Page 79 of Damaged King

Then, surprising me, she came over and awkwardly hugged me. It was brief, but a rush of tears pricked my eyes as Dad came over.

Though he didn’t say it, I could see the “she’s trying” in his expression.

“I have to go find Grant,” I hastily said, trying to contain my emotions. “Can you keep Teddy and Gracie for a second?”

When the three of them nodded, I rushed off, not wanting to cry in front of them.

I didn’t know Grant had seen me until he showed up seconds later where I hid behind the house.

“Baby, what’s wrong?” he asked, cupping my face.

“Nothing,” I said, tears streaming down.

Grant smirked, and damn him for making me laugh.

“Are you pregnant again?”

My jaw dropped because Teddy was barely four months old. I playfully slapped at his arm.

“I better not be,” I said.

“You are,” he said, chuckling. “I think I’m familiar with the signs now. But what set you off?”

I couldn’t lie to him. We had that utter trust with one another. “Mom hugged me out of the blue.”

He nodded and said, “You are pregnant.”

“I’m not,” I said, beginning to cry.

He wiped a tear from my face before drawing me close. “She loves you,” he murmured.

“I know, but it’s just weird. She’s holding Teddy and I’m wondering if she held me that same way, with the same look of awe on her face.”

“I’m sure she did. She just didn’t know how to handle opinionated little you. That threw her, I bet.”

I half-laughed and half-cried. “I wasn’t opinionated.”

He laughed harder. “Yes, you are, and I love that about you.”

“Grant.” A boy’s voice interrupted our conversation.

When I saw who it was, I felt my face relax. Grant’s brothers, Alex and Andrew, came around the corner. They’d become a fixture in our lives. When they had a break from college, they would get on a plane to come and see us, which made my husband extremely happy.

“You have visitors,” the other twin said.

Then I did laugh as they always seemed to finish each other’s thoughts and sentences.

There were a lot of people at our house, so it wasn’t exactly surprising. Still, Grant threaded his fingers through mine as we went to find out who our mystery guests were.

They weren’t hard to spot when practically every woman in proximity was drooling.

When we reached Liam and the two men with him, I had a hard time not noticing how incredibly hot they were. In fact, I glanced around for Stacy, wondering if she’d seen.

Grant clapped Liam on the back. It was good to see him and looking happy. So much had happened. His misadventures in New York read like folklore. The kind of thing you told at gatherings. But it wasn’t my story to tell, so I kept my mouth shut, leaving him to share.

Then Grant held out a hand to one of the men. “Connor.”

I recognized the name. He was one of Grant’s uncle’s sons. They shook and then Grant was saying, “Kalen, what brings the two of you here?”