“I think someone could take another nap,” Hollis says, removing the tray and lifting him from the chair. “We got up really early this morning, huh? Got you out of your routine.” Milo just lays his head on her shoulder, snuggling close. His eyes are heavy, and I know it won’t be long. “What time do we have to be at your parents’ tonight?” Hollis asks, looking at the clock.
“Seven, but we can be late,” I tell her, seeing that it’s six now.
“I’m going to try and get him down for a quick nap. I’d hate for him to be cranky when he sees Grandma and Grandpa.” She disappears down the hall. I’m sure going to his room.
“Don’t hurt her,” Tina says, appearing beside me at the sink.
“Never.”
She nods. “Thank you for bringing her back to life. Even before that incident in the alley that night, she was just coasting. Her mom had moved away, and all she did was work. It’s been a really long time since I’ve seen her this happy. In fact, I’m not sure I have ever seen her smile this much.”
“We love her. Me, Milo, my family. She’s one of us now.”
She nods. “You better make sure I’m at that wedding.” She winks.
“That’s all up to your girl. I give her free reign to plan and invite how she sees fit.”
“Do you have a brother?” She laughs.
“I do, but he’s happily married.”
“Figures,” she mumbles under her breath. “Are we washing or putting in the dishwasher?” she asks.
“Both. I’ll wash the pans, as we transfer everything over to containers and put everything that’s left in the dishwasher.”
“Point me toward the containers.”
“Go relax. I’ve got this. You helped cook, remember?”
“Yeah, I know, but you flew me out here, you’re letting me stay with you and eat your food. This is the least I could do. Besides, you need to get to your parents’.”
“You’re coming with us.”
“Actually, I’m exhausted from the early morning flight. I was thinking about just staying here and calling it a day.”
“She’s not going to let you get away with that,” I tell her.
“You’re probably right.”
“Go, catch a quick nap. I’ll finish up here. Milo will sleep for at least an hour. We’ll wake you up when it’s time to go.”
“You’re a good man, Colton. She’s lucky to have found you.”
“We’re the lucky ones.”
We’ve been at my parents’ for about twenty minutes, and no one has noticed her ring yet. On the way over, we decided to see how long it took them. She’s not doing anything to hide it, but she’s not flaunting it either. I can’t believe no one has said anything. Then again, all the focus has been on Milo. Gabby and Chase have a special bond with my son, and they spoiled him rotten. Mom and Dad went overboard as well.
“We’re going to need a bigger house,” I whisper to Hollis.
She just smiles. “Yeah, one day,” she agrees.
“Hollis, will you hand me that pillow?” Gabby asks. She’s sitting on the floor playing with Milo and his new toys, but she’s pregnant, very pregnant, and I’m certain uncomfortable. Hollis grabs the pillow with her left hand and passes it to Gabby. “Thank you— Wait, what is that?” She pulls on Hollis’s hand, almost pulling her off the couch.
“Easy there, tiger,” Chase tells his wife.
Gabby ignores him and looks up at us. Her eyes are darting between Hollis and me. “You guys are engaged?”
“What?” my mom exclaims, standing from her spot on the loveseat to come and take a closer look at my girl’s hand.
“We are.” Hollis beams with excitement. I can’t see her face because she’s looking at them, but I can hear it in her voice.
“Oh, my goodness! Welcome to the family.” Mom pulls Hollis into a hug, as do Dad and Chase.
“You’re going to have to come to me, sister of mine,” Gabby says, rubbing her very pregnant belly. “I’m not as mobile as I used to be.” Hollis settles on the floor next to her, and they hug as best as they can. “Tell me everything,” Gabby demands.
“Hey, now,” I say, chiming in. “Some things are sacred between a man and his wife.”
“Future wife,” Gabby corrects. “And we’re all family here.”
“She’s right,” Hollis agrees, and goes on to tell them how it all went down.
As if he understands what they’re talking about, Milo, who is sitting on Chase’s lap, cries out “Mama,” and points his little chubby finger at Hollis.
