Page 56 of Enticing

After a quick sweep of the first floor, I hear the distinct creak of hardwood that comes from Lennox’s room and make my way upstairs, not at all surprised to find Leo standing in front of my baby’s big window seat, overlooking the lake behind us. The ethereal glow of the moon bouncing off the ice and snow outside bathes him in a beautiful glow, as he sings what sounds like a softer, slower version of the world’s most inappropriate Christmas song.

When I snicker, he turns to face me, red cheeks and all.

He’s embarrassed.

Maybe he’s human after all.

“I keep finding you holding my baby.” I force my voice to sound stronger than I feel.

His big hand takes up her entire back, and he holds her so delicately as she sleeps snugly against his chest, and I swear something in mine cracks.

“Sorry,” he starts. “I heard her and didn’t want her to wake you up.”

“Leo...” I step into the room and move in front of him. I let my eyes trail over this man I’m going to marry in a few hours and want to know everything there is to know about him. “Where’s your favorite place in the world?”

“My parents’ beach house,” he answers without skipping a beat. “Every year, our entire family goes down for a week in July. After hockey season ends and right before football preseason starts.” The smile on his face while he thinks about it is enough to make me warm from its presence alone. “My entire family. Aunts. Uncles. Siblings. In-laws. Nieces and nephews and cousins. It’s chaos and laughter and arguing. It’s my parents’ generation trying to sneak around to get laid without getting caught, which is always funny because we get to torture whoever catches them. Cooking and surfing and playing in the sand.”

He brushes his lips over Lennox’s head and so incredibly carefully lays her down in her crib. “I can’t wait to take you and the girls there this summer.”

Holy shit.

My heart stops beating.

And before I can say anything at all, he’s got my hand in his. “I can hear you thinking, Addie. We’re going to be together next summer.”

I push down the nerves and try to quiet my fears. “How can you be so sure, Sinclair?”

“Looks like you’re gonna have to trust me.”

“Yeah... I’m going to try.” I lace my fingers through his hand and try to act like the thought of trusting him isn’t so scary. “Will you come to bed with me for a few hours? Just sleep,” I add before I chicken out.

“Yeah.” He squeezes my hand. “Sleep. We’ve got a big day.”

Understatement of the century.

“Are you sure we shouldn’t go back and get?—”

Leo cuts me off with a squeeze of my hand in his. Thankfully, he hasn’t let go the entire drive to his parents’ house. Meanwhile, my nerves have been dialed up to ten as I listen to Izzy excitedly chatter on about how Leo and I getting married is the coolest thing ever because now Molly and she are cousins. If I ever do anything right in my life, it will be protecting these kids and keeping that innocence alive.

When we sat Izzy on the couch and told her we were all going to the courthouse and getting married, my sweet, caring, smart little girl looked at Leo and me and asked if he was going to live with us.

Leo squatted down in front of her and asked if that would be okay, and what did my girl do? I was scared she’d ask something about that making him her daddy, which thankfully, she did not. No... she asked if he knew how to make pancakes. That was it.

She’s more excited to see Molly tonight than she was to go with us this morning.

Me, on the other hand, I feel like I’m about to walk the green mile.

Marrying the man was the easy part. Say the words. Sign the paper and kiss the man. That may have been my favorite part because when Leo kisses me, the noise in my head quiets. Nothing has ever done that for me before.

But now, we’re parking in front of a beautiful house, lined with twinkly white lights and tons of cars, and Leo’s entire family is inside. Well, notentire, entire. Because apparently, that will happen later. This is just his immediate family, which counting us, should be somewhere around twenty people.

No pressure.

My car door opens, and Leo reaches across and unbuckles my belt, then pulls me out of the car and shuts the door. “Addie...”

“What are you doing?” I ask, too stunned by his actions to ask anything else.

He wraps his hands around my face, the way I’m realizing he likes to do. “I’m relaxing my wife.”

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