“I was just teasing earlier,” I say to him and shift in my seat. “You played a good game today. I really am a Seattle fan.”
“It’s okay, Callie. I played like shit today. I’ve had a lot on my mind.”
“Oh?” Sam asks with a raised brow. I’m still not sure how Sam and Will are connected, except through Leo and Meg, but something tells me that it goes deeper than that.
“Everything is perfect, and I’ll fill you in in just a bit.”
“Okay.” Sam nods and sips her coffee.
“Okay, I have to ask, and forgive me for being rude, but I am dying to know how all of you know each other. I mean, I know Meg said that she and Leo grew up together, but you’ve also mentioned a sister-in-law Nic.”
“Oh God, this is going to be confusing,” Sam says with a laugh and looks at Will. “You tell her.”
“I got this,” Will says confidently. “Sam’s brother is Luke Williams.”
“The movie guy?” I ask with surprise.
“That’s him,” Sam says with a nod. “And he is married to Will’s sister’s best friend, Natalie.”
“But like Leo and Meg,” Will continues, “Nat and Jules are more like sisters. I sure see her as a sister.”
“I also have another brother, Mark,” Sam says, “and he’s married to his high school sweetheart, Meredith.”
“Where does Nic fit in?” I ask, already confused, my head swimming.
“Nic is married to my brother, Matt,” Will says with a smile.
“Do you have other siblings?” I ask.
“Luke and Mark are it for me,” Sam replies and sits back into the deep couch, grinning at Will.
“Jules is the baby of the family, and she’s married to Nate,” Will says. “My oldest brother, Isaac, is married to Stacy. My brother, Caleb, is married to Stacy’s cousin, Brynna.”
“I’m so confused,” I cry out, but Sam laughs and shakes her head.
“He’s not done yet.”
“I also have a half-brother, Dominic, who is married to our event planner, Alecia.”
“This is a huge family.” I sit back and stare at them both, glassy eyed. “I thought Declan’s family was big, but that’s nothing compared to yours.”
“We are big,” Will agrees with a nod, then smiles and stands. “Follow me.”
Sam and I look at each other, shrug, and follow Will into the music room where Leo is playing guitar, Declan piano, and Meg is singing a sweet song that I recognize. I sit next to Dec on the piano bench, leaning on his shoulder as he plays. Sam sits next to Leo, and Will simply lifts Meg, sits in her seat, and settles her in his lap. We listen until the song is finished, and erupt into applause.
“That’s a great song,” I murmur, only loud enough for Declan to hear.
“So, I have to tell you something,” Meg says and suddenly looks nervous. Will wraps his arms around her and kisses her forehead.
“What’s wrong?” Leo asks immediately as tears gather in Meg’s eyes.
But she shakes her head, swallows, and with a watery smile, says, “I’m going to have a baby.”
Will smiles proudly and lets go of Meg as she’s pulled out of his lap by Leo, who wraps her in a gentle hug, rocking her back and forth, his own eyes wet.
“That’s so great,” Sam says sincerely. “Congratulations.”
“It’s gonna be a boy,” Will announces.
“You know the sex already?” I ask with a frown. “She isn’t even showing yet.”
“It’s too early,” Meg says with a sniff. “He’s hoping.”
Declan laughs and begins to play Braham’s Lullaby on the piano.
“So happy for you, Meg-pie,” Leo says to her.
“I’m celebrating with more cupcakes,” Will says, already on his way back to the kitchen.
“Bring the whole box,” Meg calls out to him. “He’ll eat the whole thing.”
“I bought two dozen and hid the other one,” Leo assures her, which makes us all smile.
This is… nice. Watching their connections with each other, their genuine love for each other, reminds me of my relationship with Adam.
It reminds me of Declan’s family too, with all the siblings, and the laughter and the chaos.
I watch as Will and Declan fight over the last lemon cupcake, and Leo and Sam bicker about the landscaping she wants to be done in the spring. Meg is happy to nibble on her cake and snuggle up to her man, glowing with a life growing inside her.
