“Broo—”
“I’m gonna go grab the flowers for tomorrow…and some ice cream. Y’all want some pickles too, right?” Brooke moved swiftly and bounced up, throwing her bagel in the trash before heading out the door.
“Wow! That was heavy,” Sky whispered.
They didn’t even know the half of it. The sordid life of Brooke Taylor would make for a docu-drama on A&E and a best-selling book series.
“So, back to what I was saying—don’t feel bad about having your career and your baby too. It can be done and it’s what you want; Travis knew this before he knocked you up.”
“True. He’s just guilt-tripping me about having a nanny raise our child.”
“Any man would. I volunteered to stay with the twins, but I know it’s what Linc really wanted.” Val shrugged.
“How long before you stopped working, Val?” Sky asked.
“Right away, but they’re twins. It’s double the work and then some.”
“Well, I don’t plan to quit working, and I dare Brett to ask me to.”
Brett, Travis, and Pax all walked in at that time and stopped dead in their tracks at the looks on the women’s faces—sassy, hormonal, and ready to pounce on any man that defied them at that moment.
“Poor timing, guys… Back up slowly—very, very slowly,” Pax said and began to do so, getting a laugh out of Madi.
“Did I do something wrong last night, Hera?” Brett asked confidently, a self-assured member of the bomb squad ready to defuse the situation.
“Hera, huh?” Trav grinned like the cat that ate the canary. “Why don’t you tell ‘em my nickname for you, Fireball.”
“Travis Redmond, if you ever wish to visit your ‘favorite place’ again, I suggest you zip it.” Skyla’s blue eyes pierced Travis’s, but he didn’t flinch. He looked ready to tangle with her, and it was rather sexy if Madi had any say in the matter. Jeez, these damn hormones.
“She’s Aphrodite.” Travis shrugged, undeterred that he’d poked the bear—and that she-bear was about to eat him alive.
Sky’s jaw dropped in audacity, and Madi gritted her teeth, waiting for the shit to hit the fan.
“Well, I see we aren’t the only ones to take advantage of our god names,” Brett mumbled with a shrug.
Sky’s cheeks reddened, matching her hair, then her eyes narrowed at Travis who appeared unaffected, his confidence unshaken.
Pax broke the silence first. “You guys have all the fun.” He stuck his lip out and crossed his arms over his chest.
“Hey, nobody said you couldn’t have your own goddess, Poseidon.”
Pax seemed to mull that over for a minute, and Madi laughed at him.
“It definitely has its perks,” Brett confirmed and walked over to Madi, pulling her up off the chair and into his embrace for a searing kiss as his hand fell to her lower abdomen. “Just be prepared to further your legacy.” Brett’s beautiful smile greeted her as she opened her eyes. He was so excited about this baby.
“The Kraken ain’t the only thing you’ll be releasing.” Trav winked and moved toward Skyla, whose scowl deepened. Uh oh, he was in for it. He side-stepped, closer to Brett and Madi, and whisper-yelled, “Hey, mind if I borrow your guest room for like twenty minutes? I need to go pray at the altar of my goddess.”
Brett laughed and shook his head. Just as Sky began to protest, Travis was scooping her up and carrying her off down the hallway. Madi stifled a giggle, and Val’s face widened in shock. “Damn,” she said. “I think Lazarus needs a new nickname.”
They all burst out laughing, and Pax nodded. “I definitely need to start taking advantage of my own, it would seem.”
“Just for the record, Sunflower, I never intended for you to stop working.” The love showing back in his face made her tear up. “You do whatever your heart desires, and I’ll stand behind you one hundred percent.”
She swooned hard.
“Besides,” he leaned in to whisper in her ear, “I love having you for my boss.”
Madi giggled at that.
Tomorrow, she was marrying the most wonderful man in the world, and she couldn’t be happier.
The sun shone brightly on that September day. The temperature was perfect at a crisp sixty-seven degrees, and Brett’s heart swelled to bursting as he watched his bride, his perfect Madi, walking down a crimson red runner toward him.
They’d had everything set up on the back pasture of his land. Reverend Young had been thrilled and the wedding planner Madi had found was on her game. In less than two weeks, the whole thing had been pulled off with an altar, guests, drinks, food, flowers, decorations, a DJ—the works. No expense spared. No detail overlooked. It was perfect.
Their guests stared in awe at the gorgeous goddess before them—clad in a figure-flattering, lacy, off-white halter gown—the one who only had eyes for Brett. She was holding in tears, he knew; they were leaking down his own face, and he didn’t care. He’d waited his whole life for this moment, for her to promise herself to him, for her to become his in every sense of the word. It felt unreal—too good to be true. It felt amazing.
Brett had gone to talk to Hunt this morning, intending to thank him and apologize. But when he got there, he simply sat and cried, telling him how much he loved Madison, how excited he was about their marriage and their baby, and how much he missed his best friend. Brett always felt better when he stopped to talk to the gray granite stone. The verse written there held him for a moment. “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. John 10:10”
He’d never really noticed it, or had he and just not really took the words in? Today, he did though. He knew Madi had chosen the biblical quote. Hunter Thomas had lived abundantly if he’d done nothing else.
“I love you, brother,” Brett had told him. “I love our girl and dammit, man, she’s even
