Page 10 of Before. Then. Now.

“I’m getting it all.I might even edit and send clips to Lyric later.”

“Don’t make me have to kill my brother,” I pleaded, but maybe I didn’t say that out loud, because no one promised they wouldn’t.

“That’s going to be fun to watch.Remember how chill Jagger was the first day?And then, on day two, he became the biggest baby.But I couldn’t kiss his ouchie better for two full weeks.”

“Can she stop talking now?I feel my heartbeat in my left nut.”

Silence echoed in my brain.That was much better.Blowing out a breath, I slowly relaxed.No sexy voices that played with my head and made my dick jump.Closing my eyes, I started to fade into the nothingness of no pain.

Violet burst into giggles, startling me awake with my favorite sound of all time.

And the pain returned ten times worse.

“Shaw!”I shouted.

“What?”she yelled back, fear in her voice.“What’s wrong?Are you okay?Vi, what is going on over there?”

Vi couldn’t answer because she was bent over, laughing so hard she was practically crying.

Wait.Maybe she was just crying.

“Shaw, get your ass over here now.I need help.I don’t know if Violet is happy or sad.She’s laughing, but there are tears rolling down her face.Please, I can’t read her, and she just told me she’s pregnant.”

“Adorable,” Vi choked out.

“I’ll be there in five minutes.”

CHAPTERFOUR

luca

Stepping out of the shower,I grabbed a towel and wrapped it around my hips, checking my phone to see how much time I had before room service arrived with my dinner.Seeing a text from my wife, I felt a pang in my chest.I missed her so damn much.

Normally, she would fly out to whatever city when I had an away game, but she was still recovering from her third C-section.Some scar tissue from the previous two had made healing from this one take longer.I hadn’t wanted to leave her, but I also had a responsibility to my team, which meant not missing the first game of the season.

Thankfully, Jagger was able to stay with her and our kids so I could focus on work.

Vi: I sent you an extra-sweet surprise to celebrate the first win of the year.

Me: Is it chocolate cake?

Vi: It’s ten times better than cake.

Vi: It should be there soon.You can thank me later.Enjoy.I love you.

I didn’t have time to text her back before the doorbell rang.All the rooms of this hotel were soundproof, so the staff had to use a doorbell instead of knocking.Making sure the towel was secure, I opened the door without checking to see if it was my room service or not.

Shaw stood there with a bag from my favorite deli in New York and a small overnight case.She gave me the wicked grin I had come to love.“Hi, stranger.”

That sexy fucking voice was going to kill me.It rolled over me like a caress, making the towel tent so fast, it would have fallen if I hadn’t grabbed it to hold it in place.

Biting my lip, I scanned her from head to toe.Her hair fell in soft waves over her shoulders.No makeup, but she knew that was how I liked her best.A simple T-shirt and a pair of jeans graced a body I’d become increasingly obsessed with over the last few months.Mostly because I tried to limit myself on how much I allowed myself to give in.But when she did dirty things to my wife, it was hard not to beg for a little taste.

We hadn’t had the chance for private playtime with our friends in over three months, though.Jagger and Shaw had both been traveling a lot for work before and right after Aidan and Ciaran were born.Sometimes together.Sometimes alone.Vi had been recovering, while I’d had football practice and the preseason to deal with.

Shaw had been so busy with her schedule that I wasn’t even sure what city she was in most of the time.I got a few texts from her, to let me know she was okay or to ask me something about Vi.Otherwise, we didn’t have a lot of contact.And I wasn’t sure I liked that.

Vi worried about her bestie when she wasn’t close.Which made me worry about her as well.It had nothing to do with the fact that I was a little in love with her too.

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