“I’m so in love with him it’s unbelievable,” is I think what Olivia mutters beside me.
“What?”
“Oh nothing.” She smiles like she forgot I was here, then pats my thigh. “So, Garrett. How’s…everything?”
“Everything? G-good. Really good.” Why is she grinning like that, all devious and shit? Short, pregnant women shouldn’t be allowed to be devious. They’re scary enough as it is. “Yeah, everything is…so good.”
“I haven’t seen you since the restaurant on Valentine’s Day. You took off in a hurry.”
“Well, we’ve been traveling for the last three days,” I remind her.
“Uh-huh, and you were holed up the entire five-day home stretch before that.”
“Yeah, I…” I run a hand through my hair. “Busy.”
She cocks her head. “I busy?”
“Is that a hickey?” It’s Carter this time, breathless as he collapses between us. He prods my collarbone. “Yeah, it is.”
I slap his hand away. “No, it’s not.” It totally fucking is. I told Jennie not to, but does she ever listen to me? No, of fucking course she doesn’t. She’s so difficult to rein in, and I don’t really want to anyway.
Carter wags his brows. “Things goin’ good with Susie, eh?”
Cara snorts. Adam promptly leaps to his feet, heading into the kitchen. Olivia turns away, and Jaxon busies himself in his phone. Carter and Emmett are…oblivious.
It’s Emmett I’m most surprised about. Cara promised not to tell, but I guess I wasn’t expecting her to be this loyal to us. I think it’s Jennie she’s being loyal to, really.
And Olivia? She’s just perceptive, I guess. Plus, she came back from dropping Jennie off on Valentine’s Day and “accidentally” elbowed me really fucking hard in the shoulder when she sat down, so I was pretty sure she knew before Jennie even told me she knew.
Cara stands. “I’ve gotta jet. I have to meet with some clients about a charity event.”
I pull out my phone to distract from the fierce battle of tonsil hockey her and Emmett start right here in the living room.
“Is Jennie coming over?” Olivia asks.
“No,” I answer on autopilot, scrolling through the sports updates on my phone. My fingers pause for only a second before I force them to keep moving, while I tell myself to act cool. “’Cause she’s got classes, right? Hey, Jaxon, Nashville’s one and four out of their last five games. Looks like they need you back there guarding their goalie.”
The name of the game is deflection, and Jaxon plays along just fine, engaging me in a mindless conversation about hockey stats, but Carter’s not paying us any attention anyway.
No, he’s got his face pressed to Olivia’s belly, his hands cupped around his mouth as he makes these weird, deep, staticky breathing noises.
“What the fuck are you doing, dude?” Jaxon finally asks.
“Luke,” Carter speaks into Olivia’s stomach. Two more raspy noises. “I am your father.”
“Holy fuck.” I scrub my tired eyes. “Not Darth Vader.”
Olivia pushes Carter off her lap and stands. “Garrett, the things I deal with on a regular basis would bring you to tears.” Taking Carter’s frowning face in her hands, she kisses him. “I couldn’t love you more.” She starts hobbling away, one hand on her lower back. “But if Jennie’s not coming over, mama’s gonna go take a bath.” Her footsteps sound on the staircase before she calls, “Carter! Can you make sure they make the kung pao chicken extra spicy?”
“Yes, pumpkin!”
“I thought we were getting dinner from Amy’s Wok?” Adam asks, taking Olivia’s spot on the couch. Along with his tea, he’s returned with an entire box of Oreos. “Amy’s Wok doesn’t have kung pao chicken.”
“I know. Gotta order separately from Golden Village.”
“Why don’t you just tell Ollie they don’t have it instead of ordering from two places?”
Carter pulls a face, setting up the Xbox. “Have you met her? She’s scary as fuck right now.”
“She’s five feet tall!”
Carter jabs his shoulder. “Five foot one.”
I snicker, tossing a cookie into my mouth. “I agwee. Aw-wie is pwetty scawy wight now.” I take the controller passed to me and swallow. “I wouldn’t wanna mess with her.”
“She’s got these wild cravings, and nothing is ever exactly what she wants. I’ll gladly order from two different places if it means keeping her happy.”
We flip-flop between Call of Duty and NHL for an hour, and I suppress a groan when I realize I still have another ninety minutes to go before picking up Jennie from school. I haven’t seen her in three days, which isn’t a whole lot and definitely not the longest we’ve gone, but when you spent the five days before that fucking like wild animals, it feels like a goddamn eternity.
I’m not surprised Jennie’s got her kinks, given the variety and quantity of her toy collection, but I was a little surprised she was ready to jump right into the rough, wild stuff the next day. Blame my unbelievably good looks and adorable ramblings. Jennie says I’m endearing.
Plus, every time we fuck like animals, we follow it up with a round of soft and sweet. I think that might be my favorite. While I love pulling her hair and slapping her ass, I really love looking into her eyes when I tell her I love her, kissing her while we come together. Holding her is my second favorite thing to do, right after loving her.
I glance at Carter before pulling out my phone to text Jennie, but I’ve already got one waiting for me.
Sunshine: Can’t wait to see you, big guy tongue emoji eggplant emoji water droplets emoji
The second one rolls in before I can acknowledge how truly alike the Beckett siblings are, which is for the best.
Sunshine: Missed you heart emoji
“Carterrr,” Olivia’s voice calls from upstairs.
“Yeah, pumpkin?” he hollers back.
“I’m hungry!”
He pulls his phone out, frantically tapping at his screen. “Ordering right now!”
“I want something sweet! Can you make me an ice cream sundae?”
Carter looks up, blinking. “Ice cream sun—” He jogs to the bottom of the staircase, and I lean over the back of the couch, watching him. “With Oreo ice cream?”
“And brownies, please!”
“Brownies,” he murmurs, hands on his hips. “What kinda brownies, Ollie girl?”
“The ones you make with the brownie batter and the Oreos and the cookie dough!”
“Oooh.” I rub my belly. “I could fuck with those.”
Carter glances at me, frowning. “We don’t—we don’t have any. I can go get the ingredients.”
“It’ll take too long,” Olivia wails. “I want it now!”
He runs an agitated hand through his hair. “Babe, we don’t have them right now! Let me go to the store!”
“No!”
“Ruh-roh,” I murmur in my best Scooby-Doo, snickering, picking another cookie out.