“Well,” her dad said. “It’s time they grew up but I guess reality had to hit them in the face first. Teresa’s never struck me as unforgiving and Angel and Joaquin are their brothers. It’ll work out. But I’m glad to hear that their family is settled again. I hope the family reconciles with time.”
“I’m sure they will, eventually.”
“Well, girls,” Doug said as he set his empty beer bottle aside. “It’s getting late for this old man and I know you both have work in the morning. Ready to head home, Presley Ann?”
“Yes, sir. I’ll just get my purse and we can go.”
After the two of them had departed, Leah said, “I need to tidy up my unpacking mess before bed.”
James’s heart felt like it was stretching as he nodded, having enjoyed watching her put her pretty things on display…in their home.
He kissed her cheek, and said, “I’ll clean up the mess around the grill. It won’t take long.”
Vincent followed him out to retrieve the empty beer bottles from the table on the back porch and then came over by the grill and leaned against the log wall. “Feels like things are really coming together, huh?”
James nodded as he used the brush on the grill. “Yeah. You anxious to find out if she’s pregnant?”
Vincent swatted a moth away as he shrugged. “Sometimes, yeah, but mostly I’m just happy she’s here with us and not leaving. I remember seeing her that day in the hospital parking lot and feeling…like she just stole my breath from me. And not being able to hold on to her, having to let her go off to take care of her injured hands and knees. She’s so self-sufficient and I don’t imagine that’ll change but I like that she lets us do for her, a little, anyway.”
“I know that’s not easy for her. Do you—what’s that noise?” James asked as he and Vincent looked out over the darkening expanse of yard, trying to determine where the thumping sound was coming from.
Vincent pushed away from the wall. “Maybe it’s Blue.”
At the mention of his name, Blue lifted his head from a bush below the porch and gave a soft woof before his attention was also drawn by the rapid thumping noise and he ran up the porch steps.
A high-pitched giggle drew their attention to the house and both men took stealthy steps toward the windows that looked in through the dining room and across the house. James chuckled softly as he watched.
“What in the hell is she doing?” Vincent said as he gazed at her with an idiotic smile on his face.
“Look,” James said as she stooped and then suddenly hopped on the hardwood floor. A peal of laughter rang through the window and she began a rapid jogging in place that made her curls bob and her cheeks rosy.
“I sure like all that bobbing up and down she’s doing.”
James tried to keep his laughter quiet as they watched. She probably wasn’t aware she was turning on her men with the way her breasts were bobbing with each step, and then she turned in a circle, still gleefully stomping.
Vincent bit his lower lip. “Damn, I love that little bouncy bubble butt of hers. Makes me want to take a bite. But that doesn’t explain what she’s doing.”
“The Bubble Wrap. She’s popping the Bubble Wrap.”
They stood out there for a couple more minutes watching her gleefully pop the bubbles in all the wrappings from the crystal that were scattered on the floor. Now that his ears were attuned, he could even here the snap, crackle, pop as she stomped with uninhibited joy.
Vincent elbowed him and said, “Now that’s a different girl right there from the one I mentioned earlier.”
James nodded. “Yeah, she is.”
“And she’s all ours. Reckon she’d welcome our help?”
“You just want to get closer while she jiggles.”
Vincent snorted. “Hell yeah. I’m not stupid, man. If we play our cards right, jiggling could lead to nekkidness, and you know nekkidness leads to hot sex.”
His hardening cock confirmed the feeling was mutual for James. She’d kept something important to her packed away for a long time, and he was all for closing that chapter and starting a brand-new one with her.
He followed his brother in the back door, his heart lurching at the unguarded delight shining in her eyes as she looked up at them from across the room.
* * * *
August…
Leah was filled with anticipation as she shifted her “new” old freshly reupholstered and customized pickup into park in the parking lot outside the Dancing Pony. James’s truck and several others she recognized, belonging to the bachelor party crew, were already there.