“Hey, hot mama. You forgot this.” He knew not to sneak up and surprise her. So many things had changed for them in so little time.
She turned toward him with a huge smile. Her dark hair was a little shorter now. She’d said she didn’t want to deal with all of it while nursing a baby.
Nursing.
God, how was this his life?
A year ago, the only boob talk he’d cared about was when and where he could get his mouth on his wife’s breast. Not the various creams and ointments she needed to prevent cracking.
Sweet Jesus.
She took the hat and tossed it on her beach bag with the tall water bottle sticking out. At least she was drinking her water, even if she wasn’t paying attention to her skin at the moment.
He moved behind her, linking his fingers over her belly. His little girl gave a hearty kick the moment he touched Margo.
“She is using my ribs for soccer practice.”
He rubbed the spot lightly. “Settle down in there. You don’t get to kick until after the spicy guac.” He grinned into Margo’s neck. “How are you feeling?”
She leaned back against him. “Good. Couldn’t get comfortable on the couch I used to love.”
“We debauched that couch many a night.”
Margo laughed and elbowed him. “Do not tell Li that.”
“Aww, come on. Just because they’re sitting on said couch right now? I shouldn’t mention just how skillfully you held onto the…oof.” He winced and wiggled behind her. “So that’s a no?”
“How’d you guess?”
He nipped her ear as a warm gust of air blew her dress up. He laughed as she shrieked and tried to keep it down over her rounded belly. Her hat took off across the garden.
“Simon.”
“Got it.” He chased after it to the edge of the path. He glanced down to the beach and swallowed. The white caps were looking a little fierce out there. He jogged back to her and picked up her bag. “Let’s get some food into you. Maybe Raine’s kicking up a storm because her mama’s hungry.”
“Everything okay?”
“Yeah.”
She narrowed her eyes at him, but she took his hand. “That’s your worried face.”
“That’s my face until this bambina makes a super safe arrival.” He patted her belly. “Stay in there and cook for a few more weeks, lemon drop.”
Margo laughed. “Not such a lemon drop anymore.”
Simon leaned in and brushed his mouth over hers. “Both of you are gorgeous.”
“You haven’t even seen her yet.”
“We’re two of the hottest people on the planet. Our baby is going to be gorgeous.”
“May our baby have some of my humility to combat your ego.”
He turned her around and marched her gently toward the house. “You know this little girl is going to be the most beautiful girl in the universe.”
“Universe now?”
“Yes. Skipped right over our solar system into intergalactic ethereal perfection.”
“Put a little pressure on the kid.”
He was such a dumbass. Margo’s mother was a perfectionist and obsessed with outward looks in all things. He caught Margo close and tucked his chin on her shoulder. “Her dad is less than perfect and this little girl will know how much she’s loved no matter what.”
She lifted her hand to his hair. “You always know just what to say.”
“You know that’s a lie and pregnancy hormones are making you soft on me.”
“Maybe.”
“Now let’s go see if they burned down the house.”
“They’re making glorified salsa. I’m sure Ian and Zoe are fine.”
“They were using a potato masher to make guacamole. Not salsa, my beautiful wife. Do not disrespect the avocado.”
“You only care about them because you’ve been making me eat avocado toast for weeks.”
“It’s good for you. And I eat it too.”
She rolled her eyes when he opened the door for her. “We’ll be calling the baby your little avocado at the rate I’m eating them.”
He eased her through the doorway. “Lemon drop is way cuter.”
“I’m too tired to argue.”
“Are you sure you’re okay? Should I get Nora?”
“I’m fine. Let that poor woman rest. She already checked me over three times today. All good, everyone’s doing fine, baby is cooking as she should.”
“She’s not the first woman to birth a baby, Simon.” Lila met them in the hall with a large glass of tea. When Simon opened his mouth, Lila sighed. “Herbal.”
Margo took the glass. “Thanks.”