It makes me yearn, in ways I never have before. But I know one thing: I’m so happy to be a part of it, no matter how small.
I grip Declan’s hand in mine, and he squeezes it, three times, and smiles down at me, his eyes happy, and it makes me happy that I’m the reason for that smile.
Life sure doesn’t suck right now.
***
“I can’t believe I had dinner with Leo Nash and Will Montgomery tonight,” I say with a gusty sigh as I walk into our hotel room.
“Umm, who am I?” Declan asks with a laugh and pulls me against him for a long, deep kiss. “I’ve been waiting to do that for—”
“About five minutes, since you almost had sex with me in the elevator,” I say with a laugh.
“Not my fault that the elevator is so fucking slow in this place,” he grumbles against my neck. I know that if I let him, he’ll drag me off to bed and give me another night that I won’t soon forget, but I’m not ready for that.
Yet.
“Sit with me?” I ask, gesturing to the fireplace. I flip it on and sit on the sofa, in the middle, so no matter where he chooses to sit, I’ll be smashed up against him.
He sits, wraps his arm around me, and I lean into him, my cheek on his chest, and watch the fire. I can feel his lips brushing back and forth on the top of my head. His fingers dance softly up and down my arm.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m so much better than okay, I don’t think there’s a word to describe it,” I answer him honestly. “Thank you for today. For this whole weekend.”
“It’s completely my pleasure,” he replies and tips my face up to meet my lips with his own.
“I started getting tattoos on my arm when I was seventeen,” I blurt out, surprised that I said the words aloud. Declan shifts so he’s still holding me, but I’m facing him now, and he can see every emotion that crosses my face.
This is far more intimate than anything we’ve ever done while naked.
“Go on,” he says softly.
I swallow hard and try to decide where to begin.
“Start at the beginning,” he says, as if he can read my mind.
“I’ve never been a cutter,” I say, my eyes trained on the neckline of his plain white T-shirt. “Hurting myself never appealed to me, but I can understand why people do it, Declan. Sometimes life just hurts, and if you can control any of the pain, it makes you feel like, even for those few moments, you’re in control.
“My childhood was challenging. I grew up fast when Mom died and Dad found solace in a bottle. I was an adult far sooner than I could vote. Life didn’t suck, but it was a struggle, and when I was seventeen, I met a tattoo artist who didn’t ask for ID when I lied and said I was eighteen.”
Declan tilts his head to the side, listening intently. He’s not just listening, he’s hearing me. And that gives me the strength to keep talking.
“So I started up here,” I say and pull my sleeve up so he can see the ball of my shoulder. “I’d heard that it hurt really bad up here, and I wanted it to hurt. I know that sounds crazy and stupid—”
“You are neither of those things,” he says. His voice is calm, but his eyes are on fire.
“It did hurt,” I continue. “I wanted the calla lilies because those were my mom’s favorite and pink for breast cancer awareness.”
He reaches up and traces the lines with just the tip of his finger, making me break out in goosebumps.
“As you know, tattoos can become addictive, and for a while that was my drug. I had the
whole arm done, from shoulder to mid-forearm, in the span of about two years. The artist I was seeing wouldn’t go down to my wrist because he said I was young and one day I might have a job that I would need to cover it for, so he said to just think on it.”
“You never added to it,” Declan says.
“No.” I shake my head and watch his fingers tracing the lines, the vibrant colors of my ink. “I stopped getting tattoos altogether when I was twenty.”
“Why?”
I take a deep breath and bite my lip. “Because I liked it too much. The pain. I would have gone every day if I could afford it, and when someone suggested I pierce my nipples, and I seriously thought about it, I knew it was time to stop.”
“Lots of people have piercings,” he says logically. “Your navel is pierced.”
“They do, and the navel happened around the same time as the tattoos, but if I’d taken that step down that road, I would have mutilated my body, Declan. I didn’t, and don’t, want that. I like the ink on my arm; the navel is enough. I don’t need anything else.”
