Chapter 28
Special teams – Hudson’s brothers who are one step up from heathens
Hudson
“H urry up, Nova. We’re going to be late.”
She peeks her head out of the bathroom. “It’s not my fault. If you wouldn’t have come home from your workout all sweaty and sexy, I wouldn’t have jumped you.”
I chuckle. “You came before I managed to get your clothes off.”
She glares at me. “Did not.” She shuts the door in my face.
I message my mom to let her know we’re going to be late. I barely have a chance to put my phone in my pocket before it rings in response.
“You can’t be late,” Mom hisses.
“Nova isn’t ready yet.”
“But what if her family shows up before you?”
“You’ll be fine. Her family is nice.”
“Jack and Lily are millionaires.”
I chuckle. “You would be, too, if you’d let me give you some of my money.”
“It’s bad enough you bought a house for us.”
I sigh. I’m not having this argument again. “We’ll be there as soon as we can.”
“Thank you.”
I hang up the phone and knock on the bathroom door. “Mom’s freaking out. Can you—”
The door opens and I lose the ability to speak. Nova is dressed in a sweater dress that clings to all of her curves. Those breasts I love to suck on and those hips I love to hold onto while I sink into her from behind are on display.
My cock twitches. I clear my throat and think of the total offensive yards I ran my final year in the NFL. Once I have my cock under control, I step forward and kiss her forehead.
“You look beautiful.”
Her nose wrinkles. “It’s not too tight?”
I place her hand over my semi-hard cock. “No.”
She giggles as she squeezes.
I groan and shackle her wrist to pull her away. “We can’t be late, my little temptress. Mom’s freaking out about meeting your family.”
She smiles up at me. “I love how you refer to my friends as my family.”
“Because they are.”
I’m going to show her she can love someone and they won’t die. I never want to witness the terror in Nova’s eyes ever again like when she told me everyone she loves dies and she’s afraid I’m going to die, too.
She didn’t admit it. But she loves me. And I will do everything in my power to show her I’m worthy of her love. She is the one good thing I won’t ruin. Not this time.
I place my hand on her lower back and guide her out of the chalet to my truck. When I help her onto the passenger seat, I can’t stop myself from digging my fingers into her hips. She shivers in response.
I kiss her quickly. “Behave.”
Her eyes widen. “What did I do?”
“You’re tempting me, Sunshine.”
She smirks. “It’s not on purpose.”
“Liar.” I tweak her nose before shutting her door and hurrying around to the driver’s side.
“Why is your mom freaking out?” she asks as I drive toward the town of Smuggler’s Rest.
“She thinks of Jack and Lily as Smuggler’s Hideaway royalty.”
“Sometimes I forget how much money they have. They don’t act the way I expect millionaires to act.”
“Not all millionaires are assholes,” I grumble.
She pats my hand on the steering wheel. “There’s no reason to go into grump mode. I know you’re not an asshole millionaire. Honestly, sometimes I forget how much money you have. And then you close down the swimming pool for us to watch a movie while floating in the water and I remember.”
I frown. “I wasn’t trying to show off my wealth.”
“I didn’t say you were.” She retracts her hand but I grab it. I like touching Nova. Her skin is soft and feels smooth compared to my rough hands.
“Who do you think will be the most trouble? My money’s on Chloe.”
I snort. “Did you forget about my brothers? Logan’s okay as long as he’s not working on some special project in chemistry. But Owen, Sawyer, and Brooks? Any one of them could win the crown for causing the most trouble.”
“I like your brothers.”
“You would. You were a troublemaker in high school, too.”
“I was not. Sophia and Chloe were the troublemakers.”
I raise an eyebrow. “And you didn’t follow their lead?”
She shrugs. “They had good ideas.”
“Good ideas? They stole the pirate mascot from Pirate’s Perch and the raccoon mascot from Rogue’s Landing and then let the animals loose on the football field.”
She giggles. “We didn’t think the parrot would repeat everything the coach said. You have to admit it was hilarious listening to a parrot fly over the field shouting there’s a raccoon loose on the field, there’s a raccoon loose on the field, time out, time out. ”
It was hilarious. Especially since the opposing team freaked out when they saw the raccoon and ran off the field. We won by default when they refused to return after the raccoon and parrot were caught.
“We’re here.” I park on the street and scan the area. None of Nova’s family is here yet. Good. Mom won’t kill me for being late.
The front door flies open while we’re walking up the sidewalk. “Oh.” Brooks frowns. “It’s you.”
Nova places a hand on her belly and smiles at him. “Nice to know my baby’s uncle is excited to meet her.”
His eyes light up. “Her? Are you having a girl?”
I grunt. “We don’t know.”
“The baby mooned us during our scan so we couldn’t see if Sprog is a he or a she,” she explains.
“The baby mooned you?” Brooks asks. “I blame the Clark genes.”
