35. Piper #2
“We here?” Finn peeped from the backseat.
“Yep, this is it,” I told him, my voice shallow.
Theo pulled his motorcycle up on the left side of where I parked.
I inhaled a steadying breath as he swung off, but there was nothing steady about the way I felt when he ambled in our direction.
The intensity from last night had vanished, and that cool, wicked calm was back in full force.
A careless smirk hitched the edge of his mouth as he stared down at me through the driver’s side window while I just sat there like I’d become one with the seat.
When I still hadn’t moved after five seconds, he unlatched it for me, and he slung an arm onto the top of the roof as he inclined down to peer inside.
“You coming, or do I have to carry you?” Amusement filled the coarse words. Like he hadn’t bared himself to me the way he had last night. Like he hadn’t left me reeling in uncertainty when he walked out the door.
“ Feo !” Finn shouted, kicking his feet. “You come pway , too? You can cawy me.”
A low chuckle skated out of Theo and slipped over me like a caress.
Affection and warmth.
“Sure am, little man. What do you think about that?”
“I wike my Feo come,” Finn drawled out.
That easiness faded for a flash, and I could so clearly see the impact of what Finn called him ripple along the strong line of his jaw.
“I like being here, too, little man,” he said.
His gaze dipped to me for a beat.
A dark night kissed in glinting moonlight.
“Get me!” Finn squirmed as he pressed his chest against his restraints.
Theo seemed to have to tear himself from the chains that held us, then that easiness resurfaced as he stepped back to Finn’s door so he could unbuckle my son.
His movements were sure as he pulled him out and into his arms, and he grabbed his owl backpack from the floor and slung it over his shoulder.
Emotion swelled from the depths.
God. He looked so good with my son in his arms, backed by the blue horizon that felt so close but just out of reach.
“Oh, my heart. Is that our Little Finn?”
The voice coming from above jerked my attention upward to Raven. She stood out on the upper patio, and she clung to the metal railing as she grinned down at us.
The front part of her black hair was twisted up with a bunch of dainty white flowers tucked into the knot, and she wore this long, fuzzy black coat that she had wrapped around herself like a blanket and went all the way to her feet.
Lips painted red and face full of mischief.
From where she stood, she looked like some kind of dazzling, reigning queen gazing down on her kingdom.
Theo turned with my son hooked on his hip, and Finn’s hand shot for the sky. “I is Finn.”
Raven’s low but tinkling laughter rolled through the air. “Well, I am Raven, and I have been so excited to meet you.”
Reaching over the console, I grabbed the bowl of potato salad I had nestled on the front passenger seat then coerced myself into climbing out of the car.
A raucous commotion suddenly came crashing out through the glass door that sat open behind Raven, and two of the most precious little faces I’d ever seen scrambled for the patio railing.
“Hi, Finn, hi! I’m Nolan!” Nolan was barely taller than the railing, his wavy blond locks blowing around his face as he hollered down.
The little girl at his side was shorter. Her warm blond hair was braided, though it was wrapped in a halo and had the same flowers that Raven wore in her hair adorning it.
Holding on with her tiny hands, she stretched up on her toes as she attempted to see over the top.
“I’m Maci! We got a lot of toys up here for you to play with because it’s real cold outside and we better be by the fireplace so we can stay really warm.
But we got two stairs in here, and my mommy said we have to be really careful and not play rough so you don’t fall and get hurt, but don’t worry ’cause I’m gonna take really good care of you. ”
My chest squeezed.
Fondness racing in and gripping hold.
Instant and complete.
But that’s what I’d worried would happen. I’d fall in love with these people, and they’d only become another loss.
“Okay,” Finn agreed, bobbing his head and kicking his heels into Theo like he was a horse.
Theo chuckled. “What, you think you want to play with them?”
“I pway with Maci and Nowan .” More of that bobbing.
Theo glanced at me, a beat of need ripping between us, before he gestured with his head for me to go ahead of him. That cool arrogance rode back to his delicious mouth and his voice turned all kinds of gravelly as he murmured, “Ladies first.”
The tattoo on my inner forearm throbbed.
In sorrow we must stand.
It was time.
A chance I had to take.