Simon eased her into their recently expanded dining room and down into a chair. Zoe was setting out a big bowl of guac. At least they’d managed to do that.
“Well, she’s having the only Kagan baby.”
Zoe bobbled the bowl and it landed with a thunk. “Sorry.”
Ian came up behind her and rubbed her back lightly, then mopped up the little spillover. “There we go, no harm done.”
Zoe gave a bright smile. “Dinner’s ready.”
Zoe
Oh, God.
I’d told Ian this was a bad idea. The first time we went on a family vacation should have been about Margo and the impending baby. Not me. Not us.
And here I was the idiot who was so nervous that I couldn’t put down a freaking plate.
I sat down and smoothed a napkin on my lap.
Ian arched a brow at me and hid a smile behind a large chip loaded with our guacamole. Which was glorious, thanks to Harper and a little YouTube action. We should have turned to the internet in the first place.
But that wasn’t saying much, since we’d used Harper’s damn video anyway. And now that I had a family of my own, it looked like I would be following the online cooking classes she was doing.
Easy meals in thirty minutes? Rachael Ray didn’t have anything on Harper. She actually knew how to deal with rockstars and their crazy eating habits. A very cool idea she was doing with Tristan—my future…
What?
Baby daddy brother-in-law?
I didn’t even know how the weird and twisted family tree worked in this group. Yet here I was, having a baby before we’d even really thought about all the ramifications.
Smart. That was us.
More like Ian and his crazy, sexy green eyes with the big old hearts in the middle telling me he wanted to plant a baby in my belly had undone me in a million ways. And man, we’d barely even gotten to practice. Practically on the first try after I took out my IUD, hello, baby.
Baby.
Sweet hell.
Margo picked up the platter of nachos. “These look great, guys. Thanks for unpacking the food.”
I waved her off. “It was nothing. I can’t believe you guys have a chef on the island.”
Margo snagged a loaded chip and popped it in her mouth. When she was done chewing, she made a little humming sound. “My parents originally owned the house and I grew up with the housekeeper. She retired, but her niece, Amara, took over. I swear, she must have all the same recipes in her head.”
“Makes you want to learn to cook and hand it down too, right?”
The question was out of my mouth before I thought about it.
Margo sat back with a giggle. “God, no. I can’t cook.”
“Harper keeps trying to teach us.” Carefully, Lila wrapped a soft taco, closing it at the bottom. “My mom gave up a long time ago.”
“Aunt Laverne managed to teach me how to bake a pie. Everything else kind of went over my head.”
“Well, with the spreads she puts out, it’s a little overwhelming.” Li neatly tucked into her taco. Her plate was tidy, with a manageable amount of food on it for herself, not in shambles like mine.
I looked down at my mess and it complemented my loving idiot’s plate. His was full to the edges with nachos, taquitos, tacos, and anything else he managed to pile onto it.
My man
could eat. Besides, I preferred his current bulky state. When I’d first met Ian, he was practically starving himself. Now he was all muscle and filled-in shoulders.
His back muscles were a thing of beauty. I might have made him rechop the tomatoes just to watch them move under his tank top.
Maybe.
Okay, so I wasn’t proud of it, but we were still in the honeymoon phase. If the honeymoon part meant having a baby while not married, but pledging our eternal love to one another.
Whatever.
It worked for us.
For now.
Nick stood up and nipped a chip off of Lila’s plate as he went back into the kitchen for more drinks. It was kind of nice that they weren’t big drinkers in this crew.
I didn’t have to hide that I was strictly sticking to water. Mostly because nothing else stayed down. Food—no problem. My beloved sweet tea? Running for the toilet.
Probably because Ian despised my tea so much. His child probably felt the same. He’d come out wanting a spot of Earl Grey with no cream. Ugh. So gross.
Everyone was chatting at the table, a collective groan turning into a laugh when Nick turned up an obnoxious Christmas carol on the super high end stereo.
