“We’re ready,” Talia said.
“We’re thrilled and nervous.” Derek hugged Talia against his side and said, “We have a lot to figure out, but we’re counting on Roxie and Dan, Bridgette and Bodhi, and Ben and Aurelia to teach us all the tricks of the trade.”
“Happy to,” Bodhi said. “You can start by babysitting next Friday night, if you’d like. Get up close and personal with two kids at once.”
“We’d love that,” Talia said excitedly.
“This is so exciting. Wait until I tell Aunt Marilynn!” Roxie whipped out her phone and thumbed out a text.
Ben put his arm around Aurelia and said, “I think you have double the news for her, Mom. We weren’t going to say anything for another few weeks, but Aurelia just found out she’s six weeks pregnant!”
“Oh, goodness! Two new babies!” Flossie’s eyes teared up. “We are so blessed.”
There was another round of cheers and hugs.
Piper put a hand on Harley’s shoulder as she walked back to her seat after hugging Aurelia and said, “Auntie Piper is always up for babysitting, and I bet Uncle Harley would love to change a few diapers.”
“I’m not afraid of dirty diapers,” he said, wondering if she realized she’d referred to them as Auntie and Uncle. That might just be his favorite slipup ever, even better than her earlier slipup of we when she was talking about his shower, which he also thought of as their shower.
The conversation turned to baby showers and baby names. Bea wiggled off Harley’s lap and toddled over to Ben, who scooped her up and smothered her cheeks with kisses. Bea shriek-giggled and squirmed out of Ben’s hands, toddling across the lawn toward the other kids who were playing in the yard.
Ben stood up and said, “Who wants to celebrate with a quick pickup game of b-ball?”
The guys pushed to their feet, though Bodhi opted out so as not to wake Emerson.
Harley looked at Piper and said, “You coming, babe?”
“When do I ever say no?” she asked with a seductive glimmer in her eyes.
God, he loved her so damn much. As he gathered her in his arms, three very special words that had been vying for release for quite some time hung from the tip of his tongue. But she’d just taken a huge step by inviting him to stay at her place, so he held them back and said, “That’s my girl.”
“But what about your ankle?”
“It’s been almost a month since I hurt it. I’m good, but I’ll go easy.”
She took his hand and said, “Like you even know what that means . . .”
They headed for the basketball court, and the kids ran over.
“Can we play, too?” Louie asked.
Harley lifted him over his head and said, “You want to go through the hoop?”
“Yes!” Louie squealed, kicking his legs. “Look, Mom! I’m flying!”
Jolie put her hands on her hips and said, “I’m really good, and Sophie’s not bad.”
“Hey!” Sophie mimicked her sister’s stance and said, “I’m good, too.”
“Absolutely,” Dan said. “The more the merrier.”
Piper’s father reminded Harley of his own father, the way he loved his family. Harley set Louie on the ground, a pang of longing moving through him. Not a day passed when he didn’t think of his father, but he liked to think he was watching over them.
As he took his position on the court, his thoughts tiptoed into a dark corner of his mind where he never allowed himself to linger, and he silently hoped his father was watching over Marshall, too.
Later that evening, after picking up Jiggs and all of his paraphernalia, Harley packed a bag and headed over to Piper’s house. He briefly wondered if she’d change her mind about him staying over, but after how close they’d been, he thought it would take an act of God to keep them apart.
He parked in front of her adorably small stone house with a deep porch anchoring the left side. Above the porch was a three-window dormer. The right side of the house was taller, with a peaked roof. A picture window graced the second story, and below, the first floor boasted two circle-head windows looking out over well-manicured bushes.
Harley stepped from the truck, and Jiggs followed him out. As he walked up the front steps, the door opened. Piper stood before him, looking beautiful in the same jeans and T-shirt she’d had on earlier, nervously moving from foot to foot as he climbed the porch steps.
