Strictly Pretend (The Salinger Brothers #6)

AVA

“Mom?” Charlie shouts out from the living area of our cabin. Not that it’s really a cabin anymore. We’ve put so many additions on it, it’s become a house. But we still love escaping here, especially in the summer. Watching our children grow up, spending every summer by the lake with their cousins and our families has been such a wonderful privilege.

And now Charlie’s almost seventeen and there’s that bittersweet feeling that in a few years he won’t be here anymore. He wants to go to college, and he’s desperate to travel.

But right now he’s still here, and for that I’m grateful.

“Yes honey?” I call out. I’m sitting at my vanity, putting a dash of makeup on. Myles is still in the shower, because he spent way too long playing poker with his brothers this afternoon. The kids all joined in, which was good because us women did end up getting together for drinks.

We’ve all agreed that we have to make sure the Salinger brothers play nice for Francie’s birthday.

“We’re going to head up to the big house,” Charlie says, popping his head around the door. He looks so much like his dad that it warms my heart. He’s tall and broad and has the Salinger dark hair.

“All of you?”

“Yeah, I’m taking Olly and Laura up. Grandma’s giving them an early dinner.”

Oliver is eleven and Laura is thirteen. Both of them idolize Charlie and do whatever he asks of them.

“Okay.” I check the gold watch Myles gave me for my last birthday. “We’ll be up in an hour or so. Be good.”

“Always”

He blows me a kiss and closes the door, then I hear the three of them leave the cabin. From the window at the far end of the bedroom I watch as they walk along the path to the big house on the hill.

A minute later, the bathroom door opens and steam escapes. Myles walks into the bedroom with a towel wrapped around his hips. His hair is damp and there are droplets of water on his skin.

Everything about this man still takes my breath away.

“Was that the kids I saw walking up the hill?” he asks.

“They’re going up for dinner. And I think your moms are going to put them to work decorating.”

He nods, his eyes still on me. “Stand up.”

“Why?” I smile at him.

“Because I want to see your dress.”

I stand and do a little twirl for him, and once I’m back facing him he catches me in his arms and presses his lips against mine.

“Is this new?” he asks me, tracing the lace of the bardot dress I bought for the party.

“Yes.” I nod.

“Then take it off. I don’t want it to get ruined.”

I start to laugh. “You’re such a romantic.”

“I’m in my late fifties. We have two teenagers and an almost teenager. If I’ve learned anything over the past seventeen years, it’s that time is of the essence.” He’s already sliding my zipper down my back, his fingers leaving a trail of fire against my skin. “And by the way, I know the plan.”

“The plan?” I murmur, trying to sound innocent as he kisses my neck. Dear god, this man will be the end of me. One touch of his lips against my skin and I’m practically melting to the floor.

“Sophie told Liam, who spilled the beans in our group chat,” he murmurs, sliding my dress down my body until it’s pooled at my feet. “You’re planning to seduce us to make us less grumpy. So we don’t follow Francie around being overprotective idiots.”

I lift my head up to smile at him. “Do you think it will work?” I ask him, tracing his jaw with my finger.

“Undoubtedly.”

I pull the towel away from his hips, revealing his still-trim body. Sure, our hair might be a little grayer, but his body is still hard as steel. Especially the part of him I wrap my hands around, sliding my thumb against his tip until he groans.

“And Liam only got half the story,” I tell him, dropping to my knees. “It’s not sex, it’s a blow job that’s going to make you calm.” I press a kiss to the tip, then slide my lips around him, loving the way the movement makes him groan.

“Fuck.”

I release him with a pop. “I mean, we can do that, too.”

“We’re going to do that too for sure,” he says, looking at the clock above our bed. “We have exactly fifty-seven minutes. We can probably do everything twice.”

I start to laugh as he lifts me up, carrying me to the bed, then crawls over me, his mouth capturing mine in a scorching kiss.

He unfastens my bra, then stares at my breasts until he lets out a sigh. “How do you keep looking better with age?” he asks me.

