Page 80 of The Ruthless and the Strong

“Because you’re pregnant. Or have you forgotten?”

“Told you,” Lizzie muttered beside Kiera.

Kiera rolled her eyes. “How could I forget when you keep reminding me?”

“I’ll stop reminding you when you act pregnant,” Gage said. “Jesus, woman, are you trying to send me to an early grave?”

She grinned. “Please. You can handle me just fine. No need to sound so dramatic about it.”

“If only,” he said in a soft voice that only I heard.

“What was that?” Kiera asked.

Gage shook his head. “We’re not playing flag football.”

“But I want to. In just a few months, I am going to get as big as a whale. I won’t be able to do stuff like this anymore, and it’s all your fault.”

Gage raised up an eyebrow. “My fault?”

“Yeah.” She pointed at him. “You had your fun and now I’m pregnant with your child. If it’s not your fault, then whose fault is it? Our mailman’s?”

He growled, and she held up her hand, amusement making her gray eyes light. “Okay, okay. That’s why I suggested flag football and not tackle, see? If it makes you feel any better, I can play the role of the man who catches the ball and throws it. I won’t even run.”

Gage rolled his eyes at that, and I covered my mouth with my fist. Lizzie smirked at me.

“And how are we supposed to divide up the team?” Logan asked with a tinge of laughter in his voice. Gage slapped him on the back, glaring at the other man.

“Girls versus boys.”

“Doesn’t seem fair,” I said.

She smiled wickedly. “Oh, trust me, it’s fair.”

Mason laughed, not even bothering to try to hide it. “What, you think we're going to let you girls win?”

Olivia grinned at that, and I knew then that was exactly what they thought. She flicked her long brown hair over her shoulders. “We should make a bet.”

“What’s the bet, sweetheart?” Mason asked her.

“Losers have to wash the dishes.”

He held out his hands. “Okay. But don’t say we didn’t try to give you an out.”

I didn’t think Olivia realized that all she had to do was bat her eyelashes a bit, and Mason would have happily washed the dishes for her.

She pointed at him. “Why don’t you turn off the grill and we’ll get Emma and Hunter settled with some food and TV before we start?” She started to walk away backwards from us.

Lizzie met my eyes, her smile widening before she moved away, followed by Kiera and Hayden. We stared after them in silence, not really sure what the hell was going on, but this afternoon just got even more interesting.

* * *

Fifteen minutes later,with Hunter and Emma sitting on the patio furniture with some soft finger food on the plate and an iPad between them with some sort of kids’ show playing, we were standing in the backyard, the boys on one side and the girls on the other.

They even found some black face paint, and each of them had put on two black stripes under their eyes. I didn’t know where Olivia had found the bandannas, but everyone had one attached to their hip.

“You are taking this way too seriously, aren’t you, little warrior?” Gage said.

She made the universal signs with her fingers that said she was watching him before forming a circle with the girls.

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