“Hi,” she said, stepping out and pulling the door partially closed behind her. She crouched to love up Jiggs and said, “My house isn’t very big, and it’s not finished yet.” She pushed to her feet and slid her fingers into the front pocket of her jeans. “I should have warned you about the state it’s in.”
“Baby, I wouldn’t care if you lived in a tent as long as we were together.”
“You might change your mind about that in a minute.” She pushed the door open and they followed her into the living room, which was beautifully finished, with cream sofas and a peach armchair. Pictures of her family hung on the walls, and with them, a copy of the picture she’d given him on the boat. His heart swelled.
“I started renovating,” she said. “But then you moved back, and it was more fun to have dinner at the pub and hang out with you than it was to do the work. This is the only part of the house that’s completely finished. I’m sorry it’s kind of a mess.” She waved to a wall of exposed studs in the dining room. “The kitchen is behind that wall, and there’s a den, but they’re both partially renovated.”
He dropped Jiggs’s leash and gathered her in his arms, kissing her deeply. Jiggs went paws-up on their sides, pushing his nose between their bodies.
Harley reached down to unhook Jiggs’s leash and said, “Jiggsy said he likes your excuse better than the one he heard.”
“What . . . ?” Piper asked.
“A little bird told him that you spend more time helping people like Doris and me than you do helping yourself.”
A tease rose in her eyes. “Maybe Jiggs needs to learn how to keep secrets.”
“You put our picture up.”
“Don’t make too much of it,” she said sassily. “I had to cover a hole in the wall.”
“Uh-huh.” Harley walked into the living room and teased, “Let’s see that hole.”
She ran in front of him and spread her arms out to her sides, blocking the pictures. “If you look, I’ll have to kill you.”
He laced their hands together and pressed his body against hers. “How about you kiss me and save us both all that pain?”
As he lowered his mouth toward hers, she said, “I’m glad you’re here.”
“There’s no place else I’d rather be.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
PIPER HAD RISEN before dawn for most of her life, excited to start her day and see what adventures might unfold. There was always a problem to be sorted out, a barrier to overcome, or a new job on the horizon to plan for. But she hadn’t jumped out of bed for weeks. It was Friday morning, nearly two weeks after Harley had first spent the night, and she’d been awake for more than an hour, lying on his chest, listening to the steady and strong beat of his heart and the occasional sounds Jiggs made from his new doggy bed. She’d learned to enjoy these quiet stolen moments together. He’d turned her into a sound sleeper, and she usually woke up in the same position she’d fallen asleep in, which was always nestled against her grizzly of a man.
Once love makes its mark, there’s no going back. Her mother’s voice trailed through her mind, as it so often did on mornings like this.
Her mother had been right. No part of her wanted to go back to a time when she and Harley weren’t together. She couldn’t believe she’d been nervous about having him sleep at her house. Her house was better with Harley and Jiggs in it. Harley was patient and loving, and he knew how to deal with her insecurities. He’d become her best friend, her insatiable lover, and the person she wanted to share everything with—good days and bad, frustrations and fantasies. She didn’t want a ring on her fing
er, but she definitely wanted this man by her side. And though they hadn’t said they loved each other yet, she’d wanted to so many times, the urge to tell him was always on the tip of her tongue.
She moved her fingers through his chest hair, thinking about the walks they’d gone on earlier in the week with Jiggs. One evening they’d shared stories about things they never did in high school but kind of wish they had, like making out under the bleachers or skipping school to go to the movies. Another night they’d walked to the elementary school and sat on the swings in the playground swapping stories about when they were young. She loved thinking about Harley growing up and seeing him through new, loving eyes. The night on the swings, they’d ended up having a contest to see who could swing the highest—she won. He’d wanted to see who could jump farther, but she knew that was a recipe for disaster with his newly healed ankle. He’d insisted, and she’d finally won him over by promising if he didn’t jump, she’d do dirty things to him beneath the bleachers at the high school.
Their walk the following night was very interesting.