“It’s not me looking better, it’s your eyesight getting worse, old man.”

He shuts me up with another kiss, then slides his hands down my body, touching me right where I need him, his fingers teasing and insistent until I’m panting out my breaths. By the time he slides inside me we’re both on edge. Desperate and needy.

I wrap my thighs around his hips, encouraging him to go harder, faster.

Begging him not to stop.

And when I reach the peak, he takes my nipple in his mouth, sucking me until I’m arching my back, whispering his name, and telling him I love him until he can’t stop the thunderbolt that’s his own orgasm and he’s coming inside me.

By the time we come down from our pleasure we’re both laughing.

“Are you feeling less grumpy?” I murmur, tracing the planes of his chest.

“Me? Grumpy?” He grins. “How dare you.” He kisses the tip of my nose. “By the way?”

“Yes?”

“You have exactly twenty minutes to redo your hair and makeup.”

SOPHIE

As we walk to the big house, hand in hand, Liam still looks a little dazed from the surprise blow job I gave him before we left the cabin. Not that he looked too surprised.

Thank God for Linda and Deandra offering to feed all the kids before the party. It still took an act of will to drag Logan away from his Xbox, but eventually he and Darcy walked up the hill and left us alone for fifteen minutes.

The noise of the kitchen greets us before we even walk through the doors. Not only are all the Salinger kids there, but so are Francie’s friends, along with some other family and friends who are all helping themselves to burgers and fries.

“Mom!” Darcie says, jumping up off her seat. “Can I stay at the party until the end tonight?”

At sixteen, her curfew is usually at ten. Which took a lot of negotiating with Liam, because as protective as he is over his sister, he’s ten times worse with his kids.

“Can I too?” Logan asks. He’s only ten and I think he knows the answer.

“Definitely not,” Liam tells him, ruffling his hair. “You gotta get your beauty sleep, bud.”

“But it’s not fair,” Logan says, pouting. Damn, he looks like his dad when he does that. I have to bite down a smile, because Liam doesn’t pout nearly as much anymore.

Mostly because all he has to do is whisper sweet nothings in my ear to get his own way.

“Actually, we had an idea,” Liam’s mom says, walking over to kiss us both on the cheeks. “I set up a room upstairs. I thought all the grandkids who wanted to could stay here tonight. There’s a tv and a whole load of blow up mattresses and sleeping bags. That way we can carry on partying together without worrying about bedtime.”

“Can I stay here, Mom?” Logan asks.

“Yes you can,” Liam says quickly, lifting a brow at me. Because alone time for the two of us is so precious these days. Things are getting better. Logan is a proud member of the boy scouts, which means some sleep away camps, and Darcie has a lot of sleepovers with friends.

But it's very rare for both of them to be away at the same time.

Liam kisses my cheek. “The things I have planned for you tonight,” he murmurs in my ear. The thickness in his voice sends a shiver down my spine.

“Well that’s settled,” Deandra says, looking at Liam. “Can you go and drag your father out of his office? The guests are starting to arrive and he needs to be here to greet them.”

“Sure.” Liam nods. He and his dad get along pretty well. A lot better since Liam has become a dad himself. And of course Rupert doesn’t look his age, the same way that neither Liam or his brothers do. They have a vitality to them that just runs through the Salinger bloodline.

But right as he goes to walk out of the kitchen, somebody walks in.

No not somebody. Francie. One of the kids lets out a low whistle.

She looks so beautiful it makes my heart hurt. With her dark hair up, and her dress long and strapless, dipping in the front to reveal all her curves, she looks like she’s in her twenties, not a day shy of eighteen.

Somebody clears their throat, and I realize Eli and Holden have just walked in together.

“Oh hell no,” Holden says. “You need to go and get changed.”

BLAIR

Being married to a pediatric oncologist means that they’re never where you need them to be, when you need them to be there.

Take today. We all had one job. Quite literally. Make sure our men were relaxed and a little bit sex-dazed before the party.

