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Oh, Granny is devious, alright. She’s making us pay for that kidnapping. Or rather, she’s making my brothers pay and giving me the treat of an afternoon in Ayana’s company. It’s almost like she knew Cass would be coming along, and this is as great an apology as there ever could be. Maybe she told Ayana to ask Cass if she’d like to come. Regardless, this is just the perfect activity, and either way, I can’t thank Granny enough. I really can’t. Because seeing my six-foot-something, muscular, built-like-rock shit tank shithouse brothers are going to look absolutely hilarious.
They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and the shots I’m going to sneak of them in said swan boats with my phone will definitely speak for themselves.
And last forever.
Hurraaahhhh to Granny.
CHAPTER 14
Ayana
Whoever can look at a parade of swan boats filled with husky, slightly alarming scary-looking men, one adorable granny, and one Chatty Cathy of a best friend who has magically found the gift of gab clearly has a stonier façade than I do. I’ve been smiling since we got on our swan boat and started out, which has been about ten minutes so far, so my face officially feels a little bit strained from all the smile muscles working so hard.
“Your granny has a funny sense of humor. I like that about her.” I crane my neck to look behind us since we’re at the head of the sawn boat pack. Ransom uses his massive leg muscles to propel us along. I’ve hardly peddled on my side at all, but he more than makes up for my lack of peddle power.
“That she does,” Ransom agrees. “What can you see back there?”
“Oh, just a big long line of swans and slightly grouchy, somewhat animated-looking burly men peddling them.”
Lennox has been stuck in a swan with Cass—a gift of fate or a gift of Granny. I think it’s the latter, but Cass is enjoying her window to torture him with endless conversation. This is coming from someone who is usually totally tongue-tied around guys. I’m not sure if she was serious or not when she said the kidnapping was her good luck charm. I think it’s just a coincidence, but she seems to have forgiven and forgotten about the kidnapping happily enough, which is good. I don’t want my best friend to hate my new boyfriend’s family.
Boyfriend. That’s a crazy word. One I never really thought I’d get to apply to myself. It’s crazy awesome too, but it just blows me away. When I say apply to myself, I mean me. Okay, that’s still confusing. I mean me with someone else. A guy that’s a friend was pretty much something I thought I couldn’t have, let alone one who was romantically involved with me. I was trying to keep the male population safe by playing it safe myself, but that got me nowhere.
I strain to look back past the swan just behind us. My grin gets even wider when I see Ransom’s granny, wearing a black power suit, wedged in between the two beefy twins. She’s the granny in a twin sandwich. She looks to be perfectly fine with that, even though it’s blazing hot, she’s dressed head to toe in black, and she’s pressed in between two ginormous bodies that are probably throwing off some major furnace BTUs.
“No one’s flipped their swans over while they try and throttle each other yet?”
I turn back around. Ransom’s hands are resting on his knees, and I place my left palm over his right. He makes the softest sighing noise, but I catch it anyway, and my heart turns over. Gah, I love his little sighing noises, even if they’re outside the bedroom. I love his sighs in the bedroom, too, just to be clear. A wave of hot desire rises up and threatens to drench me if I don’t get my mind off that track, so I steer it toward the questions I thought of asking after Ransom had left the clubhouse the other night.
“Will you tell me how you really got that scar?”
He doesn’t seem to mind, and even though I asked gently, I’m holding my breath since the question is a potent one. I watch Ransom closely. He turns his face, not hiding a thing from me, his eyes so beautiful and open, glistening that gray the color of rainstorm clouds. His hand curls around mine, holding it protectively even though he’s the one who probably needs reassurance. I clutch back, so freaking just proud and amazed that this whip-smart man with so many talents, an unbelievable physique, and an even more unbelievable mind is my boyfriend. Yeah, I’m totally using that word again.
Girlfriend. Okay, I never thought that word would apply to me either, but if he’s my boyfriend, then I’m his girlfriend. The one walking beside him through this now, this being life, I guess, and all that comes with it. I know that one day I’ll probably laugh at myself for being so utterly enthralled with the titles, but right now, I can’t stop thinking about them, playing those words over and over in my mind, and getting crazy hot on the inside when I do.