I can see her swallow past the emotions he evokes in her. Chase must see it too. He stands and takes Milo to her. “Here’s Mommy,” he tells my son, who reaches for Hollis and snuggles up to her chest.
I swear every woman in the room sighs, as the men just smile. There really is nothing else you can do in this situation. You’re a cold-hearted bastard if the moment that just passed between mother and son doesn’t hit you in the feels. Hollis may not have given birth to him, but she loves him as if she did. Milo doesn’t know the difference, and it makes my heart happy to know that he never will. Sure, we’ll tell him, but he’ll never be able to tell that she’s not his birth mother. She loves him that much. You can see it just looking at the two of them together.
The rest of the night is lots of laughter and gifts. In perfect Milo fashion, he soaks up all the love and attention. My mom even had a gift for Tina. I had given her a heads-up earlier this week that she was coming, and she wanted her to feel welcome.
This has been one of the best Christmases I’ve had since joining the Army. Many of them I was on deployment and not able to come home. I missed my family, but I was serving my country. It was something I was damn proud of and still am to this day. I miss my brothers, and I need to reach out to them more. Make more of an effort, but I can’t say that I miss the Army. How could I? That would mean I would be missing all of this. My son, my fiancée, and my family. I’ve missed out on enough. It’s time to start living. For me, and for them.
Chase is flying Milo around the room like an airplane, and he swoops him in toward me. “Dddd!” he cheers, and my heart stops in my chest.
“Milo!” Hollis stands from her seat next to Tina and Gabby on the couch. “Colt, did you hear that?” she asks. I nod because the words won’t come. “Are you trying to say Dada?” she asks him.
“Look at that, buddy. You made Daddy speechless.” Chase grins, setting him on my lap.
“Dddd!” Milo cheers.
I wrap my arms around my boy and hug his little body tight. “Daddy loves you,” I tell him.
“Ddd!” he says again, kickstarting my heart as the room erupts in laughter.
Best Christmas ever.
Chapter 18
Hollis
“You excited?” Colton asks from the driver’s seat of his truck as he pulls down a long, narrow path.
We haven’t been on the road long, maybe fifteen minutes or so, but just long enough to really build the suspense. He’s done that since he came home from work yesterday and told me to be ready at five with an overnight bag packed—clothing optional. His lips have been sealed ever since, even though I’ve begged and pleaded with him to spill the beans. Hell, I even tried to utilize my female wiles last night in a sexy nightgown. Two orgasms later, he still wouldn’t tell me what he had planned.
“Anywhere I’m going with you makes me happy,” I finally answer, glancing around at the trees and tall grasses. Even though night has fallen, I can see a small building just off to the right. The distant shimmer of water reflects off the headlights as we follow the lane and stop in front of a cabin. “What’s this?” I ask, glancing around.
Colton smiles, pulls the keys from the ignition, and exits the truck cab. Before I have a chance to open my door, he’s there, helping me out. The New Year’s Eve night air is brisk, but not too cold, especially when he throws his arm over my shoulder and pulls me into his side. Colton grabs our bags from the back seat and g
uides me to the porch.
“Where are we?” I ask again, realizing he didn’t answer my previous question.
The moment we step up on the small porch, he turns and smiles. “This is my family’s cabin.” Colton slips a key into the knob and releases the lock. “Come inside, and I’ll show you.”
The moment we step inside, I’m hit with the warmth of a fireplace burning in the center of the room. “Uhh, Colton?” I ask, taking in the rustic décor and worn, brown leather furniture.
“Chase was just here and got the fire started,” he answers my unspoken question. Setting the bags on the floor, he glances around the cabin before turning back to me. “This was my grandpa’s place. Chase and I grew up here, fishing and skipping rocks in the lake out back. When Grandpa passed, he left the cabin to Mom and Dad. I haven’t been here much lately, but Chase still uses it. In fact, this is where he and Gabby got married a few months ago.”