It was a genius suggestion from Ava. One we all agreed would work perfectly. And it would have, if Holden hadn’t gotten a call from a colleague at a hospital in California wanting to discuss a treatment plan with him.

By the time he finished the consult he had exactly ten minutes to get showered, dressed, and up here.

Which explains why he’s all on edge and macho and the grumpiest I’ve seen him in weeks.

“Hi Holden,” Francie says, a huge grin on her face. I love that girl so much. She’s got six older brothers who never give her a break, but she doesn’t let it bother her one bit. “I’m guessing you like my dress.”

“Don’t you have something a little, bigger, to put on?” he asks. “Like a head-to-toe sack?”

She starts to laugh. “Don’t be silly. Ooh, mimosas,” she says, seeing that Linda and Deandra are drinking from champagne glasses. “Can I have one?”

“No, you can’t,” Julia, her mom says, sweeping in behind her. “At midnight you can have one. Just one. Remember?”

Francie rolls her eyes and I turn to look at Holden.

“Smile at her,” I whisper. Because I know Francie adores all her big brothers. And they adore her, too.

They’re just terrible at showing it.

“I’ll smile when she’s wearing something that covers her up to her eyebrows.”

I slide my hand against his. “She’s almost eighteen. An adult.”

“Don’t remind me.”

“You weren’t like this at Evan’s eighteen birthday,” I point out. My nephew – my sister’s son – is twenty-three now. He’s currently working his way around Australia so he can’t be here.

“Evan wasn’t wearing a dress that showed everything.”

“I’ll tell him to wear one for his twenty-fifth,” I tease, and a ghost of a smile passes over Holden’s lips.

“Did you?” Mackenzie mouths at me.

I shake my head. “He was on the phone.”

She wrinkles her nose and mouth, “Damn.” Then she clears her throat. “Um, Blair? Did you bring that thing with you?”

I frown. What the hell’s she talking about? “What thing?”

“The thing you said you’d bring for me. From your cabin. I need it.” Mac widens her eyes at me.

Holden looks at me and then her like we’re both crazy.

I open my mouth. “I did not bring that thing,” I tell her, hoping she’ll get the message.

“But I need it,” she tells me. “Right now. You need to go back and get it.” She looks at Holden. “And you need to help her.”

“We just got here,” he says, looking completely confused. “What is it anyway?”

“I can’t tell you,” Mac says, her cheeks pinking up. “It’s a girl thing.”

“Are you on your period?” Liam asks. “Because I know for a fact there are tampons in the guest bathroom.”

Mac looks even pinker. “I’m not on my period. It’s… a different thing.”

I decide to put her out of her misery, even though this is highly entertaining. I look at Holden. “Want to come with me to get the thing?” I ask him.

“No.”

I shoot him a dirty look and he quickly changes his mind. “I mean…Yes?”

He doesn’t sound so certain. But then he doesn’t know what the thing is yet. If he did, he’d probably be dragging me out of the house right now.

“Okay everyone,” Holden calls out to his entire family. “We’re going to get the thing. We won’t be long.”

“Take your time,” Mackenzie calls out. “It takes as long as it takes to get the thing.”

I’m trying so hard not to laugh that tears are pooling in my eyes.

As soon as we’re outside Holden looks at me, his brows furrowed. “Do you think there’s something wrong with Mackenzie?” he asks.

“What kind of something wrong?”

“She seems… strange. Maybe I should suggest she get a CAT scan.” He shakes his head. “I’ll talk to Eli. See if she’s been exhibiting any other symptoms.”

“Symptoms of what?” I ask.

“A brain tumor.”

“Oh my god.” I shake my head. “She’s not sick. She doesn’t have a tumor. She just wants you to get a blow job.”

He blinks. “What?”

“It’s a long story. One we should probably save for another time. Because we have thirty minutes until the kids start noticing we’re gone.”

He shakes his head. “So let’s get this straight. We go back to the cabin, you give me a blow job, then we head back to the house for the party.” His brows pull together even tighter as though he’s trying to work things out. “So that’s why the group chat with my brothers was going crazy. It was pinging all through my consultation. I decided to ignore it.”

