The three women looked around. “Ohhhhh. This makes me so hoppin’ mad.” Lily stomped her foot. “First we have the panty dropper and we, of all people, can’t figure out who it is. Then we find out someone’s pregnant and we can’t find out who that is!”
“I think we’re slipping in our old age.” Daisy crossed her arms over her chest and pouted.
“Or we should be proud,” Violet said to them. “After all, we’re the ones who taught them how to sneak around.”
The three sisters clutched hands and laughed.
* * *
The silent couple pressed themselves against the back of the couch as the Rose sisters examined themselves in the mirror. What had they been thinking? That’s right, they hadn’t been. Looking at the naked man pressed against her, it was easy to see why no thought was necessary. Finally the door closed and they peeked out from behind the couch.
“That was close,” he whispered, reaching out to caress a breast.
“Too close. It was exciting as always, but—”
“But it’s time for two adults to stop having sex in public like teenagers?” The grin he sent her sent the thoughts skittering out of her head.
“Well—” she hedged, not really wanting to call an end to their fun as she stepped into her dress and pulled it up.
He stepped closer, a hand trailed down her shoulder and under the strap of her dress. “Why don’t I give you a reason to keep it up?”
His kiss coincided with the dropping of her dress. Well, what would one more chance at being caught hurt?
12
The town sang to them as Zinnia and Poppy presented them with their cake.
Kenna reached over and squeezed her friends’ hands as the song ended. “We did it.” She smiled as the Rose sisters blew out the candles and everyone clapped.
Looking around the tent, Kenna smiled as the music started up and couples took to the dance floor. DeAndre and Aniyah, Miles and Morgan, Sydney and Deacon, Cody Gray and Addison Rooney, Sienna and Ryan, Pierce and Tammy, Zain and Mila, Riley and Matt, Cade and Annie, Cy and Gemma, Marshall and Katelyn, Ahmed and Bridget, Henry and Neely Grace, Dinky and Chrystal, Noodle and Emma . . . the night was filled with love.
“Sorry we’re late.”
Kenna turned to the beaming couple unable to keep their hands to themselves. “We’re so glad you made it back in time. How was your honeymoon?”
Sophie and Nash looked at each other and Kenna didn’t need to know how it was. She was afraid if they told her she’d catch fire from the flames shooting off the newest couple in Keeneston.
“Hey, I didn’t know Jackson was in town. And look, he brought Lucas Sharpe and Talon Bainbridge. Let’s go say hi after we see my parents,” Sophie said, taking in the crowd.
“Oh my gosh,” Dani whispered as the couple walked off.
“I know, right?” Paige sighed. “And look at our husbands.”
Kenna and Dani looked across to the bar and found their husbands looking dangerously handsome as they laughed while they got drinks. The song ended and the women and men separated from the dance floor. “Did you get to see Sophie yet?” Kenna asked Annie when she joined them.
“I did. They had a great honeymoon. She’s happy, and as her mother, that’s all I’ve ever wanted.” Annie looked around the group. “What are you all staring at?”
“Our husbands,” they sighed. Annie turned around and saw why. “Damn, ladies. We did good.”
“Cheers to that,” Morgan said as she lifted a glass of Rose sisters’ iced tea.
“To our husbands, and to Gabe finding love next,” Dani toasted.
“Cheers!”
* * *
“Our parents are wasted,” Cassidy Davies said, looking at her father, Pierce, trying to limbo. “It’s so embarrassing.”
“Lighten up, Cass. Have some iced tea,” her brother, Dylan, told her, shoving a glass of special iced tea into her hand.
“I’m only twenty.” Cassidy tried to hand the drink back to her brother.
“Then it’s about damn time. Loosen up, sis.” Dylan crossed his muscular arms over his thick chest. The edges of a tattoo could be seen peeking out from the end of his tight, short-sleeved T-shirt.
“Time for what?” Jace asked as he joined his brother, sisters, and the rest of the Davies cousins.
“For Cassidy to have a drink and lighten up,” Dylan told him.
