Page 92 of Sterling Fight

And a giant pair of balloons in a four and a zero in bright green, my favorite color.

I blink back the well of tears blurring my vision, both shocked by this amazing surprise and guilty that I hadn’t told Judd.

“What did you do?” I whisper, turning toward him.

“Happy birthday, firefly.” He leans down and kisses the corner of my mouth without pressing for answers about why I hadn’t told him.

Turning back to the group, I clasp my hands beneath my chin and stare. “This is too much.” And yet I’m overjoyed. My heart is too full.

I spin back toward Judd. “Thank you, baby.” Thank you for everything. I tip up on my toes and wrap my arms around his neck, tugging him to me and holding on for dear life. Judd hugs me back in the same manner, squeezing me hard to his chest.

“I love—” I choke on what almost popped out of my mouth. Pulling back, I look Judd directly in the eyes. “I love this. This is amazing.”

If Judd is disappointed, he doesn’t say, but his body language suggests otherwise. His shoulders fall while his hand comes to my lower back.

“Make all the birthday wishes, Genie. I hope every one of them comes true.”

Ask me to stay. Say that you love me. Say you can’t live without me.

Three wishes. Each a tall order.

Breaking free from Judd, I step up to each of the girls, hugging them all in turn along with Judd’s brothers.

I’m pointed to a seat at the head of the table and two servers bring pitchers of margaritas and beer to the table.

I point at Sebastian. “You have some explaining to do.” It’s the only reason Judd would have discovered the significance of the day.

Judd’s hand slips up my back and squeezes my nape. “You have some explaining to do. Why didn’t you tell me?”

I shrug as I look over at him. His chair touches mine. “I didn’t want to make a big deal of the day.”

“But every day is a big deal to you. This one should have been the biggest. You’re forty.”

I cover Judd’s mouth with my fingers. “Shh. We aren’t discussing how I’m old.”

“You’re hardly old,” he murmurs against my hand, and then moves it so he can nip at my fingertips before leaning closer to me. “And that move on the dining room table tells me you’re still quite agile.”

I cover his mouth again, while giggling at the reminder of how Judd satisfied my body earlier. His fingertip heart feels like it’s actually etched into my lower back. His words still whisper on repeat in my head.

The memory makes me squirm.

“Okay,” Cadence calls out. “Who’s ready to karaoke?”

“Why would she need karaoke?” I tease, asking Judd. Cadence is a mega superstar and the last person I’d sing in front of.

However, hours later I’m on the stage, a bit blurry eyed and feeling a little loose, and deciding I can sing when I know I cannot carry a tune.

“This song is a duet,” Cadence announces to the group from her position beside me in the area blocked out for a band. Today, the karaoke machine is the entertainment. “Judd?”

“I’m good from here,” he calls to his future sister-in-law, and I’d call him a chicken if I didn’t know it would hurt him on a deep level, even in jest.

“I got this,” I state, like I know what I’m doing when I don’t. I know enough about karaoke to follow the words on the prompter but that doesn’t mean I can sing.

Thankfully, the song Cadence picked is more speaking-ish than singing at first, so I muddle through the lines about a country singer on the road, wandering into a bar, and latching her eyes on a cowboy. Which is when I narrow in on Judd.

In the chorus, the singer tells the cowboy he looks like he loves her and wants to take her home, and the words hit me hard in the chest. Like I’ve knocked the microphone against myself.

Judd does look at me that way. Like he might love me. And right now, he’s definitely giving me fiery eyes like he wants to take me home. Having his way with me again on the dining room table or the library ladder.