Chapter 14 #2
“Has love made you soft, Adam?” Mac asked. “You don’t think they deserve a taste of their own medicine?”
“No, I definitely think they do, but not at my wedding.”
“And not at mine,” Evan said.
“We’ll have a captive audience for days in Anguilla,” Mac said to Blaine and Joe, who nodded in agreement.
“You boys are heading for trouble,” Linda said, leaning against Big Mac. “Mark my words.”
“They never have known when to quit while they’re ahead,” Janey said, earning snorts of outrage from her brothers.
“I’m just watching and learning,” Finn said.
“That’s your first mistake,” Linda said.
Enjoying their banter, Slim put an arm around Erin and gave her shoulder a squeeze. She smiled at him, and he was happy to see her enjoying herself.
“Joe,” Big Mac said, “how’re your mom and Seamus holding up today?”
“They’re exhausted,” Joe said of his mother and her husband, who’d recently taken in two young boys after their mother’s tragic death.
“We were there for dinner, and the boys were so excited, running around screaming, playing with their new toys and having the best time. Mom and Seamus went all-out to make sure it was a great holiday for them, but she said to give you their regrets. They were turning in early tonight.”
“I’m so glad to hear the boys got through the holiday and had a good time,” Linda said.
“They’re doing great,” Janey said. “A few rough moments here and there, but overall, they’re coping as well as can be expected.”
A shriek from the stairs preceded Thomas and Ashleigh running through the crowd, butt naked.
“What the heck are you doing?” Mac asked his son.
“We playing naked boy-naked girl, Dada.”
While everyone else howled with laughter, a horrified Maddie grabbed her son while Tiffany corralled Ashleigh.
“I’m not getting to play naked boy-naked girl,” Mac grumbled. “Why should they get to?”
“Shut up, Mac,” Maddie said, blushing as she took Thomas upstairs to find his clothes.
“That’s officially my new pickup line,” Grant said to Stephanie. “Hey, baby, wanna play naked boy-naked girl?”
“Is that just for me, or will any girl do?”
“Only you, my love,” he said, smiling as he leaned in to kiss his wife.
“This is Mallory’s first Christmas with us,” Linda said. “We’re going to scare her off.”
“Not a chance,” Mallory said, wiping laughter tears from her eyes. “That was the funniest thing I’ve ever seen.”
“I’m mortified,” Maddie said when she returned with Thomas, who was now dressed in pajamas.
Mac reached for his son and took him from Maddie. “That won’t be the first time a woman leads you astray, son.”
“Hey,” Blaine said. “There’s no way that was Ashleigh’s idea.”
“I’m afraid it was,” Tiffany said, chagrinned as she returned with her daughter.
“God, she’s more like her mother than I feared,” Blaine said, earning himself a smack upside the head from his wife while the rest of the room lost it laughing again.
“Ashleigh doesn’t have a pee-pee, Dada,” Thomas said.
“Oh my God!” Maddie took Thomas from Mac and headed for the front door while everyone else screamed with laughter. “Time to go home!”
“Yay, cuz I wanna play naked boy-naked girl,” Mac said, flashing a giddy grin.
“Does anyone have a muzzle I could borrow?” Maddie called from the foyer.
“If we had one,” Janey said, “we never would’ve taken it off him.”
“Have your laughs, citizens,” Mac said, taking the sleeping Hailey from his mother, “but when I get home, I’m having mine. I’ve been cock-blocked for days thanks to sick kids, who are apparently feeling just fine now.”
“Did he just say cock-blocked in front of Mom?” Grant asked.
“Yep,” Adam said, “and now you have, too.”
“Where did you guys find Mac anyway?” Frank asked Big Mac and Linda after Mac and his family had departed.
“At a baby flea market,” Linda said. “We’ve been trying to make him civilized ever since.”
Big Mac’s best friend Ned Saunders laughed at that. “Still got a long way ta go.” He and his wife, Francine, were holding hands like the newlyweds they were.
“I’m never having kids,” Riley said.
“You say that now, son,” Kevin said, “but it’ll happen to you.”
Riley grimaced at the thought. “Not any time soon, please.”
“I think it’s time to get our little temptress home to bed,” Tiffany said, standing to leave.
“I’m locking her up until she’s thirty,” Blaine muttered to more laughter.
“Thank you for a lovely day, Mac and Linda,” Tiffany said, kissing them on the way out.
“Thank you for the best laugh I’ve had all year,” Big Mac said.
“I’m dying,” Tiffany groaned on the way out. “If this is three, what will eighteen look like?”
“I need to start drinking more,” Blaine said.
“I haven’t laughed that hard in years,” Erin said to Slim when things quieted down again. “That was awesome.”
“I don’t know what was the best part—the reaction of their parents, or Thomas saying Ashleigh doesn’t have a pee-pee.”
“Don’t even,” Erin said, laughing again. “I can’t take anymore.”
“This is what Tiffany gets for opening a store called Naughty & Nice,” Slim said.
“A store the men in this town love, by all accounts.”
“I heard Tiffany say she had the biggest month since her opening ahead of Christmas.”
“Good for her. I love that store.”
Speaking close to her ear, he said, “Is that right?”
“Uh-huh.”
“I’m going to need you to model some of your Christmas presents for me.”
“That could be arranged.”
The promise he heard in her softly spoken words traveled right to his cock, making him instantly hard. “Let’s go. Right now.”
“Relax, stallion. It’ll keep until later.”
“I won’t survive that long in this condition you’ve put me in.”
She glanced over at his lap, which was all it took to make his situation even worse.
“Knock it off,” he said in a low growl.
She smiled at him, and the most incredible sense of rightness overcame him, leaving him staggered by the realization that he wanted much more than this week with her. He wanted everything with her, and he’d never wanted that with anyone else.
“What?” she asked, her brows knitting with concern.
He forced himself to rally. “Nothing. Just looking forward to having you all to myself again later.”
Erin leaned her head on his shoulder and linked her fingers with his, deepening the feeling of rightness.
Before this, before her, he might’ve tried to disengage from something that smacked of seriousness. But with her, the last thing he wanted was to disengage. He wanted more, much, much more of her.
Talk turned to Evan and Grace’s upcoming wedding in Anguilla, travel plans and excitement to escape winter on the island for a week.
“Speaking of our wedding,” Evan said, glancing at Grace, who smiled at him.
“Gracie and I have a little news about what’s going to happen after the wedding.
” Taking hold of her hand, he said, “Buddy has talked me into riding the hit record for a while longer, and Grace is coming with me on the road. Her friend Fiona from school has agreed to come over to manage the pharmacy, and Josh will cover me at the studio.”
After a moment of stunned silence, everyone spoke at once, congratulating them on their news and firing off questions about where they were going.
“We’re joining the second half of Buddy’s current North American tour that starts up again in February, and then we’ll see what happens after that.”
“I’m happy for you, son,” Big Mac said. “As much as we’ll miss you both here, I’d hate for you to have regrets later about what might’ve been.”
“Thank you, Dad. That’s what my very wise future wife said, too.”
“I suppose I should mention that after Anguilla, Steph and I are heading to LA for a couple of months,” Grant said.
“Was it something we said?” Linda asked her husband.