“Yeah, I kinda agree with Dylan.”
“Piper,” Cassidy pleaded turning to her sister.
“Do you. Whatever that is. But if you’re going to have a drink, you better do it now because Holt Everett just put on some recorded music and is walking this way.” Piper saw the young Nashville star walking toward them with his eyes glued to Cassidy.
“He touches you and I’ll rip his arms off and shove them down his throat,” Dylan growled.
“And I’ll hold him down,” Jace smirked.
“I’m so glad I’m the oldest,” Piper muttered as Holt braved his way through the wall of brothers to ask Cassidy to dance.
“Ava,” Jace called out to Noodle and Dr. Emma’s daughter. He stepped away from the crowd and asked the medical student to dance.
Landon, Kale, Porter, and Parker stood off to the side, drinking. “I so don’t trust them when they’re all together,” Sophie said from behind the group. Those four were known to get in a little trouble. Miss Lily had broken a few brooms over them in the past.
“Sophie!” her friends and family called out as they greeted her and Nash with hugs and “welcome backs.”
“And I know what you mean,” Abby said, eyeing her younger brother who tossed his head back and laughed.
“And look at our brothers. They’re so up to something,” Reagan said as Riley nodded her head. Porter and Parker were definitely thinking of something. When they eyed a group of Belles, they found the answer.
“It must run in the family,” Layne teased as Reagan smacked her arm.
“Hey y’all,” Jackson’s deep voice said, interrupting Layne’s teasing. “Do you remember Lucas and Talon? We have a few days off. When I told them I was coming home, they jumped in the car before I could kick them out.”
The other men rolled their eyes at their partner. Talon, Lucas, and Jackson were on the FBI’s hostage rescue team together and were as close as brothers. Paige and Cole had taken them in, and they considered Ryan to be their older brother and watched out for Greer as if she were their younger sister. Subsequently, the entire town had just adopted the two FBI agents. Talon, having been raised in Australia, had women swooning with his accent. Lucas was from Alaska and caused them to laugh with his love of polar bears and his inability to get cold.
“Hey, good to see you two again,” Wyatt’s smooth country voice said as he shook hands with Lucas and Talon. “And, sis, I thought I’d warn you that the mailman was complaining about another package he had to deliver to your house. Because of the party tonight, he’ll bring it by tomorrow. It’s from your father-in-law.”
Sydney tossed back her head and groaned. “Deacon!” she yelled as she went in search of her husband.
Wyatt laughed as Carter shook his head. “It’s not funny. I’ve seen what my mom is doing to my sister and it scares the crap out of me.”
“Well, if Sienna would hurry up and get pregnant, she could take the pressure off all of us,” Riley called out across the group to Sienna who responded with a single-finger gesture.
“Hello, Abby. “
“Nolan!” Abby smiled and turned to hug her first real boyfriend. They’d broken up in high school but had remained friends.
“Want to catch up over a dance?” Nolan asked.
“I’d love to,” Abby smiled and flashed her bright blue eyes at Nolan as they headed for the dance floor.
“And you two don’t have a problem with that?” Ariana asked Jackson and Dylan as she and her brother Gabe joined them.
Jackson and Dylan looked at each other and then to Ariana with identical blan
k looks.
“Abby can do whatever she wants. No business of mine,” Dylan said casually.
“Yeah, we’re just friends. Like you and Kale. Do you have a problem with him dancing with—” Jackson looked out on the dance floor and sucked in a breath.
“Shit,” Dylan cringed.
“What?” Ariana asked as Gabe covered her eyes.
“You don’t want to see this. You’re too young.” Ariana shoved her brother away and looked toward Kale.
“Eww! He’s dancing with Nikki Canter.”
The whole group gasped as Nikki slithered her body against Kale’s.
“She’s, like, old,” Ariana stuttered as Nikki’s skirt rose higher and higher up her thighs.
“She’s just a couple years older than you, and I don’t think Kale cares. Do you care?” Gabe asked. “If you do, I’ll beat the crap out of him.”
