Page 36 of 7+Us Makes Nine

“It’s what girls do. Get used to it,” I said.

By the time we were done, Jace had negotiated a very meaty contract. He was going to have an entirely separate building outfitting in his backyard. The pool and the hot tub would be entirely indoors, and there would be hookups for him to install a dry sauna in there for himself in the future. He pounded out the details with the pool company and the construction company they kept on stand-by while I wrangled the kids. The entire project would take around two months. A timeframe I knew wouldn't be acceptable to the kids. They’d be too excited to accept anything that didn’t happen immediately, so I had another plan in mind to keep them occupied for the day.

I told Jace to pull into a small store and I quickly ran inside. There, I found a massive tarp, an intricate sprinkler that could be adhesed to the ground, and a nozzle to screw on the end that would help me fill up water balloons. I grabbed three packages of balloons and carried everything out to the SUV as Jace gave me a confused look.

“All right, kids. You ready to go home and get this party started?” I asked.

“Yeah!”

“What are you getting me into?” Jace asked.

“Nothing you have to participate in if you don’t want to. But trust me. You will.”

An hour later, the sprinkler was going and the kids were already running through it. I had the tarp spread out with coolers sitting on the corners of it to hold it down, and I filled each of them with water balloons. I put dish soap on the tarp and filled it with water, making it as slippery as I could get it.

Then, I dealt the first blow by chucking a balloon at Dmitri.

His jaw gaped open at me before he raced for one of the coolers. Then, the war was on. We ran around the backyard, getting soaked by the sprinklers and busting our asses on the soapy tarp. Balloons busted everywhere and Michaela chased down her brothers with handfuls of the things. Jace wrapped his arms around me and picked me up, twirling me around before he slipped and fell in the soapy suds.

I collapsed on top of him, and for a split second nothing else mattered.

Water dripped from my hair as it cascaded down the sides of my face. It fell to the tarp, the ends of it getting soapy as Jace and I were transported to our own little world. The children were yelling and laughing in the background as they pummeled each other with water balloons. And me?

I was gazing into the eyes of a man I felt myself falling for.

“You’re good at planning Saturdays,” Jace said.

“I think it turned out okay,” I said.

“It turned out more than okay.”

“Oh yeah? Then how did it turn out?” I asked.

His hand brushed some dripping water off my forehead before his hand cupped my cheek.

“It turned out perfect,” he said.

His thumb ran along my lips. I puckered them to kiss the tip of his finger. His hand slid to the back of my head and slowly guided our faces closer and closer. His legs parted and I fell between them. I could feel his hot breath pulsing against my mouth. My body tingled and my nipples puckered, and I felt my heart thundering against my chest.

Then, I felt my back being coated in water as a balloon burst against my body.

“Gotcha!” Ivan exclaimed.

I slowly turned my head around and connected my eyes with the boy. His face fell immediately and I scrambled off Jace to get to him. I took off after Ivan, listening to him scream for mercy. He laughed as I picked him up and twirled him around, then I put him on my back and ran for the tarp.

“Hang on!” I exclaimed.

“Miss Cathy! No!”

I jutted my arms out and slid across the length of the tarp. And Ivan’s screams soon turned into full-bellied giggles. We tumbled off into the grass before I felt another small body collide with mine, and I looked up to see that Dmitri had slid across the tarp after us.

“I’m coming!” Michaela yelled.

She took off running before she belly-flopped onto the tarp. She slid and she slid, giggling and swimming around in the bubbles. Jace was the last to try it out, sliding into Michaela and pushing her to the end of the tarp.

I laid there with the boys piling on top of me as laughter fell from my lips.

“Can we do that again!?” Dmitri asked.

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