“So do I,” Nova whispers.
Three vehicles arrive and park behind my truck.
“They’re here!” Brooks shouts into the house.
“They’re here. They’re here,” Mom mutters as she rushes to the door.
Nova flashes her a smile. “Don’t worry. My family will love you the way I do.”
Mom sniffs before throwing her arms around Nova. “I love you, too.”
“What’s going on? Why is everyone crying and hugging on the porch?” Sophia asks as she arrives with her boyfriend, Flynn, and Nova’s friends, Maya and Paisley.
Jack and Lily, with their son Weston, are right behind them. Chloe, Lucas, and their daughter bring up the rear.
“Is everything okay?” Lily asks. “How can I help? I have whiskey, chocolate cake, and a husband who’s not afraid to knock sense into a son.”
Jack grunts. “I never knocked sense into Weston.”
Weston smirks. “Because I’ve got sense all on my own.”
“Not likely,” Sophia mutters.
Mom untangles herself from Nova and I claim my sunshine. “You, okay?” I whisper to her and she nods. “No more tears.” I wipe the liquid from her cheeks.
“Gross,” Brooks declares. “I’m going inside.”
Mom clears her throat. “Why don’t we all go inside?”
I herd everyone into the living room and close the door behind us.
“Shall I make the introductions?” Nova doesn’t wait for a response before beginning. “These are my friends, Paisley, Maya, Chloe, and Sophia. The man hanging onto Sophia is her boyfriend, Flynn. The man with Chloe is her husband, Lucas. The girl with them is their daughter, Natalia. The man standing on his own is Weston. Sophia’s brother and Flynn’s best friend.” She nods to Lily. “And this woman is Lily, my substitute mom, and Jack, my substitute dad.”
“I prefer the term bonus mom,” Lily says.
Nova immediately gives in. “Okay, bonus mom and bonus dad.” She sweeps her arm to the other side of the room where my brothers and parents are.
“And on the other side of the room, we have the Clark family. Jacob and Emma are the proud parents of five boys. You know Hudson. The others are Brooks, Sawyer, Owen, and Logan.”
“Your brothers are much younger than you,” Chloe remarks.
Sawyer smirks. “Dad knocked up Mom in high school with Hudson. The rest of us came later.”
Dad slaps him upside the head. “What? It’s not a secret.”
“We’re trying to make a good impression on Nova’s family.”
Owen barks out a laugh. “Too late.”
I lean down to whisper to Nova. “Told you my brothers would cause more trouble than Chloe.”
“Hey!” Chloe shouts. “No fair. I’m not a troublemaker anymore.”
Lucas barks out a laugh. “No, my wildcat is perfectly tame now. She didn’t phone the police while I was on duty and claim her sheep were loose.”
“There was a sheep loose.”
“Because you let it loose.”
Chloe shrugs. “How else was I going to get you to come home early?” She places her hands over her stepdaughter’s ears. “I bought lingerie and Natalia had a meeting at school.”
Natalia shoves Chloe’s hands away. “Gross, Mom. I don’t need to know about your s-e-x life.”
Brooks raises his arm in the air. “I want to hear.”
I slap his shoulder. “Behave.”
“But it’s more fun to not behave.” He waggles his eyebrows.
Mom giggles. “And here I was worried about everyone getting along.”
Lily marches to her and threads her arm through hers. “Let me help you get dinner ready. I can give you some tips on surviving the teenage years when your teenagers are sex-crazed.”
“Hey!” Paisley shouts after them. “I wasn’t sex-crazed.”
“And I didn’t walk in on you watching porn either,” Lily says.
“Porn is perfectly normal.”
“It was an orgy. I had to give you the talk about polyamorous relationships.”
“I want the talk on polyamorous relationships,” Brooks says.
“Me, too,” Owen agrees.
“Definitely,” Sawyer adds.
Logan sighs. “My brothers are all heathens.”
“I didn’t get the talk on polyamorous relationships,” Sophia claims.
“Because you’ve been in love with your brother’s best friend since puberty,” her mom says.
Sophia frowns. “I have no comeback. It’s true.”
Flynn scowls. “You don’t have to look sad about it.”
They begin to bicker and I grasp Nova’s wrist before dragging her down the hallway to my old bedroom.
“Are you happy?” I ask.
Her smile nearly blinds me. “This is the best day ever. Thank you for arranging this.”
I kiss her nose. “I’ll arrange anything you need or want.”
“Gag!” Owen shouts through the door. “I thought you were having sex.”
“Give us a minute!” Nova shouts back. “I have on boots and tights.”
I glare at her and she bursts into laughter. “Your face.”
I pull her into my arms and enjoy the feel of her body trembling against mine as she laughs. I’ll be the butt of her joke every day for the rest of my life as long as I can feel her in my arms at the end of the day.