CHAPTER 11

Igotbackhome in the middle of the night, sore and exhausted. I kissed Isaac goodbye, telling him that it couldn’t happen again, even as he grinned and told me he’d see me later. What would’ve typically pissed me off just made me smile as I slipped inside and went to my room. I took a shower and washed Isaac off of me before going to grab Hank from Kara’s room. I held him for a while before putting him down in his crib and falling into a deep sleep almost instantly.

Kara woke me up with the sun, shaking me and splashing me with water from the cup of hot water she insisted on drinking every morning. “Hey. Asshole, wake up. You scared the shit out of me. Haven’t you ever heard of kidnapping? I thought someone had snatched Hank in the middle of the night when I woke up to find him missing.”

I groggily sat up and rubbed my eyes. “Sorry. I just grabbed him when I got home. I didn’t even think.”

Silence met my apology, and I had to actually open my eyes and face the morning sun to see what had Kara speechless. I blinked about a hundred times before I could see her clearly, and then I wished I hadn’t bothered. She was staring at me with a shit-eating grin on her face.

“You fucked Isaac!”

I slapped my hand over her mouth and looked at the bedroom door, fully expecting one of the twins to be there. “Oh, my god, Kara!”

She smacked my hand away and laughed. “You dirty lady, you really did! You fucked him, and you have the evidence all over you!”

I jumped out of bed and rushed into my connected bathroom to glare at my reflection. My sleep shirt was a worn and ragged old t-shirt that was cut to hang off my shoulder, and it revealed a lot of red, beard-burned skin on my neck and chest. My lips were still red and swollen from kissing Isaac like my life depended on it. There was a glow to my skin that I couldn’t help but blush over. Isaac did good work.

I poked my head out of the bathroom and looked at my sister, grinning like an idiot on the end of my bed. “Okay, I did it, but I don’t need any lip from you about it.”

She laughed loudly, only belatedly realizing that Hank was still sleeping. “I am so proud of you! Isaac is so beautiful. God. What I’d do to be ten years younger and interesting in swinging.”

Tyler appeared in my bedroom doorway and raised his eyebrows at his wife. “Really, Kara?”

She had the decency to look guilty. “I meant I’d be swinging with you, honey!”

He looked thoughtful for a second. “Let me pick our fourth and I’m in.”

“No fucking way.” Kara waved him away and looked back at me. “Tell me everything.”

“No!” I tried to shut the door, but Kara spoke up before I could ignore her.

“Wait! I actually came to say I got you an interview tomorrow morning. The lumber yard in town needs someone in the offices right now. Their last lady is on maternity leave and Blake didn’t get a replacement yet.”

“Really? That’s great!” I caught sight of my reflection again and winced. “I’m going to need to cover this all up before I go down and face the twins.”

“Tell me about Isaac and I’ll help.”

I came out of the bathroom just to glare at her. “You’re a perv; you know that?”

“Sure, but that’s okay.” She shrugged. “I’ll just ask Isaac when he gets here for breakfast, I guess.”

My eyes widened. “No. He can’t come after last night!”

“Why? What the hell did you do to him?”

“I didn’t do anything to him! We just did it.” I lowered my voice. “A few times. And it was fucking amazing, but I told him it was a one-time thing. I can’t have breakfast with him this morning! That’s so awkward!”

“Why the hell would you tell him that it was a one-time thing?”

I gestured at Hank and then at myself. “We’re a package deal, and I didn’t come here to start dating.”

Kara rolled her eyes dramatically and shook her finger at me. “You’re going to eat your words. Isaac is a determined man.”

“You think he really is going to show up?”

“Oh, yeah. Unless you tried to do some weird stuff with him last night.” She giggled. “I once tried to touch Tyler’s…you know. He didn’t speak to me for a week.”

Staring at my sister, I managed to keep a straight face for a few seconds before I lost it. Laughing, I shook my head. “Poor Tyler.”

“Poor Tyler. I thought I was doing him a favor. Poor me. That’s not a cute place on men.” She stood up and put her hands on her hips. “Get ready. You’ve got an hour before breakfast. Expect company.”

“Kara, I can’t sit across the breakfast table from him after last night!”

“Don’t sit across from him, then. Sit next to him.” She strolled out, leaving me just as quickly as she’d joined me.

I sank onto the bed and groaned. Things were going to be awkward. I didn’t love being in awkward situations. I tended to make a fool of myself. Maybe Isaac wouldn’t show up, though. Maybe he’d forgotten all about breakfast in the commotion of the night.

I still found myself dressing with the chance of him showing up in mind. My good leggings and a flowy top that hinted at my cleavage but hid any of the extra baby weight I’d never been able to get rid of. My red hair, the same hair that Isaac had said he loved while wrapping it around his fist the night before, was up in a bun, and then I did enough makeup to hide any traces of our night together.

I even had time to get Hank up and bathe him. Dressing him in one of the adorable outfits Kara had for him, I carried him downstairs and got him set up in his highchair. Kara was manning the kitchen, making too much food. Tyler was sitting at the table again, a book in his hands.

“Did you remember our talk last night, young lady?”

I ignored him and talked to Kara while feeding a playful Hank. He splashed his food, making a mess of himself, but he was so happy about it that I couldn’t be upset about it. “Do you have the strawberry syrup?”

“For our first breakfast with our future brother-in-law? You bet I do.”

Tyler snorted. “Should’ve talked to me instead.”

“Kara, that’s not funny.”

“I think it is.” She waved a spatula at me. “I told Tyler your one-night crap.”

“Have you seen Isaac?” Tyler scoffed. “You’d be crazy to walk away after one night.”

Kara made an agreeing sound. “Everyone’s seen Isaac.”

The doorbell rang, and I glared at both of them while standing. “If either of you says anything weird over breakfast, I will out you as wannabe swingers.”

Tyler moved over to take over with Hank. “If we’re going to get him to swing with us, we’re going to have to talk to him about it, Mallory.”

“I hate you both.”

Casey and Taylor chose that moment to walk in. Casey was still rubbing her eyes as she woke up. “Why do you hate Mom and Dad?”

Taylor grunted. “Probably because they made her wake up so early.”

I opened the door and found myself blushing as I looked up at a fresh-looking Isaac. With his hair still wet and a knowing smile on his face, he was too sexy for it to be legal. I automatically leaned against the doorway, feeling a little swoony. “Hi.”

He wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me into his chest, quickly leaning down to deliver a hard kiss. “Hi.”

“Mom! Aunt Mal is kissing Mr. Isaac!” Casey’s shout jolted me away from Isaac.

“Leave your aunt and her new man friend alone!”

I covered my face with my hands and found something sticky on my forehead. Groaning, I realized I had Hank’s breakfast on me. “Just run now, while you can.”