Sophie Oak: Sirens in Bliss

“Oh, that would be so nice.” She kind of wished she hadn’t said it out loud, but it was true. It had been forever. She needed her man.

But if she just went to Stef and told him her fears, he would very likely give her a pat on the belly and tell her she was still pretty and he still wanted her and things would go on the way they had been. He would be gentle and not at all like the husband she was so crazy about, the one she’d fought for.

Of course, she hadn’t always fought fair. Sometimes an indirect approach was really best.

“That is a look I know well.” Jack shook his head and sighed. “That’s the look my Abby gets when she’s going to top from the bottom and do it well. Be prepared, Jennifer. Sometimes when you wake the sleeping Dom, your ass gets real tender.”

“But I’ve been told that can be fun. Sometimes a sub has to fight. At the end of the day we can call ourselves submissives and Doms, but we’re just men and women and husbands and wives. It’s no different. Love, I’ve found, requires maintenance. If I could give Leo some advice it would be that. This wedding is just the first step. A marriage, well, that is something entirely different.” Julian frowned as he turned toward the table where everyone was eating breakfast. “Jackson, your son is attempting to feed my daughter. He has got to stop that. I am told that Chase has been talking to Joshua about certain historical handfasting rituals and how he can secure himself a bride in this fashion.”

Barnes’s eyes rolled. “Julian, he’s five. Give me a fucking break. He’s not trying to get married.”

“Yes, because the men of his line aren’t known for their singular stubborn will. She can’t eat bananas, Joshua!”

Both men took off for the children, but Jen stayed where she was, an idea forming in her brain.

Sometimes a girl just needed to talk to her friends. Who else could she tell her problems to? Who else could come up with a brilliantly evil plan to solve her problems?

Yes, that should do it.

Aidan, Lexi, and Lucas

Aidan took his seat at the breakfast table across from his hosts. Jamie and Noah ran the Circle G along with two men Aidan knew damn well. Trev McNamara took a long pull off what had to be his third cup of coffee of the morning. If Aidan remembered correctly, it wouldn’t be his last. Trev drank the stuff all day long. Bo, Aidan’s little brother, sat down beside Trev, a plate of bacon and eggs and hash browns in front of him.

Bo looked so good. His little brother had truly grown up under Trev’s mentorship and with the love of their shared wife, Beth. He’d gone from an obnoxious brat to a man Aidan could rely on.

He glanced over to where Lexi was pacing just outside the kitchen, her cell phone to her ear and a baby on her hip. Little Jack clung to his momma like a monkey. Sometimes Aidan thought the only way to get her attention these days was to be able to climb up her body. Or to be her agent.

“Is Lexi going to come eat? I could make a plate for her.” Bo looked out to the living room, a worried frown on his face.

Lexi’s voice carried through the house. “No, use the second excerpt. Yes, the one where the hero gets in the shower and finds out the heroine is already there. I agree. It’s the best one and it’s not so hot that it will scare off new readers. Twenty-five hundred should be enough. We just need to get through conference season.”

Lucas stepped in, finding Aidan’s eyes and smiling. Until he heard Lexi talking. Then those gorgeous lips of his turned down. “I thought we were on vacation.”

Lexi was never on vacation anymore. Since her career had taken off, she’d become a workaholic and nothing could get her off the phone. Sometimes he wondered how she got any writing done since she was on the phone all the time.

“Her PA called. Apparently she has to get ready for some conference in Denver. She wasn’t supposed to go, but she got invited at the last minute so she’s hustling up books and promo material. She thought we wouldn’t mind since we’re already in Colorado.”

“But Denver is six hours away,” Lucas pointed out. “It’s not like it’s down the street. Are we supposed to rent a car and shove the kids in? Julian’s jet leaves in two days. And we can’t just let the ranch run itself. I trust the hands, but you need to be there.”

“I don’t think she expects us to go with her. I think we’re supposed to head home at the appointed time and let her go to Denver on her own.” Aidan stared at his wife. “You know, it’s a really big deal for her.”

Those last words were spoken with just a hint of sarcasm. Everything was a big deal now. Everything except him and Lucas.

“What’s a really big deal?” Shelley McNamara walked in looking slightly tired.

Trev had a smile and a big hug for his sister. “You are. How was the bachelorette party?”

“Insane.” Shelley had the biggest smile on her face. “Georgia brought the makeup and the booze. I’m now addicted to Chanel and Ciroc. We had makeovers and watched movies and drank too much. It was perfect. But my mother-in-law is a little bit crazy. I have to meet with someone today who’s going to run some tests to make sure I’m not an alien queen seeking to breed with her sons. I’m a little worried about what’s going to happen if I flunk that test. She was deeply disturbed that I refused to eat beets. Apparently aliens are allergic to them. I understand, because they taste like crap and stain your teeth. I am not getting married with purple teeth, damn it.”

Trev grinned at his only sibling. “You have some interesting in-laws, sister. I’ve been lucky. I only have to deal with Aidan.”

A cell phone trilled and Aidan would have sworn that Shelley turned white. She sighed. “It’s my mother-in-law. Again.” She ran her finger across the screen and brought the phone to her ear. “Hello, Cassidy. How are you this morning? What? No. No. You can’t trade my champagne for beet juice. Have you talked to Leo about this? Could you please put him on the phone? If he’s not there then let me talk to Wolf, please.”

She walked off, her voice getting lower.

Shelley’s almost husbands, Leo and Wolf Meyer, had an interesting background. Their mother apparently firmly believed that her sons were half-alien and that someday the queen would come back for them. She and some guy in a trucker hat named Mel had vowed not to let it happen. The citizens of Bliss were taking bets on whether or not the alien queen would show up to gather her mates.

It was the kind of thing that Lexi used to love.

Before all she did was work.

Lucas sat down beside him. His lips curled up slightly, and Aidan felt his hand slide under the table, over Aidan’s thigh. It was a sweet intimacy he needed, but then Lucas always seemed to know what he needed. “Sweet baby girl is still sleeping.”

Their baby. Chelsea. She had Lucas’s coloring. There was no doubt in Aidan’s mind that little Jack was his, but somehow he was fascinated with the baby who didn’t look anything like him. When Aidan looked down at her, his whole heart melted. If Jack was his mini-me, then Chelsea was all Lucas and Lexi. He couldn’t wait to see her running around the ranch with a head full of wild black hair and a smile that could bring him to his knees.

He had it all. He had his girl and his guy and his kids. The only problem was his girl always seemed to be on the phone or at her computer.

“I’m glad. She had a long night.” Chelsea had been off the breast for three weeks and she still needed a nighttime feeding. Aidan liked to do it. It was just him and his daughter in the quiet of the night. He could stare down at her and she would stare back and they were so connected. He doubted she had his DNA, but she owned his soul.