I’m already grinning, picturing a young Colton and Chase running through the tall grass I saw and jumping into the lake. “That must have been nice,” I tell him.
“But I don’t want to talk about that now,” he says, taking me in his arms and placing his lips against my forehead.
“No? What would you like to talk about?”
His eyes darken as a grin spreads across his face. “We have twenty-one hours together, all by ourselves, so I’m thinking there shouldn’t be much talking. At all.” He punctuates his statement with a little waggle of his eyebrows.
“I still can’t believe you talked your brother into watching Milo. On New Year’s Eve, no less.”
Colton blows out a huge puff of air. “Are you kidding? There was no talking him into anything. He actually called me and offered.”
“Really?”
He nods. “Yep. He was planning a pizza and Rocky movie party tonight.”
My eyebrows shoot skyward. “Really?”
He shrugs. “Well, that’s until Gabs gets a hold of the remote. Come on, let’s take a tour.”
Together, he shows me the open concept great room and kitchen combo. There are plenty of windows, and even though it’s dark out, I can picture the spectacular view of the lake. Down a short hallway to the right are three doors. The first one is a small laundry room with a stacked washer and dryer and a large utility sink. The second door is a bathroom with a four-foot shower unit and small vanity. It’s decorated with grizzly bears, and I can picture Colton’s mom searching for the perfect décor. The third door is a bedroom. It has a queen-sized bed in the middle of the room with light green bedding. There’s an older dresser and a pair of nightstands, and even a rocking chair by the window.
“Even though this is the smaller of the two rooms, Mom and Dad always used this bedroom because it had a door that locked.”
“It’s nice,” I tell him as he takes my hand and leads me back out to the great room.
With the bags in hand, we make our way up the simple wooden staircase with a rustic log handrailing. At the top, we step into the open loft with a slanted ceiling. The room is perfect. There’s another queen-sized bed, more aged furniture, and even a small closet. But what has my attention is the small sitting area. The benches look homemade, and the television is the smallest and probably the oldest I’ve ever seen, with rabbit-ear antennas sticking out of the top.
“Back when I was about nine, we begged our parents to get a TV out here for at night. Dad insisted we come down and sit by the fire, but Chase and I were too cool for that. So, they found that tiny piece of hardware at a yard sale, and when they brought it out on one of our trips, we were so excited to watch it. Little did we know, there was no cable or anything. For two years, that television sat right there on that shelf and mocked us.”
A bubble of laughter spills from my lips. “That’s funny.”
Colton shrugs. “We made do without one, honestly. We had bunk beds at the time, and usually, we’d sit around and tell ghost stories or build a blanket fort. When I was eleven, we brought an old Atari gaming system out here. I think that bad boy is still in the closet,” he says with a fond smile.
With a smirk, I look his way. “I had one too when I was little. I was kickass at Donkey Kong.”
Colton pulls me into his arms once more. “Really? I was the Tetris king.”
I slip my arms around his waist and press my chest against him. “Maybe someday we can play. Together.” Oh, there’s definitely a little innuendo in my comment.
He just smiles. “No one else I’d rather play with. Come on, there’s dinner in the oven. We can sit in front of the fire.”
Dinner ended up being grilled salmon with vegetables and twice-baked potatoes. Apparently, Chase wasn’t the only one in on this little night away. Their mom also left a bottle of sweet white wine chilled in the refrigerator. Together, we dish up two plates on older mismatched plates and head into the living room. When he returns to pour us each a glass of wine, I take the opportunity to look out the sliding glass door to the lake.
“My dad, Chase, and I spent an entire summer remodeling this place when we were in high school,” Colton says as he sets two glasses of wine down on the coffee table. “I remember not being very happy about being stuck inside all damn day. There was this girl a few properties down who was a freshman in college. She used to sunbathe beside the water, and if I was stuck inside, I couldn’t casually stroll by and check her out,” he adds with a chuckle.
“Pervy,” I tease.
