“I know. I’m really excited to finally lose my virginity.”
At first, he curls his lip. Then he bursts out laughing. “I can tell.” He glances down at my swollen belly.
After that, each person heads our way. Caleb’s sister claims him and Kara grabs my hand, pulling me aside.
“You are a bitch!” she whisper-yells at me while standing on her toes and peeking over my shoulder.
“Excuse me?”
“I thought we were friends? But it’s obvious you don’t like me at all!” She flashes her wild eyes back to mine.
“What the hell are you talking about?” Kara is off-the-charts crazy, but even this behavior is strange for her.
“Your two best friends are gorgeous guys and you didn’t think to introduce them to me once. What is wrong with you?” she asks with the most serious look I have ever seen on a face outside of Caleb’s.
I immediately try to stifle my laughter, look up, and try to match her tone. “You’re right. That was very rude of me.”
“How do you know them?” she breathes.
“Well, I grew up with Alex, and Hunter and I used to date.”
Her head snaps over to me. “You lucky whore,” she says before looking down and telling my stomach, “No disrespect intended, li’l man.”
I can’t help it. I have to laugh. Caleb’s eyes fly to mine from across the room, and I wave him off.
“They are both single, so which one are you interested in?”
“Both. At the same time,” she says with a dreamy gaze.
“That would be a maybe with Hunter and a hell no with Alex. Sorry, lady, but you’re going to have to pick one.”
“Hunter.” She all but drools after saying his name.
“Excellent choice.” I smile. “Hey, Hunt, can you look here for a second?” I call across the room.
“What’s up, sugar?” he drawls, and I swear Kara moans.
“I’ve been rude. You may have already met, but I want to officially introduce you to my very, very good friend, Kara Reed.”
Hunter tips his beer to his lips while sliding his eyes over her petite body. I glance down at my wedding ring and thank the Lord that I will never have to do the dating game again.
He tosses her a wink before saying, “Nice to meet you, again, Kara Reed. I’m Hunter Coy.” He extends a hand with a very obvious twinkle in his dark brown eyes.
“Okay, well I need to get back to my husband. I’ll catch up with y’all in a bit.”
I leave as they continue to shake hands for entirely too long. But before I go, I have a little additional information for Kara. I lean in close to her ear and whisper one single word.
“Eggplant.”
Oh yeah. She definitely moans this time.
I brush off my hands from a job well done and head back to my man.
“Hey, you.” I cozy in close to Caleb’s side.
“Hey, Emmy.”
“This is perfect.” I lean up for an all-too-brief kiss.
“Well, I told you I screwed up the proposal. I wasn’t going to screw this up too. Besides, it’s still small and intimate like we planned. I pretty much consider everyone in this room family.”
“Thank you.” I lean my head against his chest and loop my arm tight around his hips. As I trace the tattoos on his forearms, with a dozen people chatting around us, the whole crazy world all ceases to exist.
AFTER AN incredible night of lovemaking with my wife, I dragged Emma home at the crack of dawn. She groaned and whined, begging for me to just let her sleep. But I was almost as excited as a kid on Christmas.
See, I’ve lied to Emma a lot recently. And while I normally wouldn’t be very proud of that trait, today I am damn near ecstatic.
“Jeez, Caleb! What the hell lit a fire under your ass this morning?”
“It’s October first,” I announce, pulling her out of the truck and into the backyard.
“And?” she asks, thoroughly confused.
“Your due date is in exactly four months. In less than one hundred and twenty days, I will meet my temporarily named son, Collin. By the way, I’m still holding out hope for something not so preppy.” She playfully slaps my chest, and I smile huge, knowing what’s to come. “So I realize we are not even twenty-four hours into our marriage yet, but I already have a confession to make.”
“Is it that you have been secretly hiding a bed in the backyard? Because I could really use a pillow and, like, eight more hours of sleep right now.”
“Jesus, Emmy. Talk about stealing my thunder. That is eerily correct.”
“Which part? About the bed or the fact that I need more sleep?” she asks, looking up through tired eyes.