Because love was always worth the risk.
I wanted this. I wanted to feel . I wanted the loneliness not to ache so badly.
Shoving off the questions evoked from last night, I gave him a little roll of my eyes.
“Pretending to be that gentleman again, I see.”
He leaned in close to my ear. His hot breath sent a chill that scattered and lifted the hairs at the nape of my neck. “Nah, just want you climbing the stairs in front of me so I can get a view of that delectable ass.”
Redness flushed and need bloomed in my belly. I chewed on my bottom lip, and I forced myself to move ahead of him.
I started to climb up the exterior steps.
So what if I put a little extra sway into my hips.
Glee covered every inch of Raven’s face as she grinned down at me. “I am so excited you’re here! I mean, I knew you would come because we’re kind of impossible to resist, but still.”
Overeager, she stamped her feet on the porch floor at our approach, and I suppressed a giggle.
Only she would be wearing five-inch stilettos to a family gathering when she was seven months pregnant.
“Well, I was threatened,” I told her.
“It was only so you would know how serious we are about you. We’ve claimed you, which means we’re forever going to keep you.”
When I made it to the top landing, she wrapped her arms around me. Her belly and the bowl of potato salad were pressed between us, but she didn’t seem to mind as she squeezed me tight and rocked me back and forth. Her voice was soft as she murmured so only I could hear, “Truly, so thankful.”
Emotion rushed, and I fought the insecurities that wanted to surge. Instead of succumbing to them, I edged back and nodded my agreement.
Because I was, too.
Truly grateful.
Maci bounced her way over to me, her adorable face tipped up in my direction. “Are you Miss Piper Poo?”
A shot of laughter rocked out of me. “Apparently so.”
“It’s really good to meet you.” The little thing wrapped her arms around my legs at the middle of my thighs and hugged me tight.
I couldn’t do anything but lean over so I could hug her back. “It’s really good to meet you, Maci. Your mom and dad have told me so much about you.”
“Hey, what about me?” Nolan jumped from behind her.
Reaching out, I pulled him into the embrace. “And I’ve been super excited to meet you, too.”
Words started to tumble out of Maci as she continued to cling to my legs. “That’s good because we were really excited to meet you because you got a little boy who’s our new best friend, and I can be his babysitter because my daddy told me I’m really smart and nice.”
Affection pulsed. “That sounds like a great plan. Finn is lucky he gets to be your friend.”
Nolan pulled back and did three jumping jacks as he shouted, “You get to be our friend, Finn!”
Finn giggled like crazy. “Yay! I your fwiend .”
I turned to where Theo held him at the top of the staircase.
My lungs compressed at the sight.
A mild breeze gusted and rustled through Theo and Finn’s hair. Joy was so brilliant on my son’s face, and the dark pitch of Theo’s eyes were softer than they’d ever been.
I swallowed around the rocks in my throat.
Theo seemed to shuck the emotion as he turned a smile to Nolan and Maci. “What, I don’t even get a hello?”
Maci giggled, holding her hands together at her chest as she swayed. “You already know we love you, Uncle Theo!”
“Because family is who you love most,” Nolan shouted.
Theo angled around Raven and dropped a kiss to her cheek as he passed.
“You sure look good with that baby,” she called behind him, suggestion seeded in the words.
If I wasn’t watching so closely, I would have missed the pain that lashed across his face.
Then he grinned, squeezing him a little tighter. “Finn here is my buddy, isn’t he?”
Finn grabbed him by both sides of the face, his little fingers gripping into his trimmed beard. “Finn’s Feo .”
My heart made a valiant attempt at crashing right out of my chest. Careening and battering and flailing in expectation.
Raven met my eye as Theo hustled the kids back through the open door. Easing forward, she reached out and touched the tear that I didn’t know had gathered at the edge of my eye.
“I know who’s done for.” Her words were soft. Not quite a tease. Then she stepped back with a smile and wrangled the bowl from my hands. “Come inside so I can show you around.”
She strode for the door, waving a hand back at the patio as she walked. “We just had this portion of the wraparound porch built since I moved in. We needed an actual entryway since all the living space is upstairs, and the only way you used to be able to get in was through the garage.”