I grin at him as I roll onto my tiptoes and press my mouth against his. “That’s pretty much it.”

“Thirty minutes,” he murmurs. “Yeah, I think we can work with that.” His eyes crinkle as he kisses me back.

And it strikes me how much I love this man. He takes care of us all so well. Whether it’s teaching our daughters to swim or driving them to go camping to give me a break for the weekend, or wiping the tears away from our eleven year old when she’s fighting with a friend. He’s just always here for us.

He’s my best friend. My lover. The man I never want to get over.

“I’m guessing that’s a yes then,” I whisper, my eyes on his.

“It’s a hell yes.” He takes my hand and drags me down the path to the cabins. “What are we waiting for?”

MACKENZIE

I’m so embarrassed it feels like every part of my body is on fire. So I busy myself making sure Lila and Marty finish their food and clean up the table, even though they’re seventeen and fifteen and I know they can take care of themselves.

“Hey,” Eli murmurs, sliding his arm around my waist. “Stop looking like you just spilled state secrets. It’s just a bit of fun.”

“Now everybody thinks I’m either on my period or I’m an idiot,” I say, shaking my head. “I should have kept my mouth shut.”

“I’m glad you didn’t earlier,” he says, grinning, as he drops his head to kiss my hair.

“And I’m glad I didn’t, too,” he adds. “I can still taste you.”

Alarmed, I look up, but Lila and Marty are already helping Deandra with the dishes.

“And by the way, we get the cabin to ourselves tonight,” he murmurs, cupping my face with his hands. “I think I might have left the thing there.”

I can’t help it, I start to laugh. “That stupid thing.”

“That perfect thing.” He kisses my lips. “I love that we have a code word for blow jobs now. Although I figure the ‘thing’ can refer to more.”

“It can?”

His smile widens. “Yep. Tonight, my beautiful wife, I plan to do all the things to you.”

“Can you two keep it down?” Francie asks, shaking her head. “I swear every Salinger is allowed to have a sex life but me.”

Eli coughs hard. “I’m sorry?”

She shrugs her shoulders. “I’m just pointing out, I know what you’re all doing. Every single one of you is talking to your wives about sex. And then here I am, not allowed to even have a sip of alcohol.”

“You’re seventeen,” Eli points out, looking alarmed.

“And at midnight I’ll be eighteen. And in three years I’ll be twenty-one.”

“You’re never allowed to be twenty-one,” Eli says, looking deadly serious.

Francie rolls her eyes at him, and I can’t blame her.

I turn to whisper in his ear. “You’re supposed to be less grumpy. That was the point of the thing.”

He slides his hand down my back, his fingers tracing my spine. “Maybe it didn’t work. We should try again.”

“Shut up.” I grin at him. “It definitely worked.”

“I’m just saying, some men are more susceptible than others. And some need a double dose.” He kisses the tip of my nose. “Especially when their wives are as beautiful as you.”

It’s my turn to roll my eyes at him. “You can have another thing later,” I promise him, like he’s three years old. “If you’re good tonight.”

He turns me until I’m fully in his arms. I hear Francie give a huff and walk off. I don’t blame her. Her brothers have such double standards. Good thing she has us women on her side.

“I’ll be good tonight,” he promises, dipping his head to kiss my jaw. And I can’t help it, I shiver. We’ve been married for longer than I care to remember. We have two almost grown kids who have way too much energy and no off button. And yet when I’m with him, I feel like I’m that woman who fell in love with a grumpy hockey coach all over again.

“I know you will,” I say huskily. “And I can’t wait to give you all the things.”

“Mom!” Marty calls out, before my lips even touch my husband’s. “Lila won’t let me dry the dishes.”

“That’s because you always drop them you idiot,” Lila snaps back.

My eyes catch Eli’s. “Our kids are arguing about who dries the dishes,” he tells me, grinning. “I think we brought them up right.”