I supposed I should get used to Alvin and the Chipmunks if I had a little chipmunk growing inside me.
Nick sang—which he almost never did—in a ridiculous falsetto that somehow notched higher into a reasonable facsimile of the chipmunk version of Simon.
“Just like you.” Nick waggled his eyebrows as he came out of the kitchen.
“Asshole.” Simon’s forearm rested on the back of Margo’s chair as he turned into her to make sure she didn’t need to reach too far for anything.
Hovering.
I’d have to kill Ian if he tried that nonsense with me.
How the hell was I supposed to even bring up the subject? I’d recently learned that my cousin had been trying to have a baby for a while and Margo was across from me, heavily pregnant. She was practically glowing with smiles and laughter at the antics between Nick and Simon.
Even Ian managed to lob a few insults their way, though he was still timid about throwing his personality around. I hoped he would grow out of that the more his relationship grew with Simon.
Margo was rubbing absent circles along the side of her stomach as Simon’s tenor voice soared to the rafters and Ian chased him vocally as they tried to outdo one another through a Michael Bublé song.
I laughed and shot a look at Ian. I hadn’t even known he knew the song. We really hadn’t spoken about the holidays, religious or otherwise.
God, we still had so many things to learn about one another.
Nick tossed a chip into Simon’s mouth mid-note and clapped with a hyena laugh when it shut him up.
“Boys, no food fights.”
Nick dunked his chip into the guacamole. “Look at that, Margo’s practicing her mom voice.”
“I perfected it long before this little girl was planted.” Margo patted her belly.
I bumped into my water glass and Ian braced his hand over the top before it splattered across the table. He frowned at me and I blew out a breath.
We hadn’t decided on the timing of this announcement, but I just couldn’t wait any longer to spill.
“Nick, can you pass me the guac, please? Oh, and we’re having a baby.”
The clink of silverware and laughter immediately stopped.
“What?” Simon cleared his throat. “I’m sorry, what?”
“So, not the only Kagan coming into the world soon.” Ian mirrored his brother with his arm propped behind my chair.
“Does no one know how to use a damn condom in this group?” Nick tossed his napkin on the table, stood, and picked up his plate. He stalked into the kitchen without another word.
“We, um…planned it.” My voice sounded unsure and I hated that. I sat up straighter. “When we got back together, we talked about it and decided we didn’t want to wait.”
“Things went a little quicker than we thought they would, but we’re happy about it.” Ian smiled at me. “Guess it was just meant to be.”
“Wait.” Simon laced his hands together and set them carefully on the table. “You guys have barely known each other what? Six months? And not only are you not married, but you’re just winging it and decided to have a baby? At least knocking her up by accident makes sense.”
My heart lurched. I knew the news would be a little weird for everyone, but not quite this bad.
“Hey. Careful there, brother. That’s the mother of my child you’re talking about.”
“Wow.” Simon stood and collected a few dishes of his own and followed Nick into the kitchen.
Margo looked down at her hands, then back up at me. “I think it’s wonderful. You’re young and full of energy. Because with that one, I’ll bet you will have your hands full.” Her smile was soft and sweet, not forced.
Yes, we’d kind of done everything backward, and no, we hadn’t exactly assumed we would get pregnant that fast. But Ian wasn’t wrong about it being meant. Then again, the odds had been pretty high with the level of sex going on at our place.
“Li?”
“Does Aunt Sarah know?”
It was my turn to fidget. “Yes. We told them right after we found out. We’re not ashamed about it.” I found Ian’s hand under the table and tangled my fingers with his. “I love him and he’s not going anywhere.”
I hated the stricken look on my cousin’s face. Babies and Lila were now a bit of a touchy subject. It wasn’t like she didn’t have children. She and Nick had twin girls. But they wanted another baby and were having some difficulties making it actually happen.
I hated feeling like I couldn’t talk about it.
