Page 77 of About Last Knight

We’re in the car, and I look over at him. He seems a little on edge. I grab his hand. “Are you okay?”

He nods. “Yep. I just don’t want to mess up today. I really want your boys to like me.”

He’s so cute. I smile. “They’ll like you because I like you.”

He raises his eyebrows. “Like?”

“Love. I love you.”

He smiles as he kisses my hand. “I never tire of hearing it. I love you too.”

“One other thing. Fair warning, my ex-husband and his wife are super touchy feely. It can be a bit much. My kids and hers make faces and joke about it, but it’s excessive. Bizarrely excessive.”

He winks at me. “We won’t be outdone today.”

That wasn’t really my goal, but I suppose I won’t be too upset if he’s all over me today. I’ve spent years watching Jackson paw at Darian. I find myself smiling at the thought of giving them a dose of their own medicine.

We pull into their driveway. He looks up wide-eyed. “Holy shit. This house is insane.”

I shrug. “You like it?” He barely nods as he stares in shock at Jackson and Darian’s mansion. “Jackson designed it. It’s a bit much for me, but I guess I prefer city living. I wouldn’t have interest in living out here in the middle of nowhere like this. I only agreed to it when the boys were younger and they needed space. As soon as we got divorced, I moved into the city.”

“Did you live in this house?”

I shake my head. “No, he built it after the divorce. But we had a decent-sized house not too far away from here. It’s honestly not what I like. I really do much prefer to be in the city.”

I think my downplaying it calmed him a bit. I probably should have warned him about this house. I didn’t think of it because I genuinely wouldn’t want to live here.

I hope he can keep it together today. Otherwise, I’ll have my boys and Jackson all breathing down my neck.

We park and walk up to the door. He bends down and kisses me softly. “Don’t worry. I’ll behave. I promise.” I smile in relief and let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding.

We ring the doorbell. Jackson answers the door with a big smile. He warmly greets me and kisses me on the cheek hello. I can feel Declan squeeze my hand and let out a low growl when he does. So much for behaving. That lasted two seconds. I can’t help but both roll my eyes and inwardly smile at my possessive lunatic.

“Jackson, this is Declan McGinley. Declan, this is Jackson Knight.”

Jackson smiles and offers his hand. “It’s nice to finally meet you, Declan. I’ve heard so many nice things about you.” I raise my eyebrow at Jackson. I haven’t told him anything about Declan. He just smirks at me.

I’m not entirely sure whether Declan will shake his hand back, but fortunately, he does. He even musters a smile as he pulls me close. “You as well, Jackson. Thanks for having us.”

Jackson nods. “Of course. We’ve been looking forward to it. My wife’s already out by the pool. She’s excited to meet you too. Let’s head inside so you two can get changed.”

We walk inside the house to the large, main living area. It’s an open floor plan, so you can see straight through to the back from where we stand.

Declan looks around the spacious house taking it all in, but my eyes head to the back pool area. Through the back windows and glass doors I see Darian by the pool walking around in a bikini. She has a ridiculous body. No wonder he can’t keep his hands off of her.

She has a totally different body type than me though. I’m tall and narrow, without too much in the curve department, especially compared to her. She’s much shorter than me, with a true hourglass figure, including huge breasts. There’s certainly no denying that Darian’s a stunning woman.

The girls are built similarly to her, though Reagan and Skylar have much more height. Scott must have been tall. Harley could be Darian’s twin, but Reagan and Skylar are fairer skinned with lighter hair. They’re all beautiful though.

I smile to myself. It’s kind of remarkable that we were with the same man. We couldn’t possibly look more different. Though I suppose Jackson and Declan look pretty different from one another as well. Both handsome, just in different ways.

As we turn the corner to walk through the kitchen, I see Harley sitting there feeding Ellie. Declan stops short as soon as we see them. His breathing picks up as he stares at her. “Darian?”

Harley looks up and smiles. As she walks over to us, she says, “No, that’s my mom. I’m Harley. You must be Melissa’s friend. It’s nice to meet you.” She extends her hand.

He shakes it, but his mouth is wide open. Harley moves to kiss my cheek. “Hey, Melissa. How are you?”

I’m in a little bit of shock at Declan’s actions, but I manage to answer. “I’m good, thanks. This is Declan.”

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