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Yeah, coming here was good for him. I combed my fingers through his hair and kissed his cheek, almost missing when Kit asked the question they had.
“…when kilt season begins?”
I eyed Greer’s jeans. It shouldn’t be too long now, should it? When spring arrived, so did the Finlay brothers’ utility kilts at work. And whenever Greer came out here right after a shift, he usually didn’t bother changing. So he understandably had a fan base.
Greer narrowed his eyes at the boys. “That’s your question? You sneak around and avoid the backyard, you stir some shit, you’re up to no good, and then you wanna know when I don my fuckin’ kilt?”
Interesting. The boys didn’t grin and nod; they became confused. Noa wrinkled his nose and went, “Stir some shit?”
Confusion didn’t necessarily mean anything, though. Noa was an excellent liar if he really put his mind to it. Really, really put his mind to it. Otherwise, for the most part, horrible liar.
Corey wore a similar expression. “Why wouldn’t we avoid the backyard, Papa Bear? You’re freaking napping back there. Boring alert!”
“Yeah,” Kit huffed. “Daddy and Daddy have dozed on and off in the backyard at home all flippin’ morning, and now they’re doing it here too!”
“Like Daddy and Uncle Lucian yesterday,” Noa went on, nodding. “After Daddy’s workout, they were like, ohhh, it’s so nice out, let’s have our coffee on the terrace.”
I did not sound like that.
Fucking brat.
But whatever. Greer and I clearly had more detective work to do, because we’d reached a dead end here.
* * *
As more people arrived for the event, we put our investigation on hold to spend time with our significant others. Lucian and Cam must’ve had a talk in our cabin because they seemed very happy. Cam was kneeling on a pillow next to where Lucian and I were chatting to Tate, and Lucian’s attention remained partly on Cam, with his fingers in the boy’s hair, Cam resting his face against Lucian’s leg. It was precious. They needed to find their way back to their TPE routines.
And Noa… I chuckled and finished the last of my coffee.
It felt damn good to see him so energetic again.
All Easter subbies had been told not to move farther south than the pool, so of course that was where all the brats were currently trying to catch a glimpse of what was happening in the woods down at the bottom of the hill. Reese, Lucas, Kingsley, and Nathan were hiding the eggs there.
Noa, Corey, and Kit gestured and pointed and stood on their toes and craned their necks—to no avail. Kit was the tallest of them, and he was what, five-six? Five-seven?
Noa stood proud and tall at five-two.
My little freckles.
I gave the deck a brief glance, estimating some fifty people had shown up by now, and everyone was in a great mood. Someone put on music just then too, adding to the spring atmosphere. The sound of Macklin laughing made me seek him out in the crowd, and I spotted him with Lane and Shay, close to the first founder’s cabin.
What were they up to? I didn’t know if Lane and Shay were involved, but surely Macklin wasn’t acting alone.
Walker had given Colt permission to punish Macklin, and there’d been a date set.
During the cruise.
“We can always use extra entertainment,” Colt had drawled.
Macklin wasn’t sufficiently nervous about it, in my opinion.
“Earth to KC!” Tate waved his hand in my face, and I shook my head quickly. Hell. Talk about zoning out. “You okay, Sir?”
“Yeah, definitely.” I cleared my throat and cast a quick look at River on the lawn. He and Colt were speaking quietly to each other, and Greer was on his way over there.
Hopefully, something on our end was in motion. If not, I had a couple ideas.
“Sweetheart, Tate asked if you’re looking forward to the cruise,” Lucian told me, amused.
