I shrugged. “The twins were asleep.” That explained everything.
Sleep became more valuable than platinum when you had two babies under the age of one. I’d been warned by my friends who had kids that I should be prepared to live on only a few hours of sleep until at least the age of three and potentially later.
Shifting upward, I propped myself against the headboard, not quite ready to give up this moment with Jade. “How was your day?”
With the sounds of our twins mumbling to each other in garbled speech as background noise through the baby monitor, Jade told me just how her day went.
After feeling like she was floundering with what to do, she’d finally started her own landscaping business as she’d originally wanted years before. She loved working outside and loved flowers. With Valentina’s help, she got all the business and accounting details lined out.
Meanwhile, I was still on the first responder crew and still working at the lodge, and it suited me. When I had free time, I was working on building our new house. We still lived in the house I’d inherited from my grandmother, but we needed more space.
My stomach growled again, and Jade rose up. “You’re starving. Now that the twins are awake, let’s go eat.”
An hour or so later, Jade was leaning down to pick up the bits of granola that had fallen on the floor, thrown off by Rachel from her high chair tray. I’d just made a pot of coffee and took a sip and watched her.
My heart clenched. Each beat felt like a burst of joy. Jade stood and tossed the granola in the compost bin under the sink before resting her hips against the counter beside me. I looked down at her messy hair and simply smiled.
“What?” she asked.
“You’re beautiful.”
“With applesauce on my face,” she said, gesturing to the streak on her cheek and then pointing to more on her collarbone, both spread there by Rachel, who was a messy eater.
Dave squealed in the background, his feet thumping against the high chair legs. The cacophony of twins was the backdrop of our life, and I loved every minute of it with Jade.
“Yes, applesauce and all.”
Her eyes widened slightly, a slow smile unfurling. “Well, you look amazing with this.” She lifted a hand to trail it over my chin. I reached up to feel a dried smear there. “Should we have a moratorium on applesauce?” she teased.
“I don’t care about messes with you,” I murmured right before dipping my head and bringing my lips to hers.
Thank you for reading If We Dare - I hope you loved Jade & Walker’s story!
Up next in the Swoon Series is Steal My Heart. All bets are off when Mack unexpectedly crosses paths with his best friend’s little sister.
Ash is off limits. Totally. They’re just friends, so no problem, right? Soooo wrong.
Mack can’t stop thinking about her, and he definitely can’t stop wanting her.
Ash wants nothing to do with men, most certainly not all-alpha Mack. Except there’s one problem. He has a new ability to set her on fire with nothing more than a look.
This friends to lovers, forbidden romance is panty-melting hot, intense & swoon-worthy!
Keep reading for a sneak peek!
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Excerpt: Steal My Heart
Ash
I swung my guitar over my shoulder and stepped onto the wooden stage, casting a quick smile at the smattering of applause and whistles. “Hey y’all, I’m only here for an hour, so let’s not wait.”
I never waited. I launched into my first song and got lost in the music. An hour later, I walked off the stage with the cheers from the audience reverberating through me. For that hour, I’d dropped into the one place where I could forget the mess of my life.
“Great set,” a voice called, just as someone else’s hand slapped my ass, much harder than I preferred from anyone, much less a stranger. I cast a sharp glare over my shoulder and kept on walking. I hoped I had enough tips from filling in at the bar earlier to pad the measly paycheck I would get for playing that set.
“Ash,” a voice said, slicing through the din of noise and bodies crowding around me as I tried to get to the back of the bar.
I knew that voice, but for the life of me, I couldn’t place it. I did a quick scan around me. The crowd parted as a tall form became visible. The man practically swatted people out of his way as if they were nothing more than flies.
Mack Blair, all six feet and five inches of him, came into my line of sight. My body did a startling thing with my belly flipping quickly and my pulse doing a little hop, skip, and jump.
Okay, that was weird. Giving myself a mental shake, I smiled up at Mack when he stopped in front of me. “Well, hey there, Mack. What are you doing here?”
Mack’s dark blue eyes swept up and down my body before searching my face. “I could ask you the same. Let’s—”
I was cut off when someone bumped into me from behind, sending me colliding against Mack. Mack, with his bear-like presence, swiftly slid his arm around my back, shielding me from everyone jostling around us. “Fuck, this place is busy,” he muttered.
I’d known Mack for pretty much forever. Since elementary school, at least. I was startled at the little shiver that chased over my skin at the sound of his gruff words in my ear.
“It is,” I murmured in reply. “Come on, my stuff is in the back.”
Mack kept his arm around my waist, basically clearing a path for us until we reached the door where I pointed. Once we pushed through the door and it swung shut behind
