Page 111 of Reclaim Me

Ten Months to Decision Day

“Mommy. Daddy. Look at me!” Riley shouts before doing the most graceless cannonball ever into Hunter’s pool.

She lands with a huge splash that sends water spraying all over Taurin, Alyssa, and their friends Winston and Liz, who are all responsible for turning my daughter’s 10th birthday party into a diving competition. They’ve been in the water with Riley, Scarlett, Sonia, and a few of the girls from En Pointe all day long, acting as the on-site babysitters while the adults remain dry and entertained on the patio, where Hunter is manning the grill.

“Encore! Encore!” Hunter shouts while I marvel at his enthusiasm. Even though I don’t want to spend the rest of the day mustering up a new compliment for the same trick, I lend my voice to his chant, loving the way our chaotic harmony makes our daughter smile and giggle as she pulls herself up out of the pool and dives into it again.

“Y’all are crazy,” Dee says, waltzing up to the grill with a half-eaten plate in hand with her eyes trained on the steak Hunter is about to pull off the fire.

“Please.” I wave a hand at her, taking a sip of the watermelon lemonade Hunter’s brother, Cal, made this morning. “We’re adorable.”

Hunter looks over his shoulder at me, one of those heart-melting smiles on his lips. He loves it when I refer to us as a unit, and I love the way that it feels right on my tongue and in my heart.

“Damn right, we are.”

Dee rolls her eyes, exasperated with us the way she always is, even though she loves that we’re slowly working our way back to each other. “Y’all are also sickening,” she says, shoving her plate in Hunter’s direction when the steak is finally done. “You can just drop that right here.”

“Save some steak for somebody else, Dee,” I tell her, laughing when she cuts an eye at me. “I don’t think Cal or Beck have had any.”

“We haven’t,” Cal chimes in, rising from his spot at the picnic table behind me. Beck isn’t far behind, and Dee, who can’t decide which one of them she wants to try to get into her bed, blushes and starts batting her eyes at them both.

“We could always share,” she says, her voice dropping to a shamelessly low octave. Cal and Beck share a look that is part humor and part something else, and I look away because whatever the something else is, it’s none of my business.

“I have some more steak marinating in the fridge,” Hunter adds, harshing Dee’s vibe with the addition of logic. “There’s no need to share.”

“I’ll go grab it,” Beck offers, already heading toward the back door.

Dee’s eyes light up as she follows behind him. “I’ll come with you!”

Cal watches them go with an odd look on his face, and I feel the need to fill the awkward silence with words.

“Dee’s harmless,” I assure him, causing him to bring his attention back to me. He’s got kind eyes, and even though they’re serious like his brother’s, they don’t really look alike. I know, from conversations Hunter and I had a lifetime ago, that they don’t share a mother, which is probably why Cal’s skin is a few shades darker than Hunter’s, and his features are composed differently but no less handsome.

The corners of his lips tip up into a smile as he sips his lemonade. “Even if she wasn’t, I’m sure Beck can handle himself.”

“You’re right.”

Beck, like Cal, is a former FBI agent who now works for the Secret Service, which means he’s dealt with more pressing threats than Dee’s horniness. Last night, when we all went out to dinner so that Riley’s first time meeting her uncle wasn’t on the day of her party, they told Hunter and me they were about to start a new assignment but couldn’t disclose any more details. With the election coming up, I guessed they were about to be tasked with protecting one of the candidates, but they wouldn’t confirm or deny anything when I started throwing out names.

Either way, it’s cool as hell to know that my daughter has so many fiercely protective men in her life who could, and would, literally kill for her if necessary.

“Uncle Cal!” Riley shouts, bounding over to us with pool water dripping down her body that she gets on Cal when she hugs him around the waist. “Are you going to get in the pool with me now?”

Cal, who is just as weak for Riley as Hunter is, sets down his drink and any hopes of getting steak and allows Riley to pull him over to the pool, leaving me and Hunter alone. He’s distracted with the grill, and I want to be close to him, so I allow myself the chance. I slip an arm around his waist and sigh contentedly when he stops what he’s doing to turn into me.

“What’s up, Sunshine?”

My eyes are on his lips, and I want to kiss him so badly my muscles ache with the restraint I’m using to hold myself back. I force my gaze up so I’m looking him in his eyes, but they’re not any safer than his lips. There’s just too much wanting there. Too much desire, too much knowing how it is when we’re together, and too many days since we have been.

“Oh, nothing.” I breathe, reaching for humor to stop me from jumping his bones and scarring everyone here for life. “Just wondering how you feel about Cal trying to edge you out of your position as Riley’s favorite Drake man.”

We both look over at the pool, watching Cal lift Riley onto his shoulders so she can have a leg up on the older kids as they play Marco Polo. Hunter considers my question for a second and then shrugs.

“He’s a good uncle and all, but he can’t hold a candle to me when it comes to my girl.”

His certainty is so sexy it almost makes me forget that I’m trying not to want to kiss him on the lips.

“I think you’re right about that.”

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