“I was sixteen. Hell yes, I was pervy. I was just learning what that thing between my legs was for,” he states as he waits for me to take my seat and then joins me. We’re sitting across from each other, legs crisscrossed under the aged coffee table.
“So, tell me about the remodeling,” I encourage as I cut off a piece of flakey salmon.
“Well, the cabin was solid but was in desperate need of some updating. We installed new windows and doors, which helped a lot in the winter. We reinsulated and then added the paneling to the ceiling upstairs and then shingled the roof. Did you know Chase is afraid of heights?” he asks with a chuckle.
“Really?”
“Terrified. He pretended to be big and bad, but every time he was asked to run something up the ladder, he practically pissed his pants,” he tells me. Even though he’s poking fun at his brother, I can see the love clearly in his eyes.
“Well, I’m not really a fan, either,” I confess. “So, if you plan any roofing projects, you’ll have to find another helper.”
We eat in silence for several minutes, both of us enjoying our food. “This place is great,” I finally tell him. “Thank you for bringing me here.”
As he stabs an asparagus spear, he says, “I’m hoping to bring you here a lot, Hollis. And Milo. My parents don’t use this place as much as they used to. They’ve taken to sightseeing around the US. Chase used it every once in a while when I was in the Army, but for the most part, this place sits empty a lot.”
I give him a smile. “Well, let’s use it. You can teach me how to fish.”
“You don’t know how to fish?”
I shake my head. “I’ve never been, and I have to be honest, the thought of touching a slimy fish kinda freaks me out.”
“I’ll help you. You and Milo. I can’t wait to bring him here and watch him play. All of us here, together. As a family.”
I’m smiling so wide, my face hurts. And my heart? It feels like there’s no way I could possibly love this man anymore, yet here I am, falling further and further in love with him every day.
When the food is gone, I reach across the coffee table and take his hand. “So, I was thinking.”
“About?” he asks as he brings our joined hands to his mouth and runs his lips over my knuckles.
“The wedding.”
Now, he’s all ears. “Tell me.”
“What if we do what Chase and Gabby did? And got married here?”
His smile is absolutely breathtaking. “To be honest, I don’t care where we marry, as long as you
’re officially mine at the end of the day, but to get married here? Yeah, that’s perfect for me, babe.” Then his lips are on mine, slightly awkward, since he’s leaning across the table.
When I pry my lips from his, I ask, “How about the end of March? That gives us three months to plan. It should be enough time for Mom and Tina to plan their trip too.”
Again, his lips brush over mine. “That’s perfect. So fucking perfect, Hollis.”
“Do you think Gabby and Chase would mind? I mean, we’re sort of copying them.”
“They won’t care, sweetheart. This place means as much to Chase as it does me. I bet they’ll be honored,” he tells me, again sweeping his lips across mine.
And then he moves, shoving aside the coffee table and sending our drink glasses flying as he lays me back on the large rug. The fire is roaring, just like the blood in my ears. Colton presses his body into mine, covering me from head to toe. His hands are everywhere. My jaw, my hair, my neck. Everywhere he touches, his lips aren’t too far behind.
“I think you have a thing for making love in front of a fireplace,” I tease, recalling our very first time together.
“I have a thing for Hollis and making love to her anywhere and everywhere,” he tells me without removing his lips as they graze across my collarbone. He continues to blaze a trail of hot, open-mouthed kisses to every sliver of exposed skin. When he realizes I’m wearing too many clothes, he slowly pushes my sweater up and over my head, which is quickly followed by the removal of my blue jeans. He also relieves me of my matching bra and panty set, and considering the bottom part was already soaked, they weren’t doing me any good anyway. “That’s better.” He grins a full-watt smile just before his mouth pounces.
First, he starts at my chest, licking and sucking on my nipples. Only after they’ve both received enough attention, he starts his descent downward. Colton attacks my pussy like a man possessed, and in only a handful of seconds, has me teetering on the edge of release. My fingers grip his hair, and my hips gyrate against his face all on their own.
Fair Lakes Series Box Set Page 75