Page 70 of She Wolf

He belts out a laugh. “Probably. Hollywood has made his interest very well known. I think he’s sending the girls at Lux Realtors a fruit and cookie basket every other week.” I giggle knowing full well those girls are thoroughly enjoying his treats.

“You staying around until we get back from the rink?” Gunner asks.

The boys keep on top of their skills and fitness all through the summer, except of course, when they were upset over their Stanley Cup run. Today they are heading to the practice facility for a pick-up gameandworkouts. I inwardly shudder at the mere thought of exercising for that long.

“No, come back to my house once you’re done and we’ll order something in. Jack asked if Beau could come over to stay and it worked out perfectly because it’s his moms wedding anniversary.

“Okay, then I’ll be over as soon as I can.” He pulls me closer into a bone-melting embrace and then kisses me stupid.

Once I’ve recovered, we walk into Casey’s. Anna has her laptop perched on her knees, laughing at something Jack is saying. My brothers are standing side by side and Jack is motioning toward their midsections, while they flex their stupid muscles.

“It’s eight, right?” Jack insists.

“Yep, totally right. Knox has an eight-pack, whereas Casey only has six. It’s almost like he doesn’t care about himself enough,” Anna says playfully.

“How do those two tiny lumps count as abs?” Casey asks incredulously. “They don’t, that’s how.”

“You realize that isn’t even a real sentence,” Knox says rolling his eyes. Casey gets all huffy until he sees me approach,

“Coralie we both have six each. Tell them. Knox has brainwashed everyone.”

I match Knox’s eye roll. “Casey, what makes you think I want to stare at and count both my brothers’ abs? Go get a shirt on, but you,” I point to Gunner, “you can take yours off.” I smirk as Casey and Knox pretend to gag.

Jack’s oblivious however and turns to face Gunner. “Yeah, Gunner, take your t-shirt off, let’s see how many absyouhave.”

Gunner shakes his head. “A solid six, no need to study mine. What's with the sudden interest in other people's abdominal muscles anyway?”

“It’s the sign of a good athlete and I want some.” Gunner cracks up while I eye my seven-year-old.

“Says who?” I ask crossing my arms.

“Knox is always saying it. Plus, Casey pats his every morning,” Jack says like it’s perfectly normal to pet your abs.

Casey spits out the sip of water he just took and Anna cackles, high fiving Jack.

“He sooo does. He literally checks every morning to make sure they're still all there,” she giggles.

Casey grabs his tee and pulls it on over his head. “Come on we’re going to be late.”

“I’ll drive,” Gunner says as they walk away but not before he’s pressed a kiss to both mine and Jack’s heads.

I settle down on the seat beside Anna who is still smiling like a maniac, and I pull Jack in for a cuddle. “You smell like vacation time,” I say as I inhale his sunscreen-coated skin.

He nods into my shoulder. “How many days now?

“Three until the start of the road trip.”

“And everyone is going?” I can hear the excitement in his voice.

“Yep, full house. Actually, two full houses.” I tell him.

“But Six Flags first?”

“Yep definitely.”

“Okay cool. I want to go to Disney again when I can ride the really big stuff.”

Casey, Scott, and I took him to Walt Disney World when he was five, but he wasn’t able to ride anything exciting. Same for Universal, so he has a height chart, and every now and again he checks to see how far off fifty-four inches he is. Once he’s grown that tall, he’ll be big enough to ride the Hulk coaster he’s been watching on You Tube.

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