Page 105 of Packed in the Fire house

Gil’s face lit up. “You are an angel!” he said, before quickly turning and hurrying back into the house.

I sat down in the deck chair next to hers, unable to keep the smile off my face. “You’re so good to them, you know?”

Sunny shrugged, but a smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. “Considering all of Sixteen keeps my guys safe when they’re out on calls, the least I can do is make them some treats.”

My guys.

We were hers.

Fuck. I was in deep.

Our bonding had been a total accident, and I knew I had great affection for Sunny, but with overwhelming force, it dawned on me.

I was in love with her.

Part of me wanted to grab her, pull her into my lap, and tell her just how obsessed with her I was, but it wasn’t the time or place.

She had a baby in her arms that wasn’t hers, and we had way too many guests.

Why had I thought it was a good idea to invite a bunch of people to our new place? Because of them, I couldn’t drag Sunny up to her new nest and spend the next three hours knot deep in her, letting her know just how much I loved her.

“Shall I open the gift?” I asked Sunny as she rocked the baby.

She nodded. “Sure, I’m curious!”

I tugged the bag open and lifted the item out, both of us bursting into laughter at the s’mores scented candle.

“I seriously need to meet Gil’s wife.” Sunny chuckled, before looking around and tapping me on the arm. “Rune is about to slide with Luka! Can you video it on your phone?” she asked sweetly. She was still on baby duty, otherwise I had no doubt she would be over there, taking them herself.

“Of course,” I said, standing up and kissing her forehead before heading over to the Slip ’N Slide.

“Walker! Going to slide?” Rune asked as he sat down at the top, Luka in his lap.

“Soon. For now, I’ve been sent as the cameraman,” I said, pulling out my phone.

Rune nodded, waited a moment until he was certain I was filming, then pushed forward.

Luka loved it. The entire time, he had his hands in the air and was giggling manically. I took video and pictures for Sunny as I watched.

Our son was so bright and full of joy. He was seriously a perfect kid—we had gotten so lucky.

Once I had plenty of footage, I made my way back to Sunny, who was happily watching Samuel as he napped in her arms.

“I think Luka is going to hold Rune captive there for a long time,” I said as I grabbed one of her favorite sodas from the cooler and cracked it open, handing it to her.

“Thank you.” She took the soda with one hand. “He looks like he’s having fun, doesn’t he? I like it when he gets to spend time with Charlotte. He doesn't really get to do much with kids his own age.”

“Have you thought about putting him in daycare, just so he gets some time with children his own age?”

Sunny nodded. “Unfortunately, it's expensive. When I wasn't bonded, I received aid that meant I could let him go for an hour or two a week. But now…”

I cocked an eyebrow. What she wasn't saying was that now she was officially bonded, the income of the entire pack would be taken into account when deciding how much funding Luka was entitled to. Sunny had probably avoided bringing it up because she didn't want to spend our money.

“You know we get so many hours of daycare a week free because we are first responders? It's an initiative the city made a few years ago to help encourage first responders to get back to work after having a baby.”

Sunny’s eyebrows rose. “Really?”

I nodded. “There's a really nice daycare not far from here. I think it's only like a five-minute drive or a fifteen-minute walk? We could look into sending Luka there a day or two a week so you can have a bit of time to yourself to study and rest, and he could have some fun with kids his own age.”

---