Page 121 of Their Greatest Strength

I was right.

Every night for the past week, I’ve been sleeping in Jamie’s bed with him. I’ve fallen asleep still hot and sweaty from an orgasm or halfway through a movie that I’ve let him choose, knowing damn well I’m too tired to finish.

I wake up every morning to the black curtains still drawn over the tall windows and patio door and his pillow tucked beneath my arm from where he’s slipped it before heading down to the gym.

It’s become routine to throw one of his sweatshirts on and bring coffee down. At first, I didn’t want to disturb him. I quickly changed my mind once I realized that sitting on the padded floor and watching him sweat and grunt every morning with a hot coffee in my hand was a damn good time.

We’ve spent so much time in the shower together after he’s finished that I’ve used the rest of my body lotion just to keep from turning into a dry-skinned monster.

I ran out of it this morning and have a refill on the top of my grocery list. Because yeah, I can have a real list now. My first paycheque from the Pythons was deposited on Friday. The first of many, I hope.

Most of it went away in my savings, set aside for what I know Jamie won’t take from me willingly but I’ll somehow sneak into his house once we leave. The rest . . . well, the rest is mine.

Jamie has taken such good care of us. I’m grateful I can save most of what I earn. When reality hits in a month, it’s going to be hard to fall back into what we used to be.

“Do you like pumpkin, Blakely?” Gracie asks, holding a tart up in front of me.

I blink, focusing on Jamie’s mom and the women seated beside her at the table. The brunette on her right with silver streaks through her hair and emerald-green eyes is Ava Hutton, Jamie’s aunt and Gracie’s sister-in-law. Her daughter, Adalyn, is beside her, and after learning we’re the same age, she has made me feel incredibly self-conscious, considering she’s the definition of a blonde bombshell.

With a successful career in modelling, she’s somehow not even the most famous person in this family. It seems Ava birthed and raised a top NHL player, a model, and Noah Hutton himself. I don’t know how she did it and am honestly grateful for that. Having kids isn’t even on my radar, let alone three who have the entire world eating out of their palms.

Gracie and Tyler seem to have the most normal family, and even that is a stretch. Oliver chose a career in firefighting, and Jamie is . . . Jamie. Labelling him as just a football player would be insulting.

“I don’t mind it,” I answer Gracie, taking the tart.

It’s still a weird concept to me to have family get-togethers without a special occasion or planned dinner. We’re not at the Batemans’ house for a birthday or Thanksgiving dinner but just because they wanted to sit and visit with everyone.

“The berry tarts you brought us were delicious, and I wanted to try and make something festive for the season as a thank you. I’m not the best at them yet, though. Maybe you can give me lessons sometime.”

“I’d love that,” I say with a soft smile.

Braxton, Maddox’s wife, snakes a pumpkin tart from the plate and sinks her teeth into it. I cover my mouth with my hand when I laugh and look back at Gracie, searching for her reaction.

“I see baby likes pumpkin. I’ll make note of that for the baby shower,” Ava muses.

Gracie is quick to unwrap another tart and hand it to Braxton. She snatches it instantly and, with her mouth still full of the first one, glances at me and mumbles, “I’m sorry. We skipped lunch, and I’m tempted to eat my own arm.”

“Oh, it’s fine. Congratulations on the pregnancy,” I tell her, offering a sincere smile.

She huffs and tucks a bundle of tight black curls behind her ear. “Thank you. Apparently, the plan of only one wasn’t good enough for my husband. The Huttons have magic sperm, I swear. Soon enough, I’ll have to get one of those long leashes for my million babies.”

“Another reason I’m glad to be a Hutton woman instead of married to a man,” Adalyn cheers, taking a heavy swig of the cocktail Gracie made for us all earlier.

Braxton glares at the cocktail and sips from her massive jug of water. “As if you didn’t give birth to a baby literally six months ago.”

“Iletmyself get pregnant. If I hadn’t, Cooper would have been trying for years with no result. You’re a sucker who has to either become celibate or make Maddox triple-wrap it in a grocery bag or something.”

It was easy to tell that the adorable toddler with the big, floppy pink bow in her blonde hair and a matching outfit to Adalyn was her daughter. Jamie made a beeline for her where she was playing on a fancy play mat the moment we got inside today, leaving me to figure myself out amongst his giant family.

Gracie was the perfect host and made sure I was introduced to everyone I hadn’t met before. There must have been somesort of warning issued before our arrival because I’ve yet to be faced with even one person who doesn’t approve of my being here.

I thought there would at least be one person who was obvious with their distrust and disbelief in a group this big. That hasn’t been the case at all.

If Nate were here, I’d be clinging onto him for comfort, but he’s at an extra practice, leaving me on my own.

Ava shakes her head at her daughter. “Can we please not talk about wrapping anything in a grocery bag, Addie? I’d like not to scare Blakely away so soon.”

The weight of each one of them staring at me is hard to bear. I do my best to pretend I’m not feeling it.

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