Wonder filled his expression, then joy. “A baby.”
His gaze ran over her. Pulling her back into his arms, he kissed her, telling her without words exactly how he felt.
JJ watched Gabe and Audrey emerge from the small grove of trees. Hmm. Suppressing a laugh, she nudged Caz. “If I was doing drug tests, he’d be my first choice. He looks like he’s walking on air.”
Caz glanced that way. And she had to wonder how a devastatingly gorgeous man managed to get even hotter just with a smile.
Wait… She narrowed her eyes. “Why do you look so smug?”
“She finally told him.”
“Told him what?”
“We’re going to have a baby,” Gabe yelled out for everyone to hear.
“Oh. Oh, wow.” She joined the cheering and laughed as berry picking was abandoned for hugs and congratulations.
Standing beside Regan, Aric frowned at Gabe. “Where’s the baby? Did you leave it at home like Gryff?”
Gabe coughed and glanced at Audrey, then Kit. “This falls into female territory.”
Kit laughed and knelt next to her son. “Audrey will be growing the baby in her tummy for lots of months. Her stomach is going to get big.”
“Ooooh.” He considered Audrey’s stomach before asking his mother, “Can I get a baby in my tummy? I can grow it good too.”
Kit shook her head. “Sorry, honey bear. Nobody makes babies until they’re a lot older.”
He scowled. “Kids don’t get to do anything.”
JJ felt like clapping—because his objection was loud and perfectly normal. “Children get to help pick berries, and the ones who can cook will put them in blueberry muffins.”
“I can cook.” Short legs pumping, Aric ran back over, so cute she just had to pick him up and hug him.
After she settled the children side-by-side at a new patch of berries, Caz took her hand. “Did you want to get married, princesa? And have babies?”
“What?” Was he joking?
“Tell me, please.” His melting dark brown eyes were serious. Concerned.
Her heart turned into a puddle in her chest. God, she loved him. “Ah, married, yes. One of these days. So Regan can feel as if she has two people to count on.”
He put a rock-hard arm around her, firmly pulling her closer. “Is that the only reason, mamita?”
Pushy doctor. “Maybe because I love you. A little.”
His grin flashed, white in the brown face. “As it happens, I love you much more than a little.”
Honestly, he took her breath away. “Do you want more children?”
He moved his shoulders in a nonchalant shrug. “If you aren’t in a hurry, I’d rather you and Regan get to feel more settled. Then we can make some babies if you want. Or adopt. Or not. I’m happy with a big or small family as long as you and Regan are in it.”
Her eyes prickled with tears. If she let him continue, he’d reduce her to a sappy mess. Putting her arms around his neck, she kissed him.
“Same here,” she whispered and kissed him again.
“Aric, look,” Regan said in a low voice. “They’re always doing that stuff.”
“So does Mama.” Aric whispered back. “With Hawk.”
“Ooooh, does your mama like him?”
Caz tilted his head to hear the answer, and snoopy JJ, she was doing the same thing.
“Uh-huh. I like him too.”
Right. At four, he wouldn’t understand the sexier versions of like.
“Hawk and Kit?” JJ murmured to Caz. “I didn’t see that one coming. What should we do?”
“Get some popcorn and enjoy the show?” He laughed when she tried to kick him.
Chapter Twenty-Two
My kid is turning out just like me. Well played, karma. Well-played. ~ Unknown
Kids were damned crazy.
Hawk sat at the kitchen island in Mako’s cabin as rain pattered out on the deck. The rising wind created white-topped wavelets across the lake.
The kids had summer school on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. But today was Thursday, and they were home. Since tourists didn’t want to fly in the storm, he’d volunteered to watch the kids.
Which went to prove that he really was crazy as a hoot owl.
Thankfully, he remembered a game he and his brothers had played when snowbound in the sarge’s tiny cabin. Good times.
After hijacking blankets and rugs from the rest of the Hermitage, he’d moved furniture around, then strung rope in long stretches through the downstairs of Mako’s house.
With strategically draped blankets over the rope, tables, and chairs, he and the kids built a vast tunnel city. Inside the tunnels, throw rugs and pillows covered the bare hardwood.
With Gryff and Sirius following, Regan and Aric had disappeared into the maze.
Later, when the kids took a break to fetch eggs from the chicken pen, Hawk hid “treasure” in various places in the tunnels.
Assigning each kid half of the system, he set them to hunting.
Seated at the kitchen island, he drank his coffee and enjoyed their excitement. Had the sarge felt this odd sense of contentment when Gabe, Bull, Caz, and Hawk had been immersed in their games?
A high squeal broke the silence. Exiting one opening, Aric stood up to wave his first find—a dinosaur.
“What’d you get?” Popping out of a tunnel in her area, Regan ran to see.
A few minutes later, back inside, she yelled her happiness at finding the Mulan coloring book JJ had suggested.
Funny how noisy squeals and giggles could transform to a feeling of peace deep in his soul. Taking another sip of coffee, he let himself savor the pleasures of the previous week.
Simply being home. Evenings with the family. Making music together in a way that felt as if the songs were creating bonds between them in the same way the tunnels here connected to each other.
Several times, he’d joined Aric and Kit for supper and spent the evening. They’d played preschool board games or hide and seek, watched kid movies, and read books.
After the boy was in bed, Hawk would stay downstairs with Kit—for talking, for kissing, for touching.
Last night, he’d gotten her off with his fingers, then held her when she cried. She’d insisted it was happy crying.
He shook his head. Shedding tears for happiness wasn’t in his toolbox. Maybe it was a female thing.
Fuck, he liked being with her. She had a quiet spirit. She’d talk when she had something relevant to say but didn’t need to fill silence with empty chatter.
And he didn’t have to come up with a bunch of shit to say, either. She was comfortable when his side of a conversation contained a hell of a lot fewer words.
Even the standard this-isn’t-a-serious-relationship conversation had been reduced to almost nothing. Kit had looked at him and shook her head. “I know this won’t go anywhere, but I’m really glad you’re here now.”
Her acceptance of a lack of a future together had hurt, down inside, but was a relief too. Short-term. He could handle that.
Just as he could handle the slow pace as they learned about each other. Kit liked to snuggle, but he didn’t touch her without giving notice. She’d realized he didn’t like being grabbed, either. Yeah, they were moving carefully.