I grin. “I’ll go get her. Whose room is she in?”
Tabby sighs with relief because her hands are full of barware. “Yours.”
I walk upstairs and peek inside my room. Vera is staring at me from the crib my parents have for her when she stays here. She immediately stops crying.
“Well, hello there,” I say. I can’t explain it. I’m not much for kids but I freaking love my niece and nephew. Vera is the only baby that I’d willingly change a diaper for. “What’s wrong with my girl?”
She coos at me as I walk up to her and lean over the crib. She’s going over four months old now and she’s getting even more adorable with each passing day.
I pick her up and her little chubby hands clench my shirt. I kiss her forehead and she grins at me.
“Should I be worried?” Megan’s voice comes from the doorway. I turn and see her leaning against the doorjamb.
Laughing, I bounce my niece. “I don’t think so. I mean, no one can compete with Vera-wera,” I say in a baby voice.
Vera giggles and claps her hands together.
“OK, let’s get you changed and fed, squirt.” I walk her over to the changing table and start the gross process of diaper changing.
“Wow. I didn’t know you were so domesticated,” Megan says as she walks over to us.
“Only for my Vera,” I say as I lean down and blow a raspberry on her belly. She bursts into a fit of baby giggles.
Megan laughs. “She really does have you wrapped around her little finger.”
I look down at Megan who’s standing next to me now. Her face is alight with amusement and her eyes glimmer. Her hair is pulled up on top of her head and she looks, beautiful. “Yes, she does,” I say. Megan blushes and looks back down at Vera.
“Come on, cutie-patootie,” I state as I put Vera’s little pants back on her and pick her up again. “It’s time to go annoy Daddy!”
I start toward the door and stop when I realize Megan isn’t following me. I turn and watch as she runs her finger along my old desk.
“Lots of memories in here, huh?” she says as she picks up a trophy on my bookshelf that I won when we played soccer together as kids.
“There are memories everywhere in this house,” I agree.
She spins on her heel and looks at me. “Is the room still there?” she asks.
I grin and motion with my free hand for her to follow me. After bestowing my niece upon her father, I head past the guys removing trim in the breakfast room. Megan follows me down the back hallway and up the stairs to the bonus room above our garage. She follows me inside one of the giant cedar-lined storage closets on either side of the stairs. And then she crouches down and walks through the small door in the back of the closet. I flick on the switch and sit down on one of the beanbag chairs that Ashton surely has deposited here.
She takes the one next to me and we both look around at our old secret playroom that my dad made out of an unused attic over the back of the house.
“I can’t believe it looks the same,” she admits.
“Yeah, I don’t think Mom and Dad ever come in here. Not that it’s super easy to climb through the closet, but Ash comes up here now."
"I can tell," she says with a laugh and points to the drawing on the small kids' table in the corner that reads, “Ash’s Room, Keep Out!”
“Damn, I’m gonna have to talk with little man, that’s harsh.”
“Oh, come on, you and I totally did the same thing. We even told your older siblings they were banned from coming in here because they were ‘too old.’”
I don’t know why I do it, but I reach over and grab her hand. She grips mine back and we both turn our heads to look at the other.
“Thanks for coming to help,” I say.
“Thanks for inviting me,” she replies.
All of a sudden, a realization dawns on me. “Shit, you’ve never been to Kent’s house, have you?” I ask.
She shakes her head. “Why?”
“You brought your bathing suit, right?”
She nods and raises a quizzical eyebrow.
I look down at my phone. “Come on, we can bail a little early and head over there now.”
I practically haul her to her feet, and we make our way back down to the nearly packed-up family room. “We’re gonna head over now. You want me to get stuff going on the grill?” I ask my brother.
“Oh, uh, shit, is that the time? Yeah, if you could, that would be great. It’s just us and a few friends, so nothing crazy,” Kent says.
I grin because crazy isn’t exactly what I have in mind…OK, maybe a little crazy.
Chapter Twenty
Megan
“Holy. Fucking. Shit.” The words leave my mouth before I can even comprehend what I’m looking at.
“Just how much money does Kent make exactly?” I ask as I survey the backyard that looks like an architecture magazine and a theme park had a baby.
Clark chuckles and starts pulling off his clothes. “Come on, it’s heated.” Before I can even reply, he’s buck-naked and jumping in the pool.
“Clark,” I hiss as I look around and see some security cameras.
Clark rolls his eyes. “No one is watching that right now, and besides, this corner has no camera surveillance. Kent once told me that when he was drunk. I guess this was his hookup corner.”
I walk over and take my shoes off, dipping my toes in the warm water of the pool. I admit it does feel nice.
“Come on,” he urges.
“Are you sure we’ll be alone for a while?”
“Hell yeah, they weren’t even close to being done.”
I quickly strip and dive into the water. When I come up for air, Clark is in front of me. Our naked limbs tangle in the water, and out of pure instinct, I wrap my legs around his waist feeling his erection against me.
He walks to the corner where his feet touch the bottom of the pool. “I’ve been wanting to do this all fucking day,” he murmurs as he leans in and kisses me.
I feel his erection brush against my sex, and I begin to shamelessly grind against it. “Pool sex?” I ask in a husky voice.
“Fuck yes, pool sex,” he replies as he lifts my hips and gently lowers me onto him. He’s slow and gentle as he thrusts into me. Something about the sensations of the water, the thrill of sex out in the open, and the way our wet bodies glide against each other has me nearing release within seconds.
“God, you feel good,” he whispers as he kisses down the length of my neck while he continues to hold my hips, controlling our speed.
But I want more, need more. “More,” I manage to say as I start slamming with more force against him. I guess I don’t need to ask twice because suddenly our rhythm speeds up and his thrusts become harder, and that combination makes me detonate.
“Clark!” I cry out as I come, my inner walls flutter around his cock.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” he groans as he comes a moment later, slamming into me one last time.
He leans his forehead on mine and we both hold on to each other as our breathing returns to normal.
“Hey, are the burgers on yet?” Tabby’s voice rings out from the small cluster of trees just off the driveway.