Her love for him bubbled up inside her, and for the first time she didn’t hold it back. She whispered, “I love you, Harley Dutch,” and pressed a kiss to his chest. Joy and relief swept through her, and she closed her eyes, soaking in the incredible feeling of having finally said what she felt.
Harley’s hand moved up her back. He kissed the top of her head and said, “I love you, too, Piper Dalton.”
Her eyes flew open. She pushed off his chest, and a Cheshire-cat grin spread across his handsome face.
“You’re supposed to be asleep!”
He chuckled. “Supposed to be?”
“Yes!” she said as Jiggs climbed onto the bed. “That was for me, not you!”
“You didn’t mean it?” Confusion rose in his eyes.
“No. I mean, yes! I meant it, but I didn’t mean for you to hear it like that, as a secret.”
“Do you want to take it back?”
She couldn’t tell if he was teasing or serious, but it didn’t matter. Her answer was the same either way. “No. I just hoped to one day look at you and say it, because . . .”
He cradled her face in his hands and said, “Because the million things you do for me and with me don’t say it loud enough? They do, Pipe. I knew you loved me when you took care of me and the girls, and I knew you loved me more when you spent the night. By the time you invited me and Jiggs to stay here, I was pretty sure you had realized it, too. And that morning after we first slept here, when you spoiled Jiggs, buying him two doggy beds, boxes of treats, fancy food, and water bowls, and a leash with his name on it, I knew your love for us was solid.”
Her heart melted. He really did get her.
She’d always known that, but even more so as they’d fallen into life as a couple, finding their routines, their rhythms, staying at his place the nights he worked late and at hers the other nights. They texted often, only now their dirty texts usually ended with them in each other’s arms, living out their sensual fantasies. She continued to go to Dutch’s for dinner when he was working, still hollered at sports and bantered with Kase and the guys from work. Only now she and Harley kissed across the bar, snuck into his office to make out or talk, and Harley stole food off her dinner plate.
“I’ve been wanting to tell you that I love you for a long time.” He trailed his hand down her back and said, “But I was worried about scaring you off. Knowing that you want to one day say it to my face is huge. I can wait, Trig. We don’t have to say it again until you’re ready.”
He was so good to her. “Harley—”
“No pressure, babe. Let’s see how you feel after the father-daughter dance, when you get to my place and see me looking so hot I put all those fathers to shame. You might want to say it then.”
She laughed. “Harley—”
“Oh, I know!” He whipped off the sheet, revealing his beautiful nakedness, sending her entire body into a frenzy. “How about now? Do you want to say it now?”
She climbed over him, straddling his hips, and Jiggs jumped off the bed. He’d turned into a great wingman after all. She laced their hands together and said, “Harley Dutch, I have no idea why you put up with me when you could have any other woman you want.”
“I don’t want any other woman, and I haven’t for an embarrassingly long time. That’s the power of my girl, right there.”
“You’re so crazy,” she teased. “And I like your craziness, because it fits with mine so well. You have endless patience, which you need in order to be with me. You make me laugh every day, you have made me cry but only because it hurts to break down my walls, and you make me cry out in pleasure so often your love should come with a neon warning sign that reads BEWARE! ORGASM COMA AHEAD.”
He laughed and blew her a kiss.
“You have accomplished the impossible, weaseling your way into my life, my house, and most importantly, my heart.” She caressed his face, committing everything about the moment to memory—the joyful look in his eyes, his sexy smile, and how utterly perfect it felt to be in this amazing place with him. “I look at you and I feel things I never thought possible. I love you, Harley, and I’m going to say it a lot. Not just because it feels incredible to finally let it out, but because I want to see you looking at me the way you are right now every single day.”
He swallowed hard, oceans of emotions welling in his eyes. He didn’t say a word as he swept her beneath him and gazed down at her, blinking several times. “How about the way I’m looking at you now? Will you remember this as the moment you left me speechless?”
