“And so it begins,” I say, smiling sweetly at Simon.
“I hope you have a thick skin, Simon,” Mama says just before we reach the kitchen.
“Hi, everyone,” I say and wave. “You’ve all met Simon.”
I’m surprised to find that not only are all my siblings here, but Rhys has flown in with Gabby, and even Ben is here as well.
The whole gang is accounted for.
Great.
“Hey, Simon,” Eli says, “we were just about to go out and toss the ball with Sam. Why don’t you join us?”
I start to interject, wanting to keep Simon close by so I can defend him against my overprotective brothers, but Simon just squeezes my hand and replies with, “Sounds great. I’m in.”
“Good. All of you boys out of my kitchen.”
“You always make the boys help,” I remind her with a frown, but she just shrugs and returns to stirring the collard greens on the stove.
“I want to chat with my girls this afternoon.”
I see Callie and Kate exchange a grin, and I’m immediately suspicious. When the boys have all filed out to the backyard, I turn to Van.
“What’s going on?”
“Nothing,” she replies with wide eyes.
“You don’t lie well.”
“We just want to talk to you,” Gabby says and shoves a carrot in her mouth. She wanders over to the back door and grins. “Simon is already throwing the ball with Sam.”
“So, we hear the sex is out of control,” Kate says. I whip around and stare at Callie.
“You told them?”
“What?” She holds her hands out to her side. “You didn’t say it was a secret.”
“There was alcohol involved,” I hiss. “Anything said when alcohol is involved is not to be shared. You own a bar; you should know that.”
“Oh please,” Van says and rolls her eyes. “Like you wouldn’t have told me that if the roles were reversed.”
“Don’t waste time,” Gabby says, waving at us and staring out the window. “Oh my gosh, Eli just got real close to Simon’s face and he looks serious. Go on, tell us about the sex.”
“My mother is right there,” I point out, desperate for this conversation to not happen.
“I’ve had sex, darlin’,” she replies with a smile. “A lot of it, actually. I have plenty of children to show for it.”
“Let’s not talk about Mom’s sex life,” Van says. “Ever.”
“Agreed,” I reply. “Let’s not talk about sex at all.”
“Now Beau pushed Rhys,” Gabby says, pressing her face against the glass. “What the hell did he do?”
“I wonder if they’ll get into it and take their shirts off,” Callie says.
“My brothers have to keep their clothes on,” Van says.
“No, they don’t,” Callie counters. “I’m not related to any of them. They can all get naked.”
I just lean on the breakfast bar and pinch the bridge of my nose, willing the headache starting to go away.
“Awww, Simon is giving Sam a piggyback ride,” Gabby says and looks back at us with heart eyes. “He’s really good with kids. Does he want kids, Char?”
“I hope so,” Mama says. “I need more grandbabies.”
“We haven’t talked about it,” I reply, feeling slightly sick. “Why would we talk about it?”
“Oh, don’t be a pain in the ass,” Van replies with a roll of the eyes. “You’re crazy about each other, and the sex is amazing.”
“Oh God, Ben just took his shirt off.”
We all stop talking, look at each other, and rush to the door to press our noses to the glass.
“Holy sweet merciful Jesus,” Mama mutters to all of our surprise. “Don’t look at me like that, I may be old but I’m not dead and that boy is fine looking.”
Boy, is she right. Except, he’s no boy. He’s one fine man.
I haven’t seen Ben shirtless since high school. I had no idea he had so much ink now. I glance over at Van, whose eyes have glassed over.
“Did you know he had that many tattoos now?” I ask her.
She shakes her head wordlessly and swallows hard just as Ben glances over and a slow smile spreads over his handsome face. He winks, aimed right at Van.
“He has a thing for you,” Kate says to Van. “It’s painfully obvious.”
“It’s been obvious since he was sixteen,” Gabby replies, earning a jab in the ribs by Van.
“Whatever,” she says and walks back to the breakfast bar. “Mom, your pot is going to boil over.”
“Oh! Thank you.” We all peel ourselves from the door. Well, everyone except Gabby.
“What are you, the lookout?” I ask.
“Something like that. We don’t want Simon to walk in when we’re in the middle of talking about your sex life.”
“For Godsake, I’m not discussing our sex life with you.” I prop my hands on my hips and glare at my sisters and sisters-in-law.
“Callie gets to have all the fun because she has liquor,” Kate says with a pout. “Will you at least tell us if you’ve said the L word yet?”
NO. No. No. No.
But I just casually shake my head. “It hasn’t come up.”
“That’s not what I hear,” Gabby says and then giggles at her own joke. “Holy shit, Beau just took a swing at Declan, and he rolled away, dodging it. That martial arts crap really works. And if they weren’t my brothers, I’d say it’s hot.”