leaps and bounds this past year. I am a blessed man, to be surrounded by good men, beautiful women, and the most amazing babies ever born."
"To family!" Luke"s dad agrees, and everyone drinks, and then breaks off into conversation again.
As we"re finishing dessert, the sky opens up. I knew I smelled rain earlier. We are, thankfully, under a covered patio, and most of the food has been cleared away. The four brothers work together to cover the now-cool grill, and we take the babies inside out of the humidity. For the rest of the afternoon, a football game plays on the television and adults play card games with the twins. The babies are fed, rocked, changed and fussed over.
Luke, Stacy and Brynna"s parents all leave.
Will and I are lounging at one end of a large leather sectional couch, watching football, my head in his lap. I yawn and feel my eyelids droop.