Once, that might have sent heat crawling up my neck.
Today, I slide into the booth with Mason on one side and Brookes on the other, and I don’t care at all.
Let them look. I'm loved. I’m so happy I might burst, and that’s before I stuff myself with delicious fried goodness.
Mason rests his arm along the back of the booth behind me. Brookes takes my hand under the table, his thumb brushing over my ringless finger as if silently promising that rings or no rings, ceremony or no ceremony, what we have is real.
When the waitress comes over, she looks at all three of us with a curious smile.
“What can I get you folks?”
“Burgers,” Mason says.
“Three?” she asks.
“Four,” I say.
Both men turn to look at me.
I lift my chin. “One is for later.”
Brookes’s mouth twitches. “Smart woman.”
“And extra pickles,” I add. “Fries, onion rings, and the biggest strawberry milkshake you can legally serve me.”
The waitress laughs. “Coming right up.”
When the milkshake arrives, dense and pink and topped with whipped cream, I take one sip and moan before I can stop myself.
Mason’s hand stills on the back of the booth.
Brookes closes his eyes. “Janey.”
“What?”
“Public place,” he mutters.
Mason leans closer, his voice low enough that only we can hear. “Keep making noises like that, sweetheart, and you’re going to make me forget we’re in a diner.”
I smile sweetly. “I’m pretty sure we’re past the point of you putting another baby in me.”
His eyes darken. “Doesn’t mean I wouldn’t enjoy trying.”
Brookes groans. “Less sex talk in the diner. It’s a family establishment.”
I sip my milkshake again, slower this time, just to watch both of them suffer.
“You two are very easy to torment.”
“You’re lucky you’re pregnant,” Brookes says.
I blink innocently. “Am I?”
His gaze drops to my mouth. “Extremely. Hearing you make those sounds puts us both in mind of breeding you all over again.”
The diner door chimes again, and I look up, half-expecting another judgmental stare from a local. Instead, Brandy walks in, still wearing her signature colorful scrubs from the care home. She spots us, and her eyes light up as she makes her way over to our booth, her expression warm and professional.
“Janey! I didn't expect to see y’all here so soon,” she says, her gaze flickering between Mason and Brookes with a questioning tilt to her head.
