Page 104 of Designs on You

Natalie turned and grinned at Eugene. “Happy hug.”

“Okay, good. The kids are hungry and Linc wants to know if you want him to fire up the grill.”

“Yes, definitely,” Hazel said, then picked up the tray and took it outside.

Her conversation with her sister would have to wait until later. Natalie followed her and they all sat outside, snacked, and watched the kids run amok with the dogs. Or at least most of the dogs. Gordon, the pug, and Mitzi, the chiweenie, had skirted around the open door and made their way to their dog beds, tuckered out from playing with the kids.

“They’re going to pass right out after bath time tonight,” Natalie said.

“The kids or the dogs?” Hazel asked.

Natalie laughed. “Both?”

Linc grinned. “Hey, anytime you want to exercise your kids, the dogs are always agreeable.”

“They do love Cammie and Christopher,” Hazel said.

“The feeling is mutual,” Natalie said.

“And soon we’ll have Warren and Joe coming,” Hazel said. “The dogs will love them.”

“That’s true,” Linc said. “Have they said how long they’re staying?”

Eugene shrugged. “I think a few days? I know he has a client deposition. Not sure how long that’ll take.”

“They can for sure stay here,” Hazel said. “We have the room.”

“I wish my new house were finished,” Eugene said. “Though my rental has an extra bedroom, too.”

Linc laughed. “Warren would think it was funny we were fighting over them.”

“Which we will not be telling him,” Eugene said.

“No. We absolutely won’t. They’ll stay here.”

Eugene shrugged. “Whatever. Fine.”

Natalie grinned as she watched the way the two brothers argued. She couldn’t wait until next week when she could meet the third. Linc and Eugene sniped at each other like they were still kids, but there was underlying love there as well. Was it the same with Warren, or was there a different dynamic when the three of them were together?

She couldn’t wait to find out.

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

Eugene had hustled to get caught up, making sure he could take some time off when Warren and Joe came to visit. And of course that meant they’d discovered some bugs in the ride’s design matrix, which meant he’d put in some overnight hours debugging the program, which also meant he hadn’t seen Natalie at all.

But they’d fixed the program, had done several run-throughs with no issues, and Eugene had even managed one excellent full night’s sleep so he wouldn’t be a cranky asshole when he showed up at his brother’s house tonight to hang out with Warren and Joe.

He’d spent half a day at work to continue to check on the ride’s progress. It was coming along, and the programming and design were now ahead of schedule, just like he’d wanted. After he left work, he stopped at the gym to work out the body stiffness from too many days bent over his computer, then went for a run, working out some of the frustration from spending all that time at the office. Nothing like fresh air and long strides to give him a brand new outlook. Now he felt energized.

A hot shower followed. He put on jeans and a T-shirt, laced uphis tennis shoes, and stopped at the store to pick up flowers for Hazel since she was hosting, and, of course, flowers for Natalie because he’d missed her. He also grabbed wine, beer, and whiskey.

He was excited to see Warren and Joe. He was really looking forwarding to seeing Natalie. They’d texted and FaceTimed here and there whenever he could carve out a few minutes, but their talks had been brief and damned unsatisfying. She’d been totally understanding about his work situation, which he’d appreciated. It had given him the time to focus on what he’d needed to do without worrying he was hurting her feelings by not being there for her.

He arrived at Hazel and Linc’s place, gathered up the booze and flowers, and went through the garage and into the house, per Linc’s instructions.

Natalie was in the kitchen by herself. She turned when he entered and greeted him with her characteristic smile that never failed to brighten his day.

He laid everything on the counter and swept her into his arms and kissed her—deeply, passionately, as if that kiss was the satisfaction of a long, long craving that couldn’t be denied any longer.

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