Proving Paul's Promise(13)

A grin tugs at my lips, and I shake my head.

“Busted,” he sings out.

Friday looks from him to me and back. “Who’s busted?” she asks.

Cody opens his mouth to answer her, but Emily saves me by butting in. “They asked me to record with them,” she says as she takes the remote and turns the volume back down.

That takes my attention off Friday. “Seriously?” I ask.

She nods. “I’m still thinking about it. They want me to tour with them, too, but I told them no.”

Sam shoves her shoulder, and she grunts and points to her belly. “Um, helloooo?” Emily sings. But she’s grinning, too.

The door opens, and Pete walks in. Damn, it’s like a revolving door tonight.

“I can’t believe you turned them down,” Sam says.

“Who turned what down?” Pete asks. Sam and Pete are identical twins, but anyone who knows them can tell them apart.

Sam points to the TV. “Em got an offer to tour with the girl band, Fallen from Zero.”

“Shut the f*ck up!” Pete cries. He throws himself over the back of the couch so that he lands with his legs across Sam’s lap.

“Watch the belly!” Emily yells as she covers it with her palm. He’s far from hitting her, though.

“That drummer is hot,” Sam says. He’s still watching the footage with no sound, since we play the TV with subtitles for Logan all the time.

“I would have thought you’d like the lead singer best,” Emily says, watching his face.

He shakes his head. “Not my type.”

“Not enough ass,” Pete tosses out. “He’s not into skinny chicks.” Pete looks over at Emily. “No offense, Em.”

Emily rolls her eyes and points to her very pregnant belly.

Sam shoots Pete a look and shoves Pete’s legs out of his lap.

Pete makes a move like he’s grabbing and squeezing. “Sam likes a girl he can hold on to.”

Sam’s face goes pink as he shrugs. “I like curves,” he says. “I can’t help it.”

Pete shoves him again. “He wants tits and ass,” he says, making that squeezing motion again.

“And a brain,” Sam says, holding up his finger.

“And an appetite,” I add.

Sam raises his brow. “I like to cook. So I like a girl who likes to eat. Go figure.”

Emily laughs.

Sam must feel the need to explain himself because he goes on. “I hate taking a girl to dinner and having her order a salad. Or having her tell me she can’t eat one of my famous cupcakes because she’s on a diet.” He shivers like he’s repulsed by the very idea of it. He draws an hourglass figure in the air with his hands. “I’ll take tits, ass, and thighs, please,” he says, as though he’s ordering dinner. “And, dammit, if there’s icing that can be licked off places, I want her to be able to partake without thinking about calories.”

“TMI, Sam!” Emily cries, covering her ears.

Sam laughs, so I throw a remote at his head. “Act like a gentleman,” I warn, because I feel like I should. But that shit’s funny as hell.

“I could introduce you to that drummer,” Emily suggests.

He pulls his lip piercing into his mouth and toys with it. “Let me think about it.”

The door opens again, and Matt and Skylar walk in, along with Logan. Matt is the next oldest brother, after me, and Skylar is his wife. She’s pregnant and almost as big as Emily since she’s carrying twins, even though she’s only seven months along. Their three kids walk in behind them. The little girls run to Hayley’s room to play, and Seth, their sixteen-year-old, pulls a chair from the table and turns it around backward, straddles it, and folds his arms over the back so he’s facing us.

I glance down at my watch. Hayley has been with her mom this week, but Kelly should be dropping her off soon.

I get up, and Sky sits down in my chair. Matt sits at her feet and takes the beer that Garrett passes to him. I sit down at the end of the couch by Friday and press my shoulder against her leg. I look up at her, and she looks down, appearing somewhat startled.

“You okay?” I ask quietly.

She nods. As long as she’s all right, I’m all right.

She’s kicked off those four-inch heels she wears, but she’s still wearing the fishnet stockings. I slide my hand around the back of her ankle and tickle the inside of it with the tips of my fingers. Her toes jerk, but she doesn’t move her foot away. She spreads her thighs about an inch and presses more tightly against my shoulder, and I can feel the air around her move as she takes in a deep breath.

So that’s what it’s like… Now I get how Logan, Pete, and Matt felt when they met the women they’d spend the rest of their lives with. Because I’d rather sit here and touch her ankle than I would f*ck any other woman in the world.

We listen to Pete tell a story about a boy he met at work and how he’s helping him through the system. Pete started a local buddy program, hooking ex-cons up with juvenile offenders. It gives the ex-con something to look forward to and someone to be better for. Many of them never had families, or they lost what family they had, so it builds a support network. Plus, it helps the kids hopefully stay out of future trouble. I am so proud of Pete that I could bust sometimes. But I know I can’t take any credit for him being the awesome man he’s become.