Chapter 29
Over the next week, Chloe discovered that being an unofficial member of the McCarthy family came with a lot of social obligations. Not that she minded, because everything they did with Finn’s family was fun, but with Shane and Katie’s wedding right around the corner, they were busier than ever.
Tonight was the bachelor and bachelorette parties for the happy couple.
The men would be gathering at the marina, which had become their custom, while the women congregated at Maddie’s to make it easier for her to participate.
Since her anxiety scare, Mac had been insistent that she do as little as possible so she could focus on relaxing and incubating their twin girls.
Chloe couldn’t imagine what it would be like for Mac and Maddie to have twins on top of the three kids they already had. Finn had mentioned that Mac was talking about hiring a nanny to help out after the twins arrived. They were going to need all the help they could get.
This would be the first time that Chloe hung out with Finn’s family members without him there with her.
She knew all the women from the salon, but she’d been close to only Katie before she started dating Finn.
Now they all treated her like a long-lost sister, which was just one of many things that had changed for her since his skull connected with hers.
With hindsight, she’d begun to believe that head bump had been the single best moment of her entire life.
He made her deliriously happy, the kind of happy she’d thought existed only in romance novels and sappy movies.
When they were apart, she counted the hours until she could see him again.
And when they were together… Every minute with him had her craving more.
As much as she could get. Fortunately, he felt the same way, and they’d fallen into the habit of spending every night together at her house.
They’d spent time at his place, too, packing up the few things he’d brought with him to the island in anticipation of his move to the garage apartment at Nikki’s.
Chloe planned to ask him if he’d rather move into her house. She was waiting for the right time, and with everyone focused on Shane and Katie right now—as well as Riley and Nikki, who’d gotten engaged—now wasn’t the right time. But she would ask him soon.
The thought of making it official, of sharing a home with him, filled her belly with butterflies that were more about excitement than anxiety. When it was right, it was right, and everything about Finn McCarthy was right. Nothing had ever been so right.
He’d even gone with her to her last appointment with David, intent on learning everything he could about the RA and how he could be supportive of her.
She’d lived long enough to know that men like him were one in a million, and she still couldn’t believe she’d actually found him.
When she thought of how close she’d come to not finding him before he left the island for good, she could only count her blessings for the brother and cousins who’d teased him about his man bun and driven him into her salon to shut them up.
Despite the pervasive glow of happiness that filled her days and nights, a niggling worry had her wondering when the other shoe would drop. In her experience, there was always another shoe, something she didn’t see coming until it had blown up her world. What would it be this time?
“Chloe!” Finn called for her from the backyard, jarring her out of the disturbing thoughts. “Are you coming?”
“Yes, be right there!” She was dropping him off at the marina on the way to Maddie’s and planned to pick him up later so he could have a few beers without having to worry about getting home. He’d been looking forward to the night out with his favorite guys all week, and she wanted him to have fun.
She checked her outfit in the full-length mirror one last time, grabbed her purse off the bed and went to join Finn and Ranger in the yard.
Judging by Ranger’s tongue hanging from his mouth, they’d either been wrestling or playing fetch.
Ranger seemed to forget about his physical limitations when Finn was around to play with. She and Ranger had that in common.
Finn wore dark jeans and a white button-down shirt rolled up to reveal his muscular forearms. She’d never found forearms sexy until she’d had his forearms to look at. His hair had gotten a little longer again, and the late-day scruff on his jaw only added to his over-the-top sexiness.
“Yum,” he said, giving her the once-over. “Are you sure we have to go out again tonight?”
“I’m sure.”
He came over to her, wrapped an arm around her waist and flattened his hand on her ass. “These jeans are so smoking hot, it’s a wonder they don’t catch on fire. I’m glad you’re going to a bachelorette party, otherwise I might be worried about other guys coming on to my girl.”
“From what I hear, bachelorette parties around here may include male strippers.”
His eyes nearly bugged out of his head. “What?”
“Don’t shoot the messenger.”