“Thank you for trusting me with this,” Declan says, his voice rough.
Tell him you love him!
“I do trust you,” I say instead and point to his own ink. “What does yours mean?”
“I was a young musician in college,” he says with a sly grin. “You do the math.”
Chapter Thirteen
~Callie~
“I don’t know,” I murmur, walking from room to room in the unusual farm-style house that my new realtor, Peggy Lewis, has found to show me. I thought, and Declan agreed, that it was a good idea to find a new realtor, given that Pete didn’t seem to understand that help me find a house didn’t also mean let me take my pants off for you.
“This house has everything you asked for,” Peggy reminds me, following close behind me with her hands clenched at her waist. “Actually, each of the three homes I showed you today do.”
“Mm hmm,” I hum and ignore her. In the two weeks since we returned home from Seattle, I’ve been even more anxious to find my house and begin renovations. Maybe it was seeing how Sam and Leo decorated their house, and all of the ideas it inspired in me, or maybe it’s that, despite being thankful that Adam’s given me a place to stay, I’m tired of finding a different strange woman in the kitchen each morning, and it’s just time to have my own space.
“It’s nice,” Declan says from across the room, giving me space to pace and think. Unlike Peggy, Declan gets me. “High ceilings, big rooms.”
I nod, staring out of a window so big it practically spills out into the spacious back yard. I do like the space, and with a minimal amount of work, it would be gorgeous in no time.
But I can’t picture myself living here. No matter how I try, I can’t envision how I’d decorate it, what color of paints I’d use, which walls I’d knock down.
None of the three we’ve seen today speak to me, and it’s frustrating me. Even if I’m not looking for a house for me to live in, I can usually picture how the house should be rehabbed in my head.
But today? Nada.
“Maybe I’m just not in the right mood,” I say with a shrug and a sigh, then turn to Peggy. “I appreciate your time.”
“So, did these just not fit what you had in mind?” Peggy asks, and I know she’s just trying to do her job. She wants to find the right property for me, but damn it, I’m irritable, and I don’t even know why.
“No, you did a great job. I’ll definitely think about it.”
“Well, just give me a call if you have any questions, or if you’d like to see more.”
She ushers us out of the house and locks the door as we walk to Declan’s car. Peggy waves as we pull away.
“Talk to me, baby,” Declan says and takes my hand, squeezing three times.
“I don’t know what to say,” I reply.
“You’re out of sorts today.”
I nod and look out the passenger window. Geez, I’m moody. Hormones? Probably. Or, I’m just a girl.
That’s usually reason enough to get teary, but I don’t like to cry, so that just makes me even crabbier.
“I liked the last house,” I say after I clear my throat.
“But you didn’t love it,” he guesses correctly. “It’s okay, you’ll find it. You’re not in a huge rush.”
“Right.” Except I am in a rush. I want my space. I want to get elbow-deep in a project and make something ordinary beautiful. I want that.
Soon, Declan pulls into his driveway, but rather than get out of the car, I turn to him.
“Dec, I’m not great company tonight. You can just take me home.”
He frowns, his hazel eyes seeing too much as he cups my cheek and lightly brushes his thumb over my jaw. “I don’t want to be without you tonight.”
I lean into his touch, turn my face to kiss his palm, and nod. “Okay. Let’s be lazy tonight.”
“Do you know the definition of lazy?” he asks with a laugh and unlocks the house, gesturing for me to go ahead of him.
“The bar has been slow enough for me to take a couple of days off a week,” I remind him. “I can be lazy.” Kind of. “Why aren’t you working tonight?”
“Broken sewer line,” he says with a cringe. “Happens in buildings more than a hundred years old.”
“Yuck.” I shudder and glance to the empty room on my right. It’s between the library and music room. I’d open it up with wide windows and make it a sunroom, and spend every morning with my coffee in there.
And my imagination chooses now to wake up. Great.
Once in the kitchen, Declan says, “What would you like for dinner?”
