“I’ll give you the tour next time we’re there.” I stood on my tiptoes and kissed his cheek. I loved the way his stubble felt against my skin. It was so coarse and manly. “How are your parents?”
“They’re okay. My mother was a bit . . . shocked by the pictures.” His low chuckle warmed my body. “I wouldn’t call her a prude exactly, but living in the South, there are certain things that come with the culture. And anything sexual can be a bit taboo.”
“Well, I hope she knows it’s not my fault you grabbed my ass.” My cheeks heated at the realization that his family and friends had seen the pictures as well. At this point they were probably floating around the entire world in some fashion or other.
“Oh, it was your fault.” He leaned down and nuzzled my neck.
“How do you figure that?” I tilted my head so he had better access and was rewarded by the touch of his lips on my pulse point.
“You can’t look that good in a pair of jeans and expect me to not grab your ass.” As if to demonstrate he reached around and got a handful. “It’s too perfect. I can’t help myself. It looked great in that dress last night too, but there’s just something special about an old pair of jeans.”
“I hadn’t noticed.” Reaching around, I tucked my hands into the pockets of his pants and laughed when he made a pleased sound deep in his throat.
“So, tell me, is Max preparing to kill me while my back is turned or is he just a protective older brother?”
“Protective older brother.” I narrowed my eyes. “But I also heard that you did your own little bit of protective brothering for Samantha once upon a time.”
“Alex ratted me out, huh?” He laughed. “And I thought we were finally getting along.”
“That was before you decided to date his sister,” I reminded him.
“True.” His warm eyes traced my face. “I couldn’t help but overhear part of your phone conversation.”
“I’m sure you tried really hard not to, with your head sticking out the door.”
“Pfft.” He cupped my cheek and turned my face up to his. “You’re naming your charity after Lib?”
“I think that there are a lot of benefits for children in art programs. And Liberty is a good example of that. It lets her express herself in a way she wouldn’t otherwise be able to do.”
“You’re an amazing woman.” His lips touched mine softly, almost reverently. “I love you, Cathy.”
I wrapped my arms around his neck and sank into his kiss. There were few things in the world that made me feel like all was right in the world, and his touch was one of them.
“Love you too.”
EPILOGUE
“THAT’S BEAUTIFUL!” I smiled down at the little boy holding up his drawing. I wasn’t exaggerating. The pencil sketch he was proudly displaying was a breathtaking rendering of one of the birds he had seen earlier that day.
“I made it for you.” Brandon grinned, and I knew this was a rare moment for him. He so seldom smiled for anyone, it made my heart soar.
“Thank you.” I knelt down and looked at the picture. “I’m going to hang it in my office. Is that okay?”
“That sounds good.” He ran the back of his hand across his nose three times and then smiled. “Hang it where you can always see it.”
“That I can.” I wanted to hug him so badly, but I knew that might push him over the edge. So instead I held up my hand for a high five. After three quick slaps on my palm he ran back to the craft table and picked up his pencil.
David was watching me from where he sat surrounded by seven little girls all giving him googly eyes. He was holding the small merlin that Alex had given Sam as a wedding present.
“Help!” he mouthed at me, and I giggled.
“You’d think he’d be used to it at this point.” Sam stood next to me, shaking her head.
“It’s kind of cute, right? All those little girls in love with him.” I chuckled when he frowned at me.
“You bet. And he might just be the reason they go into wildlife studies when they get older.” She leaned against the wall and tapped her gloves against her thigh.
“I don’t think that will make him feel any better.”
“Wah.” Sam rolled her eyes. “In the end we’re all winning because he’s a cutie.”
“That he is.” I eyed her with interest. “Tell me something.”
“Something.”
“God, you’re bitchy today.” I bumped my shoulder against hers. “Did you think I would end up with David that night we were talking in your kitchen?”
“I thought it might happen when you gyrated your h*ps and told him to take his clothes off.” She laughed while I groaned.
“Did you tell Mom about that?”
“Um, that’s a negative.” She shook her head and turned green.
“Someone did and let me tell you, she was not amused when she thought I had hired a stripper.” I reached out and touched her arm. “Are you going to be sick?”
“No!” She put a hand to her mouth. “I don’t think so.”
“I thought you were going to wait a year before you tried.” I looked down to where Sam had her hand on her stomach.
“It’s almost been a year.” She frowned. “I don’t know. Alex . . . he just talks circles around me sometimes and before I knew it, BAM! First try.”