“She’s good, honey.”
“She’ll be better in the chair,” he said, and guided me to the recliner.
“Wait,” I said. “I have to pee. If I sit down now, I’ll never get back up.”
“Pee.” Austin faced me, kissing me gently. “Then you’re in the chair.”
I smiled, reaching up to stroke his gorgeous face. “Then I’m in the chair.”
He patted my butt, and I headed to the bathroom, returning to the sound of the doorbell. “I’ll get it.”
“No, you won’t,” Austin countered. “Ass. In the chair. Now.”
I stuck my tongue out at him, but sat my ass in the chair and reclined all the way back. Archer came over and kissed my cheek, settling a blanket over me. He was my sensitive little prince and was always making sure Mama was taken care of.
“Thank you, baby.”
He smiled and joined his brother at the island again to finish the stockings.
“Auntie Dani!” Cambry squealed, and rushed inside. God, she was growing up so fast. She had just turned eight, but she was already a total beauty and I had it on good authority Knight bought a new gun every year on her birthday.
“Watch Auntie’s belly, Cam,” Kim ordered, and I grinned over at my best friend who was directing while her husband, Knight, and their son, Jagger, set bags in our “staging area” in the dining room.
My niece hugged me. “How’s the baby?”
I guided her hand to my belly and grinned. “She must know you’re here... she’s jumping around.”
Cambry giggled. “We have too many boys in the pack, we need more girls.”
“Right?” I said.
Knight wrapped his arms around her from behind and pulled her close. “Give us dads a break, princess. We already have a hard enough time keeping the boys away.”
“You said that’s why you have guns, Daddy,” Cambry said. “Which is silly.”
Knight grinned and gave her one more squeeze, before following Austin into the kitchen. Kim gave me a kiss on the cheek, then sat on the sofa next to Cambry.
“How are you feeling, Mama?” she asked.
“Like a whale,” I admitted.
Kim smiled. “Well, you look beautiful.”
“Thanks, bestie. You’re good value.”
“I tell you that shit every second of every day, but when Kim says it, she’s ‘good value’?” Austin complained as he set a cup of tea on the little table by my chair and leaned down to kiss my cheek.
“Where the hell did you come from?” I asked. “You’re like a ninja.”
“Badass biker ninja,” he corrected. “And don’t you forget it.”
I grinned. “Thank you for the tea.”
“You’re welcome.” He kissed my mouth, then walked back to the kitchen.
“Do you boys need help with the food?” Kim called out.
“We got it, sugar,” Knight responded.
“I love it when he has it.” She tucked her feet under her and grinned. “Means I can relax.”
I shifted, balancing my teacup and saucer on my belly. “I’m going a little stir-crazy. We have so much to do and Austin won’t let me do it.”
“Honey, we’ve got this,” Kim assured. “Jesus, Dani, we have almost a dozen women not including you, so it’s all good. The men’ll do all the heavy lifting... you just need to sit there and look pretty.”
“Listen to your bestie, baby,” Austin called out.
“Stop eavesdropping,” I retorted, and he laughed, leading Knight out to the deck.
“I brought a bunch of Cambry’s old clothes,” Kim continued. “Want to go through them with me?”
“Ohmigod, yes,” I said, and set my teacup on the side table again.
Kim helped me out of the chair, then she and Cambry carried bags (and bags) of clothing into the nursery.
“Oh my gosh, Auntie, this room looks so cool!” Cambry exclaimed.
She was right, it did. Pinks and creams, and lots of blingy, girly things mixed in with motorcycles. It could only be described as biker chic.
I gave Cambry a quick hug. “Thanks, honey. Your mom helped... a lot.”
“Sit down, Dani,” Kim ordered. “Cambry and I’ll show you everything and then you can tell us where you want it.”
I lowered myself into the recliner and sat in awe of everything Kim had brought. It shouldn’t surprise me. Kim was loaded and loved to shop, so her daughter was the best-dressed little girl on the planet, and now my little girl would benefit from her shopping addiction.
“Dad says steaks are done,” Cash said from the doorway.
“Thanks, honey,” I said. Kim helped me out of the chair and we headed to the dining room.
One of the things I loved the most about my best friend was that she knew my home almost as well as I did, and since I wasn’t allowed to lift a finger, Kim took over getting everything set out on the table.
We always tried to do dinner once a month, but tonight was special because it was Jagger’s birthday and I’d baked him his favorite cake, banana with chocolate frosting. In pure Jagger fashion, he plowed through dinner just to get to the celebration.
“Boys, dishes rinsed and stacked,” Austin ordered, while Kim and I settled ourselves on the sofa. She had wine, I had water (joy).
“Cambry, wipe up, princess,” Knight said.
“Okay, Daddy.”
While our men and kids took care of the chores, we went about solving the problems of the world... or at least the get together happening in less than a week.
“Hawk and Payton are taking care of collecting and cataloguing the toys,” Kim said. “I think Ace and Cassidy are collecting from the drops in Portland, and Hatch and Maisie are taking care of Vancouver.”
“How many drops do we have now?” I asked.
“Ten.”
“That’s awesome.” I smiled. “Darien got busy.”
Kim chuckled. “She sure did. She got Melody Morgan involved, which means Mack had more to do.”
Darien Reed was married to Mack, and a very successful author. In fact, her multi-million selling romance novels were currently being turned into movies with the hottest actress, Melody Morgan, as its star.
I sipped my water. “Don’t feel sorry for Mack, he loves every second of it.”
“This is true.”
“We’re gonna get out of your hair,” Knight