Ariana rolled her eyes. “No, we’re just friends.”
“See,” Dylan and Jackson said with their arms crossed over their chests.
“Point taken,” Ariana grumbled.
“Come on, princess, let’s dance.” Wyatt bent at the waist in an elaborate bow.
Ariana snickered. It was almost enough to make up for the fact he called her princess. Ari hated that. She liked being just Ariana with all her friends. ”My pleasure, kind sir.”
* * *
“My, my, my,” Miss Lily clucked. “Zain is being rather attentive to his wife.”
“She’s not pregnant,” John told her.
“How? You old billy goat. At some point you will have to tell me how you know these things.”
“She may not be pregnant now, but by the way Zain is dancing with her, she could be very soon,” Miss Daisy said as the group nodded.
The song ended and the two came toward the main table. Lily waved Poppy and those two FBI boys over to their table. “Can you get me a pitcher of Rose sisters’ tea to go?”
Poppy sputtered before words came out. “You want a whole pitcher? I don’t think that’s such a good idea.”
Miss Lily waved her off. “Not for me. For Zain and Mila.”
“Oh, sure.” Poppy quickly disappeared to fetch the container full of bourbon-spiked iced tea.
“Miss Lily, Miss Daisy, Miss Violet, happy birthday.” Zain leaned forward and kissed each of their cheeks before Violet grabbed Zain and buried his head in her bosom.
“Dear, you don’t want to be responsible for the death of a prince,” her husband, Anton, said dryly as he shook his head. Violet let go of Zain’s head as she patted his face.
“We’re sorry, but we have to leave a little early. We’re heading on vacation for a couple weeks. We thought we couldn’t be ready until tomorrow, but we just received notice everything is ready for us to take off,” Mila told them as she followed suit with the kisses to the cheeks. “But we wanted to wish you a very happy birthday before we left.”
“Well, thank you, my dears. It’s so good to get away every now and then.” And make babies, Lily thought.
“We’ll see you as soon as we get back. I can’t wait to hear what you got for your birthday.” Mila looked over at the six tables full of gifts.
“Dear, we’ll still be opening them when you return,” Miss Daisy said dryly.
“And we have a little gift for you, too,” Miss Lily said as Poppy handed her the canister filled with spiked tea. “For the plane ride to wherever you’re going.”
Zain took the canister and opened it. He took a sip and almost coughed. “It’s a strong batch.”
“Just for you two,” Miss Lily winked. “Enjoy it and don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”
Daisy and Violet snorted. “Which means you can do whatever you want because there’s nothing Lily won’t do,” Daisy snickered as Violet tried not to laugh but lost all control.
“You won’t believe this time in high school—”
“Violet!” Lily snapped, causing her sisters to just laugh louder.
They were still lovingly bickering as Zain put his arm around his wife and led her from the tent. “You know, this might be the best gift the Rose sisters could have given us.”
Mila chuckled as she slipped her hand into his. “How’s that?”
“Because I have so many ideas for how to pleasure you all the way until we touch down in the Bahamas. And the iced tea is a good way to get you to let me do what’s on page 127 of this book I’ve found.”
Mila laughed but didn’t say no. Zain did a mental high-five as he slipped his hand to his wife’s bottom and gently squeezed as they disappeared into the shadows of the farm to catch a ride back to Desert Farm.
13
Greer stared in disbelief at her brothers, Jackson and Ryan, along with Lucas and Talon. Sienna had left them to talk to Sydney and Layne, so Greer had no one else to help her talk common sense into these guys.
“I don’t think I like this idea,” Ryan said slowly.
“Yeah, it’s one thing to be in the FBI with my brother, but my sister? I don’t like the idea either,” Jackson said, standing shoulder to shoulder with Ryan.
“Me either,” Talon told her. “Do you know what the guys are like in the FBI?”
“Assholes,” Lucas answered for her. “Totally not worthy of you.”
Greer rolled her hazel eyes laced with silver slivers. “So what you’re saying is all y’all are a bunch of assholes?”
“Yes,” Ryan answered before stopping. “No.”
