Page 98 of Pucking Tangled
“It looks good on you,” his friend acknowledged.
“She makes it easy, doesn’t she?”
Waylon snorted, “I don’t know that I’d say that.”
Casey laughed. “That wasn’t what I meant. Of course she made us all work for it. But she makes it easy to love her. To believe in all this.”
“Yeah. She does,” he agreed.
When they pulled up to the house, dusk had settled. The porch light was on. The crickets were loud. And none of them were quite ready for the night to end, including their sleeping beauty who finally woke as Waylon parked in the driveway.
Waylon unloaded the cooler. Owen took all the towels and wet clothes inside, quickly putting them in the washer before they got gross. Mia went to her room long enough to change and came back out barefoot, hair up, cheeks still pink from the sun and an entire pack of chocolate bars in her hand.
“Shit. We didn’t stop for graham crackers,” Owen cursed.
“Youdidn’t,” Casey smirked and held up a bag from the grocery store. “We stopped while you were sleeping.”
His boyfriend wrapped his arms around him and kissed his cheek. “Aww. Thank you, baby.”
Casey and Luca lit the fire in the backyard, sitting close together. Cozier than they ever had before.
Waylon handed out sticks and marshmallows. They passed around graham crackers and chocolate, laughing over who burned their marshmallows the worst. Miadropped one on the ground and Skeeter snatched it up before anyone could stop him.
Once they had their fill, Owen leaned back in his chair. Mia reached over and took his hand as Luca moved to sit behind her on the chaise lounge. He rubbed her shoulders, a look of contentment on his face, while Casey fed her the last marshmallow then kissed her forehead.
Waylon kicked his feet up and grinned.
“Thank you all for today. It was perfect.” Mia sighed happily. “I love you guys.”
Luca’s hands froze.
Owen’s gaze snapped to Casey, then Mia, and back to Casey again.
Waylon smirked like the cocky fucker he’d always been. “Not going to speak for everyone, but I fucking love you too, Blondie.”
Casey swore he could hear Luca swallow from across the fire pit before he said, “I…I love you, MiaMoo.”
“I love you too,” Owen chimed in.
Casey chuckled. “I think we all know I’m in love with you, too, Mia.”
THIRTY-FIVE
Mia
When the bugsgot too bad, they made their way inside.
The couch wasn’t big enough to fit all of them, so Owen rounded up pillows and blankets and tossed them on the middle of the floor.
Mia lay in the center of the pile, warm and full and impossibly content. Skeeter sprawled against her legs like a heat trap, while her men surrounded her.
Luca was on her left, one hand resting lightly on her hip, the other tucked under the pillow where he was resting his head. Casey laid on her right, his arm draped across her waist. Waylon had her feet in his lap, massaging them while he leaned back, half-asleep, against a stack of pillows.
Owen was on the floor with his head near hersandCasey’s. Close enough that he was running his hand through her hair.
No one spoke.
They didn’t need to.
