Page 79 of Eternally London

“I love you,” I say to Loïc.

“Love you, too,” he says back.

“Stop flirting with the enemy, Mom!” Lindi says from beside me. “Girl power, remember?”

“Oh, right. Sorry,” I say to her.

Loïc just laughs as the twins continue to wrestle above us.

Arbor yelps and falls back, pulling Loïc along with him into the water. The boys surface from beneath the water to celebratory cheers from us girls.

“Not fair!” Arbor protests. “Dad, she poked me in my pressure point in the armpit. That’s cheating.”

“No, it’s not,” Annie says. “We never said no pressure points.”

“Because it’s always a rule. You know that,” Arbor grumbles.

“It’s only a rule if we say it is,” Annie replies with a bit of attitude in her voice.

I can’t help but laugh.

“It’s always a rule! Dad, tell her it’s a rule.”

The competition between these two is fierce.

“Well, let Lin and Sebastian have their turn facing Mom and Ann, and then we’ll do a rematch,” Loïc offers, which brings a smile to my face.

No one ever wins in our family because the losers are always requesting a rematch, but playing games with a revolving rematch seems to keep the arguing to a minimum. So, it works.

The six of us play chicken fights until my shoulders ache, and the kids complain of hunger.

“There’s food up in the cooler.” I haven’t even finished the sentence before the kids are racing through the water and toward the beach.

“My shoulders hurt,” I whine, throwing my arms up around Loïc’s neck.

He wraps his arms around my waist, pulling me close. “I’ll give you an extra-long massage tonight.”

“Okay,” I agree with an airy sigh.

His wet lips part before finding mine, and I kiss him hard. The saltiness from the water only adds to the appeal of it. He leisurely trails his warm tongue along my bottom lip, and I groan.

“Is it bedtime yet?” I ask, so ready to be alone with my husband.

Loïc chuckles. “We have a ways to go.” He peppers kisses across my cheek and over to my ear where he bites gently and pulls on my lobe. The warmth of his breath against my ear causes goose bumps to erupt on my wet skin, and I shiver.

I moan, a combination of protest and pleasure. I feel Loïc’s hard want for me against my belly, which only turns me on more.

“Do you remember the first time we did it in Lake Michigan?” Loïc asks.

“Of course. How can I forget?” I close my eyes, thinking back on the fond memory. “It was also the first time we went boogie-boarding.”

“It was,” Loïc agrees.

“I miss the good ole days when we would walk out into chest deep water, and you’d just whip it out and stick it in me.”

Loïc laughs. “Yeah, those were the days,” he says with a shake of his head.

“Now, you just stick it in me in boring places, like beds and showers.”

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