Lila suddenly moved over into Nick’s chair and hugged me. “If you’re happy, I’m happy.” She narrowed her eyes at Ian. “Did you talk to her brothers?”
Ian cleared his throat. “Oh, we had a conversation.”
“And still no ring on my cousin’s hand.” She sat back. “Brave.”
Ian looked down at our linked hands, brushing his thumb over my ring finger.
It was no one else’s business how our relationship worked. I knew Ian still had some self esteem issues to get through, but there wasn’t a doubt in my mind that he loved me. None. That had never, ever been our problem. In fact, the love part had always been the easiest.
Conforming to what people thought we should be—that was a bit more of an uphill battle. Between my last art showing and the sudden fame I sure as hell wasn’t used to, and Ian blowing up with his new EP, things had been a little crazy. We’d figured making a baby would take a few months at least.
Wrong.
Jesus take the wheel? Nope, for us it was all about fate.
Just how we liked it.
“Her brothers like me. Mostly.”
I laughed. “They tested their latest moonshine on him and he has a very impressive liver, according to Hayes.”
Ian sat back in his chair. “The only one who can outdrink me in that crew is Beck. He’s truly terrifying.”
“You have no idea,” Li said with a grin.
“Oh, he does.” I relaxed in my chair. I knew we were going to be just fine. I had faith in him, us, and this baby. “I protect him when necessary.”
“She does. She’s way scarier than her brothers.”
I had to laugh. We might be moving too fast to some, but in my heart, we felt right on time.
At least in between the panic attacks.
Margo
Well, evidently, the Kagans were having a special on babies.
Margo patted her stomach, rubbing where Raine was kicking. Repeatedly, the little demon.
She’d been kicking since the morning. Actually, she’d been kicking for months but mercy, she was active today. Considering the scare she’d had, she would take all the kicks.
Nothing had been as terrifying as the baby being quiet when she’d been in that dark room. N
ope, she’d take a bruised bladder and ribs every single day instead of that terror.
She pushed herself out of her chair and immediately, Lila and Ian rose. She waved them off. “I’m fine. Me and my bulk have been waddling around all day.”
Li sat back down with a sigh. “Sorry. You just look so uncomfortable. I can’t believe you wanted to come out here so late in your pregnancy.”
“Well, hovering happens no matter where I am. At least this way I get my favorite view.” Margo took her plate into the kitchen. She didn’t even try to do more. It wasn’t worth the argument. And her back was screaming anyway. Obviously, she needed to walk around a little.
The Christmas songs were still going strong in the kitchen. Nick was using a glass to keep time with the doo-wop background to Simon’s sing-along to Michael Bublé and Shania Twain’s “White Christmas”. Simon was doing both parts. One in a super low bass and the other falsetto.
Nick was wiggling his butt and over-singing the background vocals.
She backed out of the kitchen and waved for Lila to come and see. Lila rolled her eyes and followed, a smile spreading across her face at the overacting going on at the sink. They couldn’t even blame it on the boys performing for the rest of the room. The idiots didn’t even know she and Li were watching.
As Simon held out the last note and Nick did the deep bass of the backing vocals at the end of the song, Margo couldn’t stop a laugh from rolling out.
They both turned around with innocent looks on their faces. No shame at all.
It was so good to see Simon and Nick back to their usual crazy selves. Simon cha-cha’d his way across the room to her with suds all over his fingers as the next song came on. Elvis’s “Santa Bring My Baby Back” played at full volume, and Simon’s voice was as strong as the legendary singer’s for once.
He’d grown so much in the last year. Between his continuing vocal lessons and their baby’s impending arrival, the light in her husband’s eyes was incandescent. He wiped the suds on her butt, then pulled her into his arms and twirled her slowly around the room.
Not one to be outdone, Nick went for Lila, who tried to escape back into the dining room. He chased after her and the party moved from baby bombshells to music.
Christmas with a Rockstar Page 6