She’s still blushing, but she seems comfortable now. “Actually, we never said such a thing.”
“It was an unspoken rule.” He frowns at her.
“Well, I’ll be damned. It seems my big brother is losing his robotic exterior more and more.” Jason bellows with laughter, holding a hand to his chest.
Julian pulls away from Aubrey with narrowed eyes. “Or maybe my motherboard has simply been upgraded.” He smirks again, feeling at ease enough to joke around. Suddenly, he pulls out his phone and says, “Someone is at your gate,” just before my phone notifies me of such.
I frown, but don’t question why he’s checking my cameras. It’s just typical Julian. Everywhere he goes, he accesses the cameras of the location, even if it’s illegal.
“Wait, how do you know someone’s there?” Aubrey gasps. “Are you constantly checking on us?” She then turns to me with panicin her eyes as she flushes a darker red. “Shane, please tell me there are no cameras inside the house?”
I can’t help but chuckle at her expression. “There are, but he knows better than to look at them,” I say as I turn to head for the door once I open the gates.
“What you do within the perimeter is not of my interest, but the people coming through the front gate are. I still intend to keep you safe, Aubrey. I told you it was until the birth of my niece and might extend beyond,” Julian says to her as I leave them to argue.
They should be fine. My girl can stand her own ground.
I arrive at the door just as Marianne pulls it open. “Thank you, Marianne.” I place my hand on her shoulder. “I’ve got them. Can you go see if the Storms want anything to drink? And would you make my fiancée her strawberry and mango smoothie, please?”
God, I love the way that word tastes on my tongue.
She smiles, resting her hand over mine. “Of course, I’ll make it a double.” She winks then goes to leave but stops. “It’s good to see you happy, Shane.”
I chuckle with a bit of confusion. “Was I that miserable before?”
She shakes her head. “No, not miserable. Simply not… whole. She makes you whole.”
I swallow past the lump of emotions as I whisper back, “She does.”
She leaves just as everyone starts filing through the door, all congratulating me once more. First Morgan with Theo in his car seat, while Ronnie carries Trinity’s, then Cecilia holding Parker’s car seat, and Emma with Maddox’s. Next is Silas holding Dante’s hand, while Gabriel skips up the steps with Gracie on his shoulders.
I walk down to the cars and over to Greyson, while Noah helps Clay carry some baby gear into the house. We still haven’tstocked up on anything yet, but with the number of children that are around often, we should probably get a move on it. And most likely buy in double or triple so they don’t always have to carry everything.
“Need some help?” I ask him as he reaches into the trunk of the big SUV.
“Yeah, if you don’t mind,” he says, looking over his shoulder at me.
“Not at all. Seeing all this stuff gives me an idea of what we’ll be needing soon.”
He laughs. “I could make you a list if you’d like. I do have three times the experience.”
“Actually, could you? That would really be helpful. I don’t want Aubrey stressing over what we might need or not,” I ask him as I pick up a few bags from the pavement.
“Yeah, no problem. Actually, I’ll get Em to make a list, she’ll know better than me.” He picks up what looks like two portable baby rockers and a portable highchair then closes his trunk as we head up the stairs.
Once inside, we set up everything for the kids to be more comfortable and make a little kid zone with toys for the toddlers. I watch as Jason jumps into big bear mode and entertains Dante and Gracie by throwing them over his shoulders and spinning them around.
Jason has a pretty intimidating and threatening appearance, with his huge build and height. Add in all the tattoos, big thick beard, deep voice, and lethal piercing green eyes that seem to see everything, he’s definitely what most would consider scary. But for some reason, kids always go to him first, I guess they simply see him as a big bear, and it only helps that he’s good with them.
Julian, however, looks perturbed by the number of children that just entered the room. Aubrey giggles at his side when shepicks up on his reaction and pats him on the arm, earning her a frown for touching his suit again.
And then there’s Jessie, being his ever-loving self and flirting with every new woman in the room. “Ah, there’s the beautiful redhead that haunts my every dream.” He sidles up to Emma and places an arm around her shoulders.
“I’ve warned you before, Storm. Stay away from my wife!” Greyson barks out at him.
Jessie laughs as he removes his arm, then goes off toward Morgan next. But before he can even reach her, Clay steps in front of her with his arms crossed over his chest. “Turn around,” he says sternly.
Jessie shakes his head with a smile and wanders to Cecilia. “That’s all right, I still got my favorite brunette.” He winks at her just as Silas comes behind her and wraps an arm around her protectively, baring his teeth at Jessie as he growls.
