I Love How You Love Me(The Sullivans)(57)

“And I’ve forgotten how much they eat and poop,” Megan said with a laugh. “Funny how quickly our brains erase that, isn’t it?”

It was true, Grace thought. For all the sleepless nights she and Mason had had in those early months, what stuck with her were the smiles, the cuddling, how much fun they had playing together, and the sweet way he always fell asleep halfway through story time.

An adorable toddler led a pregnant woman toward them by the hand. “Smith! Jackie!” The little girl waved at Sophie’s kids. “I’m here!” A few seconds later she was giving each of the other kids a big hug, including Mason, who clearly loved being with them all. Grace laughed along with everyone else at the little girl’s exuberant and very sweet greeting.

“I’m Chloe,” the pregnant woman said, “and that whirlwind is Emma.”

“I’m Grace. It’s nice to meet you.” Grace was glad she was meeting the women who were parents first, because at least it gave her something in common with them. If she had met one of the other famous Sullivans first, she would have been a lot more nervous.

“Look at how cute they are, all playing together!” exclaimed a petite woman with faint pink and blue streaks in her hair. “I’ve got to take some pictures to send to Marcus.”

Speaking of feeling nervous, Grace immediately recognized Nico. A massive pop star, her songs were constantly on the radio. She knew she should stop being so gobsmacked, considering she’d already met Ford Vincent and Tatiana Landon. But, honestly, what struck her most of all was how normal they all were. Where were the massive egos? Where were the entourages?

As soon as Mason saw the other kids hamming it up for Nico, he didn’t hesitate to get right in there.

“Is he yours?” Nico asked when she finally put her phone away.

“He is. He’s Mason, and I’m Grace.”

“It’s great to meet you. I’m Nicola. And from what I can see, Jackie, Smith, and Emma have found their new BFF.” She leaned over to give baby Logan a kiss before snapping some pictures of him, too. “I don’t know how much more of this my hormones can take.”

Megan shot Sophie and Chloe a quick look before saying, “Are you and Marcus thinking of getting pregnant?”


“I know we only just got married and I’m in the middle of a tour, but...” She looked back at the children all energetically playing their little instruments. “Every time I’m with you guys, I find myself thinking more and more about having kids. Plus,” she said as her eyes got all dreamy, “Marcus is going to be an amazing father.”

The women all nodded, with Sophie saying, “The best.”

“I know there’s no rush,” Nicola said, “but I don’t know if there’s any reason to wait, either.”

“You’ve got great instincts. You’ll know when it’s right for you,” Megan said.

“Or maybe one day you’ll just wake up pregnant like I did,” Sophie said with a laugh.

A woman who was nearly a carbon copy of Sophie walked up just then and said, “You didn’t exactly just wake up pregnant. I believe there was some wild sex during a one-night stand with a really hot guy first.”

“Meet my twin, Lori,” Sophie said to Grace. And then to her sister, “This is Grace.”

“Ohh, you’re gorgeous,” Lori said. “No wonder Dylan is gaga over you.”

“Lori and Summer share a lot of the same qualities,” Megan said with a grin.

Grace knew she had two choices: Either feel overwhelmed by Dylan’s family and bolt…or roll with it and just have fun. After little more than a week with Dylan, she knew exactly what the right answer was.

Fun.

“It’s nice to meet you, too, Lori.” Grace nodded toward the group of kids. “The toddler whaling on the drums over there is my son, Mason.”

“Seriously, the two of you are perfect. Double-no-wonder my cousin is head over heels. Dylan is great with kids, isn’t he?”

“He’s certainly amazing with Mason.”

“Dylan is only five years older than me and Soph, but when we were kids, he would come up with the most fun games. And,” Lori added with a nod toward her twin sister, “he was usually the only one who could get her to stop crying.”

Sophie rolled her eyes. “I was only crying because you were so loud all the time that you made my head hurt. Still are,” she added with a smile. “Dylan’s awesome with Smith and Jackie, too. Definitely right up there on their favorite-uncle list.”

Just then, the lights started flashing. “Mia must be here!” Lori declared in a loud stage whisper, even though there was no point in trying to conceal themselves with the kids making so much noise.

“I’m so glad you could drop by the set today, Mia,” they heard Tatiana say in a voice made deliberately loud enough to carry to everyone. “How was your honeymoon?”

“It was a week of sex and sleep on repeat with great food and plenty of tequila mixed in. What could be better? I feel like I could tackle pretty much anything now.”

Grace’s parents weren’t prudes by any means, but she hadn’t grown up with the subject of sexuality spoken about so freely, nor had a group of girlfriends who shared details. The thing was, instead of feeling uncomfortable about it, she found that she really liked it.