TESSA

It’s almost midnight and the party is in full swing. Linc is standing with his brothers at the bar, the six of them drinking whiskey. I’m with the wives, trying not to laugh as Blair regales us with the story of what happened when she and Holden got back to the cabin.

The dance floor is filled with our kids. My throat is tight as I watch Zoe dancing with Rowan and Abigail. At twenty-four, we don’t get to see Zoe as often as we used to. After college she studied in Europe for a while, before moving to California to work for a start up tech company.

Rowan is twelve, right on the cusp of teenagehood, and some days it shows. He’s a good kid, but he doesn’t have Linc’s laid back ways. He’s got way too much energy for that. As for Abigail, our youngest, she’s growing up way too fast.

She’s also the laid back one, just like her daddy. Nothing ever phases her and I love it.

I look back over at Linc and he catches my eyes, the corners crinkling as he smiles at me.

My throat tightens. A look from him is all it takes to make every cell in my body on alert. This man is my kryptonite.

Which is why this afternoon, doing ‘the thing’ as we’re now calling it, was pretty special.

After taking a few years off to be a stay-at-home dad, Linc ended up starting his own PR firm. It’s now one of the most successful boutique PR offerings in New York. I came to work with him a couple of years after he launched it, so now we get to travel to work together every day.

And sleep together every night.

“What are you smiling at?” Ava asks me.

“Just thinking about how good we all have it,” I say.

“We do, don’t we?” She smiles, looking over at Myles. “It’s funny but when I first met Myles I used to hate him.”

“I know, Linc’s told me that story.”

“He told you?” Her brows lift.

“Yeah. Because at the time I hated him, and he thought it might prove there was hope for us.”

“And there was,” Ava says, her hand squeezing mine. “So much hope. And so much happiness.”

Because that’s the thing about our Salinger men. They sweep us off our feet with promises, but they also keep them. They’re good men and they love hard.

In every single way.

“It’s two seconds until midnight,” Sophie says, and we all check our watches. The DJ changes tracks, and “Happy Birthday” starts blaring out through the speakers.

The crowd on the dance floor parts, to reveal Francie, still looking heart-achingly beautiful in her dress. She’s at the center, but she isn’t alone.

She’s in a man’s arms. And when I say man, I don’t mean a relative or a kid. He definitely looks all man.

Before I can even take it in, all six of her brothers are putting their glasses down on the bar and rolling up their sleeves as though they’re about to go into battle.

“Uh oh,” Ava says. “I think we may need some more things.”

“All the damn things,” Sophie agrees.

“Multiple things,” Mackenzie quips, clearly over her gaffe from earlier.

I can’t help it, I start to laugh. Because these men are so comically protective.

“Shall we go?” I say to the others, ready to form a protective ring around our sister-in-law.

“Yeah,” Blair agrees. “I think we should.”

So we spill onto the dance floor, pulling the kids with us, trying to form a shield between the birthday girl and her brothers.

“Happy birthday,” I whisper to Francie. “Don’t worry, the sisterhood has you.”

She grins at me. “Thank you. I owe you one.”

FRANCIE

Just after one o’clock, I head to my bedroom, where my best friend, Autumn Fitzgerald, is waiting with two glasses of champagne she managed to steal from the party. She’s staying over tonight, the same way she has for years.

We’ve been friends since we first met at summer camp when we were ten. We bonded over the fact we both have way too many older brothers who don’t let us get away with anything.

Luckily for Autumn, she only has three. But they’re also closer in age to her and if anything, even more annoying than my brothers.

“To being adults,” Autumn says, passing me my glass and clinking hers against it. Her birthday was last month.

“And to college,” I say, because in September we’re both going to the same one.

“And to adventure,” she says, lifting her glass to her lips. “To having fun and drinking and meeting boys without our brothers watching over us.”

“I’ll drink to that,” I say, taking a mouthful of the fizzy champagne between my lips.

Our eyes meet and we grin, because the future we’ve talked about for so long is just beginning.

And I can’t wait.

THE END

Thank you so much for reading this bonus epilogue.