Page 62 of Second Chance Baby
“I heard some of it. The gossip mill is still active in the Cove.” I smiled weakly. I could only imagine what was churning aboutme and Travis. Especially after we got attack-hugged by Mrs. Gunderson. “Is she happy?”
“Best as I can tell, yeah, she is. Christian didn’t take it too well. Pretty sure he would’ve arrested the dude if marrying a younger woman was illegal.” He snorted. “Then again, he did the same.”
My eyes widened.
“Yeah, should have been hard for him to bitch. And yet.”
“You guys have always been protective of Maddie.”
He let out a laugh as he looked back at his now scattering siblings, spreading out with an assortment of decorations and an abundance of skeletons. We had gone a more than a little overboard with them. “That is the truth. Well, I guess I better join the Halloween militia.”
“Yeah, me too.” Companionably, we set off across the lawn, splitting off when I reached Travis.
“Hi, you,” he murmured, grabbing my hand. He tugged me against him, letting his flamingo fall to the ground so he could fist both hands in my hair and capture my lips with his own.
With one hot, hard kiss, he sucked my breath away and every worried thought from my brain. When we resurfaced, I shook my head to clear it.
Hell, I wouldn’t have noticed a pumpkin exploding beside us when Travis laid one like that on me.
“Hi,” I finally managed. “I wasn’t sure how you’d feel after talking to your brothers.”
“About ladders? Or Halloween deco placement?”
“No. About your questionable taste in women.”
His face hardened, his eyes turning to steel in the flashing lights of the lawn. “If it’s questionable, it’s my choice, and I’m making it. I don’t give a fuck what anyone else thinks. No one else is in my head or in my heart.” He held out a hand to me.“Now are you gonna help me decorate this yard or you gonna stand out here gossiping with my brother all night long?”
I gripped his hand and lifted it to my mouth to kiss his knuckles as he’d done with me earlier. “We weren’t gossiping. I was trying to get him to tell me why he was so rude to Rita earlier, but he didn’t take my bait.”
“He’s a locked box at the best of times, never mind when he’s hiding shit.”
“You think he’s hiding something?”
“Aren’t we all most of the time?” His equitable tone made me squeeze his fingers. “No, I’m not hiding anything, by the way. After we trick out this place to the ultimate, I fully intend to take you inside and make what happened earlier look like a preview to the main event. Still no condoms here, if that’s okay with you. If it isn’t, I’ll go get some.”
“Trav,” I said brokenly, not capable of more. “No condoms needed.”
“I’m all in on all of this—I need you to know that.”
My eyes brimmed over, and all the lights shimmered.
“Do not cry. Hear me? Do not do it, Bridget Sheppard. Today has been a day for many things, but not tears.” He hauled me closer, his voice low and dark. “Unless you scream yourself hoarse and cry from pure exhaustion. That, I’m okay with.”
“It might happen.” Laughter mixed with my careening emotions. How on Earth was this all happening?
Even my wildest dreams hadn’t been this good.
“I always love a challenge.” He brushed a kiss over my forehead. “Our kid sleeps like a rock, but maybe I can find something more instrumental tonight to muffle the sounds. Because I intend to drag every one of your sexy moans out of you tonight.”
“I can try to be quiet.” I bit my lip. “Will I succeed? Not sure.”
Scarring my child was not on my rekindling romance list of to-dos.
“We need to figure it out, in any case. Parents have been doing it for centuries, right?” I wasn’t sure if it was the orange lights or a flush making his neck look red.
I reached up to cup his face for a moment. “Truth.” I stepped back enough to bend to pick up the discarded flamingo. “Where is she now?”
“Moose took her around back to distract her from her meltdown with some hoops while we got started. Yes, your daughter loves basketball. I suspect she might be headed toward that sport rather than tennis and cheerleading like you.”