“A big burger and Tavern Tots from Highland Tavern.” I sit in a stool and brace my chin in my hand on the island.
“I don’t know where that is.”
“It’s in Denver. I’ve been craving it like crazy.” I shrug. “Really good burger joint.”
“Huh, well, I can go grab burgers here, but it’s going to take time to get your Highland Tavern, and I’m hungry now.”
“I don’t want to go anywhere, and I don’t want you to go anywhere. Let’s just order pizza.”
He nods and circles the island, then just hugs me. “Sure you’re okay?”
“Yeah, I’m just thinking about the houses we saw today. I think I’ll pass on all three.”
“We’ll find you something.”
I nod and smile, tired of moping, and being a Debbie-downer. I do my best to shake off my mood and playfully grab Declan’s ass.
“I’m hungry too. Are you gonna feed me, or what?”
“I’ll feed you,” he says after kissing my chin. He pulls his phone out and dials the pizza place we both like, places our order, and reaches out for my hand. “Let’s eat and lounge upstairs. We can watch Netflix and be lazy.”
“Perfect. I’m gonna take my pants off.”
“That is an excellent plan,” he says with a laugh. The main stairway in this house is grand and dramatic. I’d refinish the banister and hang a more modern chandelier over the landing.
There are four empty bedrooms upstairs, and I’d love to knock down a couple of walls, make the spaces bigger.
Stop it! This is not my house!
I have to stop renovating Declan’s house in my head. I don’t live here, and I probably never will.
Declan’s right; I’ll find my place.
The pizza arrives faster than we expected, so he fetches it while I shimmy out of my jeans and climb in bed, under the covers and everything. I grab his pillow and bury my face in it, breathing him in.
I fucking love the way he smells.
“Okay, despite my better judgment, I had them add mushrooms because I know you like them,” Declan announces as he returns to the room. He stops on a dime, in the middle of the space, holding a big box of pizza, sodas and a bag of bread and just stares at me.
“What?”
“I—” He takes a deep breath and shakes his head, then walks the rest of the
way to me. “You’re just beautiful. Sometimes you take my breath away.”
I blink at him, completely thrown. Declan is a mellow man, but he’s also an artist, and with his artist's heart comes a romantic side. He has a sweet habit of knocking me back a step with it because I never know when it’s going to show up.
“Thank you.”
***
“The show comes on in fifteen,” Adam announces and changes the channel on the big TV in the back of the bar to the Travel Channel.
“I can’t believe they were here only a month ago, and it’s already going to air.” The Odyssey isn’t packed this evening, and that’s okay with me. It’s a Monday, after all, and deep into autumn. I’m nervous about the show, how I’ll look, how the bar will look. Having a huge crowd here would only make it worse.
I grin down the bar at Declan. Of course he came to watch it with me. He calms me. I’ve never told him that, but I’m pretty sure he knows.
He checks an incoming text on his phone and frowns, replies, and lays the phone face-down on the bar. I cock a brow when he looks at me, but he shakes his head, as if it’s no big deal.
Must be work.
A large group comes through the doors, laughing and chatting, catching all of our attention, and I feel my jaw drop as I realize it’s the entire Boudreaux family, even Declan’s mama.
“Hi everyone!” I smile at them all and then look questioningly at Declan, but he just smiles. “What are you all doing?”
“Well, we came to watch the show, of course,” Dec’s mom says and winks at me. “This place sure is beautiful. No wonder they wanted to put it on television.”
“Thank you.”
“We mostly want to watch Dec make an ass of himself,” Beau says as he claps Declan on the back.
“That’s your job, big brother,” Declan replies.
“Well, have a seat wherever you like, and I’ll have my cocktail waitress come get your drink orders.”
I walk over to Declan and lean in so only he can hear me. “Did you know this was happening?”
“I told Beau and Eli about it when we worked out together yesterday. I didn’t know that they used the family phone tree to fill everyone else in, but I think it’s nice.”
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