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“You keep calling the guys in your club your brothers. So what happens with guys who come in like Sully?”
“Eventually, they become family to us all too. We are big on the found family.”
“I like that,” she decided, smiling as Hazel took her much smaller gun and chased Sully around the backyard. “That’s kind of what I hope to find eventually. It would be good for the kids.”
“It would be good for you too,” I said. “Everyone needs a support system,” I added.
“Yeah,” she agreed, watching Layna with her baby, likely seeing the potential there. For someone she trusted to step in and take the kids for an hour or two here and there, so she could be free to run errands or just enjoy a coffee alone.
I knew it was soon.
But I wanted to give her that.
With my people.
And me too.
I got that she was hesitant.
Especially because of the kids.
So I just needed to be patient about it.
Luckily, she lived like twenty fucking feet from my back door.
And I still hadn’t called the damn electrician, so the chances of getting one in that day were slim. Which meant I got another night with them, to show Lana that this could work, that I liked the kids, that I could be a support system with them, but also that we could have something alone, in private, when the kids were settled, and we had some time together.
In fact, the only call I had made was to Finn, to have him cover for me again, something he seemed happy to do, telling me he was bringing along Sutton to ‘teach him the ropes’ in case I decided I need more help in the future.
“Uh oh,” Lana said, wincing. “Looks like they just soaked the beach towels,” she said. “Do you have any spares? I’ll wash them as soon as they’re done today,” she assured me.
“Yeah, I got towels in my bathroom,” I said, starting up.
I heard her a minute later, going into her room. She was in such a rush grabbing extra sunblock that she rammed right into me as she came back out.
“Whoa,” I said, grabbing her when she started to topple. “Hey, slow down,” I said, voice soft. “It’s all good. Layna and Sully have the kids for five minutes, I promise,” I said, seeing the frazzled look on her face.
“Right,” she agreed, taking a deep breath, then exhaling it hard. “I’m not used to having help,” she admitted. “Everything is always a mad dash when the kids aren’t in my line of sight.”
“I get it,” I agreed. “But when you can, you’ve gotta give yourself a little break. Seems like things have been rough for a while.”
I didn’t expect for the tears to flood her eyes. And, judging by how round those pretty eyes went, I figured she didn’t either.
“This is stupid,” she said, reaching up to wipe a stray tear away.
“It’s not stupid,” I insisted, reaching for the back of her neck, and pulling her forward until she was against my chest.
She didn’t stiffen, didn’t try to pull away, just fucking melted right into me. Because, I had to figure, she’d been on her own for a long fucking time, no one to lean on, no one to comfort her while she always had to be the one doing the comforting.
“You know what is kind of stupid, though?” I asked after a few minutes of the two of us just holding on.
“What?” she asked.
“Sully’s shirt.”
I got a surprised chuckle out of her at that.
“I like his shirt. It’s… different.”
“Yeah, that’s one way to describe that fucker,” I agreed. “You know why that Slip-N-Slide was new?” I asked.
“Why?”
“Because the last time the one at the club was being used, Sully was pouring whipped cream and chocolate syrup all over bikini-clad women who then slid down it, and got to pick which club guy would lick it off of them.”
That had her pulling back. But only enough to look up at me, disbelief in her gaze.
“No way.”
“Oh, honey, way,” I said, shaking my head. “I saw it myself.”
“Which girl picked you?” she asked.
“None.”
“I find that hard to believe,” she said.
“I didn’t participate. Turns out, that was the day you first walked into the range. And I was a little preoccupied with thoughts of you.”
“Oh, come on,” she said, rolling her eyes.
“What would I gain from lying about that?” I asked, my hands rubbing up and down her back.
“You expect me to believe you were surrounded by chocolate-covered, bikini-clad girls who you could lick things off of and you chose not to because we had a casual encounter at the range?”
“Wanted to lick things off of you instead,” I said, shrugging. “I’m kind of pissed I don’t have any whipped cream,” I added, getting a little laugh out of her before she went all serious on me again.
