“This is us celebrating.” He tucked his hands into the pockets of his jeans and rocked back slightly. He looked so young at the moment, like a little boy fearful of making a move with a girl for the first time.
“Celebrating?”
“Yeah.” The confident smirk returned as he removed his hands from his jean pockets and moved closer to me. “Graduation, you moving in.” He tilted his head to the side as if waiting for me to deny it, and I didn’t, which seemed to please him. I hadn’t yet told him “yes,” but I had slowly been bringing more of my things over each time I visited with my parents. “We also have our son to celebrate.”
“Or daughter,” I added and saw him narrow his eyes.
“It’s a son.” He hooked me around the waist and pulled me in closer. “Trust me.” His lips covered mine, taking away my chance of arguing. Or of throwing another terrifying story of having a daughter at him. I loved doing that.
“I thought we could share dinner in our favorite spot.” Again, he kissed me, only this time it was on the corner of my mouth as he moved toward my ear. “Then later we could have dessert.”
“What’s for dessert?” I asked and whimpered when I felt his teeth graze over my ear.
“Me,” he whispered, “but just in case, there’s ice cream too.”
I thought about teasing him, but quite frankly, the guy was very skilled in persuasion. “I’m completely happy with the first option. We could even skip dinner if you’d like.”
“Oh, I’d like that a lot, but we need to feed my boy.” I could feel him slide against my jaw, and that rush of excitement I got whenever he talked about our baby hit me. He was so accepting of it and had been from the beginning. “So let’s feed ’em, and then I’ll feed you.”
“So romantic.” I laughed and shook my head.
“It’s better than me saying I’m gonna hammer you into the mattress tonight over and over.”
“Oh my god.” I pushed against him and he stumbled back, laughing.
“See? I told you it was better.” He held on to his side and he continued to laugh. I loved more than anything to see him like this. So relaxed and comfortable.
Then suddenly Rhett moved forward, scooped me up in his arms, and carried me over to the table, where he sat me down in the waiting chair. He took the seat opposite mine and then lifted the dome lid off the platter in the center. The smell of steak filled my senses. Along with it were vegetables and potatoes seasoned and grilled.
“Did you do this?”
“Yeessss,” he dragged out the word and looked away from me for a few seconds. I arched my brow and waited for him to once again meet my gaze. “Okay fine, I grilled the steak, or at least I started to before my dad took over. He thinks he’s a grill master, and who am I to argue? Then my mom handled the rest.”
“It’s perfect,” I told him, “all of it.” And it was, but the best part about it was the person I got to share it with.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Rhett
“AJ didn’t tell you?”
“Tell me what?” I asked as I handed a bag of feed to Grace, who stood just on the ground below.
“We were having lunch at Marino’s in town, and we sorta ran into Harley.” I froze mid-pass and waited for my sister to fill me in. “Or should I say, Harley ran over to us.”
“And?”
“She’s different.” Grace shrugged, and again I just waited. “Harley was all kitty and ‘Grace, I’ve missed you, you’re so pretty now,’ completely ignoring the fact that I was with someone. She brought up seeing you and made it sound like some great reunion between two of you.”
“It wasn’t.” It was more of an annoyance.
“I know this, but like I said, she is different. Almost condescending and childish even.” Grace lowered the bag she held to the ground at her feet and stood up looking at me once more. “I introduced her and AJ, telling Harley that she was your girlfriend, and you should have seen the way she snarled. It was like AJ was instantly an enemy.”
“What did Harley do?” She better not have been an ass to AJ.
“She didn’t say much really, it was just the way she acted, like she was amazing and AJ was beneath her.” My blood boiled at the thought. “So, I kinda brought her down off her high horse with the announcement of my nephew.”
I couldn’t help it; I smiled. It happened every single time anyone brought up the baby, especially when they agreed with me about it being a boy.
“She looked like she swallowed a cockroach and it was lodged in her windpipe. Her face went from tan to white to flushed in a matter of seconds. I may have loved Harley before, but there is no dang way I’m going let her make AJ feel like she doesn’t belong.”
“Thanks.” I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I loved my little sister. The girl was a badass.
“But just so you know, I think AJ feels inferior to Harley,” Grace added, making me feel nervous.
“How?”
“You could just see it.” She reached down and lifted the bag of feed off the ground once more, cradling it in her arms. “She just looked