“You’re not going if there’s gonna be strippers there.”
“Ease up, caveman. I can take care of myself.”
His scowl spoke volumes about his true thoughts, but thankfully, he didn’t push the matter any further or try to forbid her from going.
That would’ve been a problem for her. She was so used to calling her own shots that ceding to someone else didn’t come naturally to her.
And she never had been good about taking orders from anyone, which was why self-employment suited her so well.
Finn had assured her that his aunt and uncle would give her total autonomy over the spa and would leave her alone to run the business the way she saw fit.
She could live with that if it meant steady employment and health insurance.
Having both those things alleviated some of her greatest concerns, and for that, she would always be thankful to Finn—and his family.
Chloe drove them to the marina, where the garage doors to the restaurant had been thrown open to allow in the warm spring breeze. Many of the other guys were already there, and when Finn leaned over to kiss her goodbye, they let loose with catcalls and whistles.
“Idiots,” he muttered. “Every one of them.”
“You’d do the same thing. Don’t even try to deny it.”
“Okay, I won’t,” he said, smiling. “At the first sign of strippers, you’ll call me to come rescue you, got me?”
“No, Finn, I don’t got you, and I won’t call you. Get out of my car so I can go have some fun without my ball and chain.”
“You’re being kinda mean to me, Chloe. I gave you three orgasms last night. I would think that’d buy me some points for a few days. But no.”
Someone knocked on the passenger-side window.
Finn put down the window. “Look who’s back! Chloe, you remember my cousin Grant, right?”
“Of course. Nice to see you again.”
“You, too, Chloe. So you’re sucking face with Finn, huh? You could do so much better.”
“Shut the fuck up, Grant. She’s not aware that she could do better, and I’d like to keep it that way.”
Grant laughed and shook his head. “It’s so weird to see the babies kissing girls.”
“On that note, I’m outta here.” Finn stole one more kiss from Chloe before shoving Grant out of the way with the car door. “Move it.” Finn leaned into the open window. “No strippers.”
“Bite me.”
“I will, and I’ll make it hurt.”
She rolled her eyes and stuck out her tongue. “Let go of my car, or I’ll run over your foot.”
Finn stepped back, and she watched him long enough to see him embrace Grant.
They walked into the marina with their arms around each other.
The McCarthy family gave her all the feels with the way they busted each other’s balls nonstop but loved each other so fiercely.
Witnessing their dynamic up close the last few weeks had shown her the kind of family she’d seen on TV but had never known personally.
It had been a revelation, to say the least.
As she drove to Maddie’s house, she contended with a flutter of nerves when she thought about walking into the gathering without Finn there to ease the way for her.
Despite the fact that she knew all the women, this was different from cutting their hair and making casual conversation while they were in her chair.
She’d been invited to things before, always a “you should join us” kind of thing that she’d said no to most of the time.
As a lifelong outsider, she’d felt strange about inserting herself into existing groups and social circles.
Finn had become her ticket into this group, and everyone had been so nice and supportive of her dating him.
But this would be her first time alone with the women, and she was nervous.
Thank goodness Katie would be there. For whatever reason, Chloe had really bonded with her in a way she hadn’t with the others.
Not yet anyway. Katie had told her that the more time she spent with the women, the more true friends she would have.
That would take some getting used to. A loner didn’t become a social butterfly overnight.
Maddie’s driveway was packed with cars, so she parked on the street where she wouldn’t get blocked in if she decided to leave early.
She carried the crab dip she’d made and the bottle of wine she’d brought, even though she wouldn’t drink it.
Someone else would. Wine and women went together like peanut butter and jelly.
She went up the stairs that led to the back deck, knocked on the sliding glass door, but no one answered, so she poked her head in. “Knock knock?”
“Chloe!” Chelsea came over to her, leading with the baby belly that seemed to get larger by the day. “Come in.”
She gratefully accepted the hug from Chelsea.
“Let me help you.” Chelsea took the bottle of wine from her. “Pregnant lady with wine, coming through.”