Page 97 of Baby, Be Mine

I met Stef on the grass, and we headed for the trunk I’d locked up for safe keeping. I handed him the fireworks that I’d buried inside.

“Think you can take these out on the lake and set them off?”

“Sweet!” Stef’s face lit up.

“You’re not going to blow a finger off, right? If I remembered right, you helped for the Fourth of July festival.”

“I did. My dad is in charge of them. If you’d given me a head’s up, I would have gotten you a better deal.”

I sighed. “It was a very impromptu thing, but we’ll discuss it for the Memorial Day party.”

“You got it.” Stef took the boxes. “Mind if I take Penny?”

“Nope, not at all.”

Stef loped off in that long, lanky stride of his and I went back to organizing the sparklers into bundles. People were gathered around the tree and the photographer was getting family photos as well as a few of the engaged couple.

I shoved lighters into a reusable bag with a long strap.

“Need some help?”

I glanced up to see Emma bathed in the glowing lights from the tree. “Hey. Yeah, actually.” I handed her the bag. “Think you can handle some fire?”

Her lips tilted up at one corner as she took it. “I can definitely handle some heat.”

“I walked into that one.”

She laughed, the sound of it almost bawdy with her delight. Fuck, she was so hot. And I needed to get a damn grip.

She spun and her skirt flowed out around her thighs, making my dick twitch again.

Longing for a woman who had just given birth was a personal all-time low, but here we were. She was damn near irresistible.

But I kept trying anyway.

I stood up and started handing out the extra-long sparklers. Thankfully, this was a kid-free party, so we didn’t have to worry about anything other than a few slightly drunk people.

When I got to Gina and Jared, I handed them their sparklers. “When you see the signal, light up.”

Gina laughed. “I’m getting married to the Chief. Pretty sure lighting up isn’t recommended.”

“Again, I walked into that one.” I laughed.

“What’s the signal?” Jared asked.

“You’ll know it when you see it.”

It took me about fifteen minutes to hand them all out. I heard the motor of my speedboat as I finally reached my dad.

“Here you go. Did Emma give you a lighter?”

“She did. You two really are doing the most.” He laughed. “I tried to sneak out, but Emma wouldn’t let me.”

“She’s nearly impossible to say no to, isn’t she?”

“Yes. I’d like you to know you have my blessing there if you get your head out of your ass.”

I blinked at him. “Have you been talking to Jared?”

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