Page 84 of An Unfinished Memory

He spun to bump my ass up against the washer. Against his lips, I murmured, “Is it wrong to have sex in your brother’s place?”

The desire cleared only slightly in his eyes. “The laundry room is like a neutral zone. It’s not right, but it’s not wrong.” He slid his hand up my ass and skimmed around until he was undoing my zipper.

“Good enough.” I rose up on my tiptoes to capture his mouth again. As long as we didn’t get caught, I wouldn’t feel bad. If Tova and Cody got busy against my washing machine, I’d cheer them on. Another thought occurred to me, and I pulled back. “What if they have cameras?”

“They don’t. I checked.” His sexy smile made my knees weak.

“Sometimes your law enforcement background comes in handy.” I pulled him close to me again so we could continue to do something not quite right, but also notwrong.

Wilder

After a full day with Grayson and Ivy, we were all exhausted and sprawled across the basement floor in the family room. A movie was paused, and the kids were talking to Cody and Tova.

“How many fingers and toes does Charlie have?” Ivy asked. She was lying on her belly, the phone on speaker between her and Grayson. Sutton and I were sitting behind them. Blankets and pillows were scattered around us, and a half-empty popcorn container was on the couch.

“She has ten fingers and ten toes,” Cody said. He sounded tired and elated. This day had to bring a ton of memories back for him from when Grayson and Ivy were born. And it had to be a little trippy since he was making memories with someone new.

Charlie was short for Charlotte, named after Tova’s favorite old-style dance, the Charleston, which Grayson had immediately guessed before he demonstrated the entire dance.

“Are you sure you can’t tell what color eyes she’ll have?” Ivy was kicking her feet behind her. Both kids were already dressed in pajamas.

“Not yet, but they’re a darker blue,” Tova said. “So maybe brown.”

“Can we sing her a lullaby?” Grayson asked, and Ivy enthusiastically nodded.

“Of course,” both Tova and Cody answered.

I rested against the couch and tipped my head back. Sutton leaned against me. We were sitting closer than we usually would, but we were tired. She worked all morning, and I ran Grayson and Ivy around. Then they talked me into taking them to Hummingbird’s for lunch. Sutton met us in time to order and eat. Afterward, we walkedacross the street to the park. They wanted to walk by the house Cody had rented when he first moved to Crocus Valley. Aggie invited us over for supper, and of course, the kids had to see the horse Ansen would be training for the next few weeks. Eliot left for the ranch, and I thought that would be the end of the night, but Grayson and Ivy wanted to teach me and Sutton how to do some of their dance moves. The only thing that kept me leaping across Cody’s lawn was Sutton’s delighted laughter and clapping.

The lullaby wrapped up with what I swore were a few extra ad-libbed verses.

I picked up the phone and took it off speaker. “Glad everything’s going okay.”

“Thanks,” Cody replied. He’d also taken the phone off speaker. “We’ll be home, hopefully before lunch, but you never know when they’re going to discharge you. Everything’s, uh, going okay?”

“It’s fine.” The biggest problem was that I couldn’t sleep in the same bed with Sutton without raising questions. “We’re planning a lazy morning, or do you have accounting spreadsheets you want them to go through?”

“Ha ha, jackass. I have plenty of spreadsheets—anytime, Wilder. They’re yours.”

“I’d hate to take a job from someone who really needs it.”

“Right. Bookkeeping doesn’t come with a badge or advertising on the side of the car.”

“Now who’s being the jack—” I had little ears around. “Jackwagon.”

He chuckled. “I’ll have the phone on me if you need anything. Otherwise, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Good night. Can’t wait to meet little Charlie.”

I hung up and tossed my phone on the end table. The kids were focused on the TV. I slung an arm along the back of the couch. Sutton scooted in a little more.

“This is really nice,” she said quietly. “Remember when we had them for sleepovers?”

“Yes.” I used to enjoy their visits, but Sutton had been all in. She’d helped with Grayson and Ivy when Cody had to travel to doctors’ visits with his late wife, Meg. Then Meg’s parents had stayed to help with the kids. I’d had to work during a lot of the kids’ visits, but I’d still gotten in on meals and movies and playtime. I hadn’t realized how much I missed them until Cody moved and then Sutton moved.

“What if they fall asleep out here?”

I squeezed her to me. “We can be part of the slumber party,” I whispered in her ear. “Then we can sleep beside each other instead of in separate rooms.”

---