“What we’re saying is—” Jackson started.
“If you say it’s because I’m a girl, I’m going to kick you in the balls.”
“Wait a sec,” Talon cut in. “Are you just thinking about it or are you being recruited?”
Greer didn’t answer, which was an answer within itself.
“Hi, Greer,” Andy said, having no idea what a tense conversation he was entering. “Hi, guys.”
Andy was the same height as Greer, and she’d been friends with him forever. They were practically family. Dinky was his father and Aunt Annie’s cousin, Chrystal, was his mother. Unfortunately, that meant he was short with shocking orange-red hair and freckles. Fortunately, he was also one of the nicest guys in town and none of the men she was talking to now would dare be rude to him.
“What’s up, Andy?” Ryan asked.
“I’m trying something new. Thinking of taking my career in a different direction,” Andy told them.
“Apparently my sister is also,” Jackson said tightly.
“Oh, great. I can’t wait to hear about it,” Andy smiled at her. “Do you want to dance, Greer?”
“I’d love to, Andy.” Greer laced her hand through his arm and managed not to stick her tongue out at her brothers as she walked to the dance floor.
* * *
Reagan watched him dancing and cursed herself for being a chicken. She just didn’t feel like putting up with her father like Riley and Matt did so she’d pleaded with him to keep their relationship a secret. Though it wasn’t really a relationship. Or maybe it was. It was pretty undefined and that was all her fault.
“What’s wrong?”
Damn that twin thing. Riley was by her side with questions in her eyes.
“Nothing. Just wishing I had someone to dance with.”
“I’m sure Porter or Parker would dance with you.”
Reagan looked at her sister like she was the dumbest person in the world. “I’m not dancing with my little brothers. Besides, they’re already dancing with a couple of Belles.” Sadly, Reagan had already thought about that.
“What about Cody? He doesn’t have a partner, and he’s looking your way.”
“Cody looks everyone’s way,” Reagan said with a slight smile. The newest deputy was a great guy. He just wasn’t one who was ready to settle down yet. And at twenty-five, why should he? But he seemed like a teenager to her twenty-nine years.
“But desperate times,” Reagan muttered, smiling at Cody, which was enough to send him moving in their direction.
/> “You know,” Riley started to say. “If you just outed yourself and your secret, then you wouldn’t be without a dance partner.”
“And I’d suffer the same way you and Matt do at Dad’s hand. When your father is an ex-spy, it really messes with your love life.”
“At least I have Matt beside me and in my bed to deal with it without trying to hide it,” Riley said under her breath as Cody approached.
“Hi, Riley. Where’s the boss?” Cody asked.
“Right here.” Matt came up behind Cody and held out his hand to Riley. “I was coming to ask my wife to dance.”
“And I was going to ask Reagan if she’d like to dance.” Cody smiled happily at her. He’d be a good distraction because her sister had just given her too much to think about.
“I’d love to,” Reagan smiled.
Cody put his arm around her and she let her thoughts go. For tonight, she was just going to enjoy herself and keep her little secret to herself.
* * *
“Firemen are so hot,” Nikki purred as she ran her hand down Colton’s chest.
Colton smiled at her, knowing it would be rude not to. “So you’ve said.”
“I’m so sorry to interrupt, but I need to have a word with my brother,” Sophie said so sweetly that Nikki flinched. Apparently the memories of their previous encounters were still vivid.
“Of course.” Nikki turned to Colton and winked. “And I’ll see you later tonight. You won’t believe what I can do with a pole.”
“She scares me,” Colton said, shaking his head and watching Nikki walk away. “Can I borrow your taser? You know, for safety?”
“What taser?” Sophie blinked innocently.
“Eventually I’ll get it out of you. Welcome home, by the way, Mrs. Dagher.”
“Thanks, little brother,” Sophie teased. “Mom filled me in on you starting Keeneston’s first fire station.”
“Yeah. I’m pretty excited about it. I have a construction grant, but I still need to raise more money for equipment.”
Forever Surprised Page 8