I stepped inside.
Chaos was already in full force.
Otto, Theo, and Kane were in a pile on the rug in the living area wrestling around with the kids.
Nolan was on top of Otto, pinning him to the ground, and Otto flailed like he stood no chance of breaking free.
“You two make sure you’re being careful,” Charleigh called from the open kitchen, slanting me a soft smile from across the room as she did.
“Don’t worry, Momma Dog! We already know all the rules,” Nolan shouted. He turned back to Otto. “You’re a big monster and we gotta beat you, Uncle Otto! Your daddy is a monster, too, Maci. Get him!”
Maci squealed with laughter as she threw herself at Kane, knocking him back to the rug. He exaggerated the fall, holding her carefully so she wouldn’t be injured as they tumbled backward. “What? I’m no monster.”
“You’re a Daddy Monster!” she screeched as she tackled him.
Theo was sitting on the ground with his legs crisscrossed, and Finn stood in the middle of them, holding onto his shoulders as he bounced. “ Feo monster!”
He pushed at Theo’s shoulders, trying to copy what the other children were doing.
“Ahhh,” Theo drew out, exaggerating that push since there was no chance Finn could budge him. Falling back, he picked Finn up by the waist and flew him around. “And you’re a Finn airplane.”
Finn cracked up while Theo zoomed him around.
“I want to be an airplane!” Maci bounced on her knees right in the middle of her dad’s stomach.
An oomph ripped out of Kane as he tried to guard himself from her attack, though he was laughing the whole time, clearly enamored by the little girl who I knew had only come into his life last summer. “What, you want me to fly you when you’re blitzin’ me?” Kane teased.
Nolan threw himself harder at Otto. “We gotta fly so we can bomb the monsters.”
Otto caught him and swept him up the same way Theo was doing Finn, though Nolan was three times the size of my son. “Why do you have to be so mean and bomb me? I’m a nice monster.”
Nolan sobered, and his adorable face turned somber. “It’s only pretend, Uncle. We would never hurt you in our whole lives. We only help our family.”
Otto dropped him down onto his chest and wrapped him in his massive, tattooed arms. “No, we never hurt our family, do we?”
I could feel the emotion roll out of Raven.
Joy shined bright in her eyes.
“Those brutes are just kids at heart,” she muttered as she waved the intensity off and headed toward the gorgeous kitchen on the opposite side of the room.
It had an industrial vibe, the cabinets and countertops black and sleek, and everything was done with matte metal accents.
I couldn’t help but think it fit Raven and Otto to a T.
A large island separated the kitchen from the living area.
Off to the right were more of those enormous floor-to-ceiling windows with a view that was even more breathtaking than downstairs.
A swath of woods rolled down the side of the mountain before it gave way to the lake in the valley far below.
To the left side of the kitchen, there were two stairs that led up to a short loft, and double doors sat at the far side of it that led into what I assumed was a bedroom and another regular door to the left of that.
“Our bedroom is straight through there. There is an extra restroom in there if you need it.”
She pointed at the far-left door as she set the bowl onto the counter.
“And that’s the baby’s room. We just had it added on since this place was only a one-bedroom before I came in and wrecked Otto’s world.
” She tossed a saucy grin back at me from over her shoulder.
“As if I wasn’t going to tame that burly bear. ”
“Oh, I wouldn’t call me tame, darlin’.” Otto shouted it from the living room. There was no missing the innuendo.
River grunted from where he was slicing an onion in the kitchen next to Charleigh. He flashed the knife. “You’re lucky there are kids present.”
Otto howled like it was hysterical. “Oh, come now, brother, you know you love me.”
“That’s because we gotta love our family, Daddy-O!” Nolan called.
Theo sat up with Finn, and my son threw his arms around Theo’s neck, squeezing him tight. “I wuv !”
Theo looked up at me when Finn said it.
Eyes molten as he hugged my son.
My stomach tilted and my world tipped.
And I guess maybe that was the moment when I knew I was completely done for.
Raven snapped me back when she suddenly reached out and snagged my hand and hauled me around the island and into the kitchen, grinning at Charleigh and Emery as she whispered, “I’m pretty sure our girl here needs a drink.”