"What the hell do fourteen-year-old girls need to talk to each other about that late at night?"
Damian turned completely toward him but only smirked condescendingly. "You have a lot to learn, little brother."
"What do you mean by that?" Nick asked, confused.
"Madison hasn't been texting a girl. Hell, no. Not as easy as that."
Nick was completely floored. "She's texting a boy at two a.m.?"
"Oh, it gets worse," Damian announced, his muscles stiffening as anger became apparent on his visage.
Nick couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Do I need to sit down?"
"You might."
"Tell me," Nick demanded.
Damian lowered the boom. "The kid she's been texting is sixteen."
Nick stared at his brother for a moment before glancing at Madison who was lying on a lounger with ear buds in her ears. Christ. Were those curves on that little kid? Moving his eyes to Melissa, her twin, he saw the exact same curves but she was rambunctiously playing in the pool with her cousins and little brother so they weren't as transparent. Nick swallowed and glanced back at his brother. "Have you put out a contract on the kid?" he asked, only half-teasing.
"Wish I could. Just wait. You'll see, it'll happen to you one day."
Ignoring that prediction into his future, Nick asked, "Where'd she meet him?"
"School. Summer practices. He's on the football team."
Nick caught on quickly and felt his brother's pain. "Fuck . . . she made freshman cheerleader."
"Yeah, and classes start next week. It's not like we can ground her from school," Damian said flatly.
"You think anything's going on?" Nick asked, almost flinching at the thought.
"We don't think so, but we're pretty much dumbshit parents, you know? You think we grew up fast man? These kids grow up at warp-speed."
Nick shook his head, not liking the sound of things. "How's Angie handling it?"
At the sound of his wife's name, Damian turned, his gaze searching for and finding her. "Better than I am. She's talking to Madison about it, a lot," he said, continuing to watch his wife from across the yard.
"Well, that's good, I guess," Nick answered, although it appeared he'd lost his brother somewhere. Damian's attention was firmly on his wife, and as Nick glanced in Angie's direction, he saw she was watching her husband as well. Her glance moved to Nick for a second, and she flushed before quickly smiling and then looking away. Feeling as if he was interrupting a moment that was suddenly private, Nick cleared his throat.
Damian's attention turned back to Nick and the waiting grill. "You guys going to stay for lunch? We've got plenty," his brother offered, almost as an afterthought.
"Can we take a rain check?" Nick asked. "We have a million things to get ready with school starting next week."
"Sure, no problem."
"I better get to it then," Nick breathed out. "You know how long it's going to take to round 'em all up."
Damian just laughed, nodded his head and began flipping the burgers again.
Later that night, all four kids were accounted for and in their bedrooms, if not asleep.
Nick leaned back in the bed, hands behind his head and waited for Courtney to come from the shower, his body hardening at the mere thought. He loved the smell of Courtney all the time: when she was made up and ready to go out, when she was fresh from a swim in the ocean, even when she was covered in dirt from working in the garden.
But the smell of her right out of the shower did him in every time. It wasn't so much because of her squeaky clean scent or because he knew she'd be naked under her nightclothes.
It was because she was ready for bed. And the connotation of that was like a red flag to a bull where he was concerned.
He certainly didn't live his life just for their love life. He loved every second of every day of his life. He loved the family they had together. The kids meant everything to him and Courtney was completely happy now, and she was the perfect mother.
But when she took a shower at night and came to bed, it was to be with him. He didn't mind sharing her during the day with the kids, or even at night if one of them happened to be sick, but most nights, nights like this one, she was his and his alone.
It never let up, the love he felt for her. It had always been there, since his early twenties, and it had only grown and deepened as the years went by.
He heard the water stop and a few minutes later, she began walking toward the bed, taking her hair from the elastic band she'd tied it in.
As the soft blonde curls fell around her shoulders, he groaned and bit out, "I love you."
She glanced at him, undoubtedly hearing the intensity he couldn't keep from his voice and she stared at him a moment, her heart in her eyes. "I love you, too."
He patted the spot beside him, "Come to bed."
She smiled and began to switch off the light.
"Leave it on," he rasped out.
She sucked in a breath and then sent him a small, seductive smile. "We're going to play a game?"
Leaving the light on usually meant Nick was in a certain mood and Courtney knew him well enough to recognize that fact. They only very rarely played sexual games. There was really no need. The sex was fantastic without anything extra. But for some reason, there was a certain thought that was tantalizing him tonight. He raised an eyebrow. "You want to?"
Her eyes lit up and she nodded her head. Putting first one knee on the bed and then the other, she paused and whispered, "Tell me your rules."
"My rules?" he asked, barely keeping the amusement from his voice.
Her palms went to his chest and with her hot touch against his naked skin, his amusement fled. "The situation you want," she prompted softly, running her mouth along his ear, all too eager to please him.
His hands landed on her outer thighs, gripping her where she kneeled eagerly next to him, ready to try anything he wanted. "Okay. You're eighteen, and I find you home, all alone."
"Oh, I like the sound of that one," she smiled wickedly.
A rush of blood hit his groin. "Shit, me too, baby."
She lifted her head, about to begin, but Nick ran his hands up to her shoulders and she paused, searching his eyes. He swallowed, "You're eighteen, Courtney. You're eighteen, I'm twenty-four, and I'm going to strip you naked like I was never able to before." Her eyes flared and his heart began racing as he demanded, "but you're happy, understand, baby?"
She continued to search his expression, her eyes turning serious, until a tiny smile lifted her lips. "Okay, I understand."
"Do you, sweetheart?"
"Yeah, I do." She gave him a soft, bittersweet smile as she ran her fingers through his hair. "You never want me to be sad again, not even in make-believe."
He lifted his hands to her hair, gripping her at the scalp. "That's right. I want you to be happy. Always happy. Like you make me and the kids."
Her bittersweet smile turned so sweet that his stomach flipped. "You don't need to worry. I'm always happy, Nick. You and the kids are my happiness."
He felt a shot of instant relief, and unable to wait a second longer, his lips dropped to hers and he began kissing her like he planned on doing for the rest of his life.
The End