Page 16 of Mine To Honor (Southern Wedding)

“Better safe than sorry,” he says to me, looking down at his list.

“Obviously, we have to get papers drawn up for me to get custody of the baby after the divorce,” I remind him, “just to be sure.”

“That sounds like a good idea. Where do we live?”

“My house,” I say like it’s the obvious answer because it is.

“Why?” he asks, all shocked and offended.

“Because it’s home.” I turn in my chair to look at him.

“But I have a home.” He points at himself.

“Do you?” I quiz him with all the sarcasm I have in my body. “How many women have been in that home?” He just glares at me. “Let’s say in the past seven days.”

“One.” He puts one of his fingers up. “You. Ha ha.” He chuckles as if he just won the debate.

“Slow week.” I roll my eyes at him.

He shrugs. “Full moon maybe.”

“Okay, honestly,” I declare to him, “we can’t live in your house.” He just stares at me, his body turning to mimic mine. “Imagine CPS is there and one of your girls shows up looking for Mr. Big.” I point down to his crotch and he immediately covers himself.

“Okay, one, you didn’t even sound like you were convinced about me being big,” he reminds me, and all I can do is stare at him with my mouth hanging open. “And two, why does that make me sound like a pimp?”

“It is what it is.” I lean over and put my hand on his arm that is still covering his dick area. “It’s okay. I still love you.” He smirks at me, as if his house is still an option. “But seriously, the baby should be living in my house so when we divorce, she isn’t thrown for a loop again.”

He moves his head side to side as he thinks about what I just said, finally giving in. “Fine,” he pouts and looks back down at his phone. “Now, what about dating?”

“What about it?” I ask, confused about this question.

“Well, I date.” He points at himself and I can’t help the laugh that escapes me and fills the airplane.

“No, you don’t.” I shake my head, still laughing. “You spend four hours with someone naked.” I wait for him to tell me I’m lying.

Instead, all he says is, “Sometimes longer.” I throw my hands up.

“Sometimes shorter, I’m guesstimating and giving you the benefit of the doubt.” I smile sarcastically at him.

“What if I want to sleep out?” he asks as if I’m his mother.

“So sleep out,” I tell him. “Levi, the only thing that is going to change between us is you and me seeing each other more than we did before.” I squeeze his arm with my hand. “If you want to bring a girl home, you take her back to your lair and do your thing.” He looks at me as he processes what I just said. “The only thing I ask is that you just wash your hands when you get home before touching the baby.” Now his laughter is the one filling up the plane, and the pain in my chest loosens up just a bit and my stomach is starting to settle.

“Okay,” he says, putting away his phone before turning to me. “Now let’s break it to your cousin”—I tilt my head to the side—“and my best friend.”

“Don’t worry,” I reassure him, “I’ve got your back.” I smile at him as he just rolls his eyes, so I lean over and kiss his cheek. “I always have your back.”

Chapter Eight

Levi

I listen to her tell me she has my back and something in my stomach is unsettled. “Okay, can we go back to the dating question again?” I look at her, her back is to the plane wall. Her hair is pulled back again and tied at the base of her neck.

“I’m pretty sure I left that wide open for you.” She chuckles and I put my ankle from my right foot on my left knee, folding my hands together on my stomach. “You can bang anyone you want until your heart’s content.” She smiles and scrunches her nose. “Until you have drained all the liquids from your body if you need to. Especially if it makes you less this.” She picks up her hand and does a circle in the air toward me. The sleeves from her silky top move back and forth while she does it. The silver Tiffany bracelet I bought her for her birthday with the little blue heart on her left wrist jangles.

“No one is talking about me. We already got that settled.” I ignore what she just said. “I was talking about you.”

“What about me?” Her eyebrows pinch together as she just stares at me. Her blue eyes go to a light yellow with the sun coming in from the window beside her.

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