“Yes.” I love you. I love you. I love you!
“For someone who claims not to be good with words or feelings, you sure tripped up my heart. I love you, baby, and now I’m going to show you just how much in a way I know you’ll understand.”
He began kissing his way down her body, making her insides sizzle and her nerve endings tingle. But she needed to be in his arms, as close as two people could be.
“Harley,” she whispered urgently, and he lifted his head. She beckoned him with her index finger, and he crawled up her body, perching above her again. “Be here with me. Make love to me.”
He reached for a condom, and she touched his arm, stopping him. “I’m on the pill, and I just want to feel you, with nothing between us.”
“Oh, baby,” he said just above a whisper. He nuzzled against her neck, pressing a kiss there.
“Go slow. I don’t ever want to forget this moment, either.” She had no idea when she’d become so sappy, but she didn’t care. Everything felt right with him.
His lips touched hers in dozens of tender kisses as their bodies came together, their eyes open, their love sparking like live wires around them. When he was buried to the hilt, the air left their lungs in unison, as if they’d both been holding their breath.
His head dipped beside hers as he cradled her beneath him, his heart thundering just as hard and fast as hers. They lay like that for a long, torturously beautiful moment, his hard length filling her completely, their breaths coming faster by the second. Her inner muscles flamed, pulsing around his cock, craving their magnificent friction. She felt his back and leg muscles cording tight. He lifted his face from her neck and she saw her desire, her urgency, mirrored in his eyes. She rose up at the same time his mouth crashed down on hers in a rough and exhilarating kiss. Sex with Harley was always fantastic, but everything felt different now. White-hot flashes of electricity coursed through her, through them. The raw, primal sounds they made were aphrodisiacs all on their own, each one pushing her closer to the edge. She felt free and safe in ways she never had. They surrendered so completely to each other, to their passion, groping and writhing as their bodies pounded together, they found a new wild tempo that bound them as one, as savage as it was luxurious.
Piper gasped for breath as wind and fire whipped through her like a hurricane and a volcano battling for dominance, filling her limbs and her core. Harley push
ed his arms beneath her, cradling her head with both hands. His beard scratched her cheek and shoulder as he grunted with each hard thrust. Every pump of his hips sent pleasure shooting through her.
“Pipe—” he panted out.
She tucked her head in the crook of his neck, squeezing her legs around his thighs, tightening her arms around his back, holding on to her man—her strength, her love. His next thrust hit her like an earthquake, and she cried out. Her inner muscles clenched repeatedly, and he followed her over the edge, grunting out her name. Their bodies bucked and thrashed, currents of pleasure carrying them to the peak of ecstasy.
They collapsed to the mattress, clinging to each other and panting for air. Harley rolled them onto their sides and wrapped one of his legs around her, keeping their bodies flush. Their skin was damp, their heartbeats frantic, and when their eyes connected, there was no need for words. He was right there with her, just as lost in the flood tide of their love as she was.
Piper blew through the back doors of Willow’s bakery later that morning, grabbed a doughnut from the counter, and met the stunned faces of all three of her sisters, her mother, Aurelia, and Remi. “Are you having a sugar party I wasn’t invited to?”
Her mother came around the counter in one of her flowy, colorful skirts and tops and said, “From what I hear, you’ve been getting your sugar elsewhere for quite some time now.”
The girls giggled.
Piper rolled her eyes, trying hard to stifle her own giddiness. “I’m only going to say this once, and there will be no squealing, no group hugs or any other type of girlie nonsense. Got it?”
“Are you pregnant?” Talia asked with wide eyes.
“No! I’m not frigging pregnant. Bite your tongue. You know I don’t want kids anytime soon.”
“Babies don’t work on timelines,” Aurelia said, snagging a doughnut.
“Whatever.” Piper’s heart was slamming against her ribs so hard, she was sure they could see and hear it. “Do we have a deal?”
“Deal,” they said in unison, crowding around her.
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