AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"What?" he asked.
"You’ve been here amonth," Ivy emphasized.
In fairness to his niece, Knox didn’t usually go more than a week or two between relationships.
"I’m taking a break."
Iris lifted her hand and pressed the back of her hand to his forehead.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm checking to see if you have a fever."
"Funny." He brushed her hand away.
Part of Knox was tempted to just tell his nieces about Laura and justify his actions because she’d told Kennedy. They were only going to be in town for the weekend, and he didn’t want them to leave without meeting her.
Which was insane. He and Laura weren’t even technically hooking up. They were having sex for the purpose of getting her pregnant. He had a written agreement stating that fact. He knew he couldn’t betray her trust. Her telling her best friend was different than him telling his nieces, which would inevitably end up with his family knowing, and then Chrissy would find out, and he had no idea where that gossip train would stop.
Since he had a shit poker face and didn’t want his very perceptive nieces to figure out that something actually was going on, he decided to cause a diversion.
"Who wants ice cream?" he called out loud enough that Chrissy’s youngest two daughters, who reminded him so much of his nieces at their age, could hear.
"I do!" Cassidy and Kimber both lifted their arms.
Chrissy and Ford, who were walking in front of them both looked over their shoulders. "Is that okay? It’s on me."
He realized that, unlike his twin nieces, he wasn’t actually these littles uncle. He wasn’t sure if he had the right to impromptu offer ice cream.
"Are you sure?" Chrissy asked.
If that would get him out of the line of questioning from his nieces, hell yeah, he was sure.
He nodded.
"We want some," his nieces chimed in.
As Chrissy bent down to give her girls the be on your best behavior speech, Knox noticed that Ford looked... off.
Knox stepped beside him and lowered his voice as he nudged his elbow. "Everything okay, man?"
Ford’s chin dipped in a nod. "I’m good."
"You look like you’re about to puke. Do I need to get you a barf bag?"
Ford’s narrowed eyes shot in Knox’s direction. Now instead of looking ill, his brother looked pissed, which was much more in character for him.
"I’m good," Ford repeated.
Knox lifted his hands in surrender. "Okay, sorry. I was just checking."
"Meet us down at the pier after you get your ice cream," Knox whispered in a very serious tone.
Knox nodded. "Done."
The littles were talking nonstop to Ivy and Iris as the five of them made their way to find some ice cream. He thought it was sweet how all the kids got along. It was very Brady Bunch-esque. Except his nieces were adults who went to college thousands of miles away.
Still, it warmed Knox’s heart to see the families blending so well. Tonight was a great night. He was with his nieces, his brother was going to ask the woman he loved to marry him, and the stars were shining, so why did it feel so incomplete without Laura by his side?
