Page 194 of State of Retribution

“How could I ever forget?That was the night I learned about Seersucker Thursday and when our favorite saying—fill her buster—was born.”

“That’s one of my best memories from here.What are some of yours?”

“The time I told you not to pee on me to mark me when you were afraid Avery Hill was going to steal me from you.”

He scoffed.“I was never afraid of that.”

“Sure you weren’t.”

He spanked her ass and made her laugh.“What else?”

“The first time Scotty came to stay with us for the baseball camp, and we were so freaked out about what kind of mac ‘n cheese to buy for him.”

“As I recall, we got it just right where he was concerned.”

“Because he’s the perfect kid for us.”

“That, he is.I’ll always remember your dad coming busting through the door in his chair, smiling from ear to ear because he could go somewhere on his own.”

“Thanks to you and the ramp, which ranks right up at the top of my reasons why I love Nick C.”

“Remember how you thought someone had bombed the place and called in the bomb squad?”

Sam laughed.“Mortifying.”

“This is where you brought the twins to stay the first night they were with us.”

“And then Miss Picklestein came to determine whether our home, which was fortified by the Secret Service, was safe for them while trying not to stare at your hotness.When you came out of the gym all sweaty with no shirt on, I swear she spontaneously combusted.She is, after all, only human.”

“Shush with that.”

“All those glistening muscles and rippling abs.”Sam gave an exaggerated shiver.“The poor thing was lost.”

“Lalala, I can’t hear you.”

She laughed at his usual resistance to talking about his hotness.“Harry and Lilia met here, and we staged that get-together to bring down Melissa Woodmansee.That was a night to remember.”

“I’d prefer to forget how crazy that got.”

“All in a day’s work.”

The next song was their wedding song, “Thank You For Loving Me.”

“Ah, I love this song,” she said.“It’s so perfect for us.”

“Sure is.”

“We really ought to do some packing.”

“If we have to.”

Nick released her but only because he knew she’d be back in his arms in a few short minutes.As he followed her across the hall to her closet, he was right there when she opened the door to an empty room except for a few things that’d been left at his request.

She spun around.“What the hell?”

He put his hands on her hips and kissed her.“Did you honestly think I was going to waste precious time alone with you packing boxes?It’s all done.”

“This is a full-on hoodwink.”

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