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Blue grinned once again and shot his hand out to shake. “Blue Marian. You’re new, aren’t you?”
I nodded and shook his warm grip. “Dr. Grant Brighton. My daughter Cleo is the one baring her teeth at the angry kid with the high ponytail.”
The man with Blue offered his hand. “I’m Blue’s husband, Tristan. That kid with the high pony is ours.” His grin was both teasing and understanding.
I winced. “Sorry. Cleo takes her robotics seriously. It’s one of the reasons we joined Mountbatten.” I gestured toward my sister. “This is Gwen—”
“I’m Grant’s sister,” Gwen interrupted, grabbing my elbow. “And my brother is currently trying to weasel his way out of an important conversation.”
“Oh, really— Wait.” Blue leaned in and lowered her voice. “Are you the doctor who married his nanny? Because if so, I owe you a huge thanks for taking the heat off me with the gossipmongers this week.”
“That’s me.” My face heated, but when I caught sight of the man stepping out of his car in the parking lot, I couldn’t feel anything but pride and giddy relief. “To be fair,that—” I pointed across the grassy area toward Brody. “—is my husband.”
Blue and Tristan both turned and stared as Brody made his way toward us. The afternoon sun shone on his wavy brown hair and handsome angular face. My heart raced with excitement like it had been years since I’d set eyes on him instead of a day.
“Uh-huh,” Blue said before pursing his lips. “No wonder the ladies couldn’t shut up about it.”
His husband elbowed him in the side. “Stop drooling. You’re embarrassing yourself,” he muttered.
Blue turned with a laugh and smacked a kiss on his husband’s mouth. “I love you, but I think we need to talk about this sudden need I have for some help with the kids.”
“Jackass.” Tristan pinched his husband’s ass where only I could see it. The two of them were clearly very much in love, which filled me with a strange kind of envy I’d never really felt before.
“Always appreciate an ‘I love you, but,’” Tristan added under a laugh.
Because I couldn’t take my eyes off Brody, I noticed right away when he stopped ten feet away and gave me an uncertain look, like maybe he wasn’t sure he was welcome.
Silly man. As though there could ever be a time when I wouldn’t be proud to have him beside me.
“Hey!” I called, unable to restrain my smile as I waved him over. When he strode up, I couldn’t help myself. I stepped forward and took him into my arms, dropping a kiss on his lips before pulling him against me. “Hey,” I exhaled against his hair in relief. My arms tightened involuntarily. “Hey,” I whispered again like a fool.
“Hi,” he said softly into my shoulder.
He didn’t smell like the organic oatmeal and honey soap he used at home, and I hated that, but underneath, he still smelled like Brody, and I inhaled him like oxygen.
“Missed you,” I said roughly.
My sister made an impatient noise, and Brody pulled away from me shyly. When he noticed Blue and Tristan standing beside us, the tops of his ears went pink, and his eyes flicked everywhere but at me. “Um. Hi. And hi, Gwen.”
My sister, bless her, grabbed Brody into a big hug. “Hey, sweetie. Mia was asking for you every two minutes, and Grant’s been keeping one eye on the parking lot. Now the family’s all here.”
Brody’s blush traveled from his ears down his neck. “Thanks,” he said softly.
I cleared the emotion from my throat. I sometimes envied how easily and perfectly Gwen was able to express her feelings. “Brody, this is Blue and Tristan. Their daughter is on the robotics team with Cleo.”
They welcomed Brody with warm smiles and friendly chatter, congratulating him on our marriage and asking him questions about himself until Brody managed to get them talking about themselves and their kids. It turned out the two of them owned and managed a vineyard, which automatically made them Gwen’s new best friends. Their easy, open conversation made them even more attractive than they already were, which made me stupidly wonder if Brody somehow wished he’d landed one of those guys instead of me.
I wasn’t sure I’d ever understood jealousy until Brody came into my life. Now, apparently, I felt it whenever he talked about the cute guy at his gym or even had a friendly conversation with a happily married couple at a school event. It was utterly illogical but alsodebilitating,and I knew the insecurity wouldn’t go away until Brody and I had settled things between us. Until I knew he wanted me, permanently, as much as I wanted him.
I blinked at him as he stood in the sunlight, utterly charming everyone around him without even trying, and a revelation hit me like a lightning bolt.
DidBrody know how much I wanted him?
It seemed impossible to me that he wouldn’t. I knew my eyes tracked him whenever he was near, that I hung on his every word when he spoke, and I’d made it clear how badly I craved him in my bed… But I remembered his uncertainty Saturday at soccer, his hesitation as he approached me earlier, and the way he’d automatically removed himself from our family activities yesterday like he was an afterthought. Was it possible he felt as unsure as I did?
Gwen would probably smack me for missing something so obvious for so long, but now that I had, I couldn’t wait to get Brody alone.
Just as I was about to make my move to extract Brody and myself from the conversation so we could speak privately, Liza joined us from where she’d been chatting with some of the other Mountbatten moms.
