“Sweaters are cozy,” she protests as I pull the phone from her waistband.
“They are.” I grab her exposed waist, pulling her between my legs. “But unless you’re going to wear three at a time, you still don’t need that many.”
“What do you know?”
I hold her gaze as I press my lips to the soft skin of hermidriff. “I know you look best with no sweater on, much less three.” Playfully, I tug on the waistband of her leggings with my teeth.
Toni shakes her head, laughing. “I still have to pack.”
“Mhm,” I agree, hands slipping down to give her ass a squeeze.
“We’ll be late,” she protests.
“They can wait.”
“About time!”Lucy accuses, looking down at us from the deck as we get out of the car. We deserved the call-out. The sun had already dipped below the tree line, casting the sky in a wash of warm colors.
I would feel bad about just how late we are if all the people here didn’t have full access to everything on the property. Not that there was much to access. There’s the elevated cabin with barely one room that was here when I bought the place; a large outbuilding, which mostly held firewood and camping supplies; and a tiny pre-fab cabin Michael and I finished last summer, which is arguably nicer than the original cabin.
“Someone wasn’t packed when I got to her place,” I say, catching Toni’s accusatory glare in my periphery.
“More like someone wanted to stop and look at the leaves every few miles,” she rebuffs.
Neither was a lie. We just left out the part that included her soaking my beard.
Oliver laughs as he joins us to help with the bags. “You’re both full of shit.”
“I take offense to that,” Toni says, letting him take her bag only after a brieftug of war.
“I didn’t say it wasn’t cute,” he teases.
“Personally, I believe her,” my sister-in-law, Camille, says. The sunset and that pregnancy glow make her dark brown skin absolutely radiant. “We know Cillian has a thing for leaf-peeping.”
I drop the bags beside her on the raised deck. “I had to show Toni the ropes.”
“Sure you did.” She pulls me into a fierce side hug, her belly now big enough to provide a significant barrier. “I haven’t seen you in forever.”
“Sorry, work has?—”
“I’m well aware,” she cuts me off. “Who do you think Michael complains to?” She winks. “I’m just glad to see you before I’m in mom mode.”
“How is the cooking going?” I ask.
She rests her hands lovingly on top of her bump. “Rowdy. He’s been using my kidneys as punching bags.”
“He?!” Oliver, Lucy, and I bellow in unison.
“He,” Michael confirms. He wraps Camille in his arms from behind, hands resting over hers.
“Do mom and dad know?” I ask them.
Camille nods. “Your mom swears he’ll be here before Christmas, but I’m holding out for a Capricorn.”
“Not a Sagittarius fan?” Toni asks. She’d been hanging back a touch, watching our excitement without any trace of impatience or discomfort.
“I try not to discriminate,” Camille says with a smirk. “But as a Capricorn, I’m biased.” Her face shifts to concern, “You aren’t a Sag, are you?”
Toni laughs. “Nope. I’m the more aggressive of the fire signs.”
