Shopping for a CEO's Baby (Shopping for a Billionaire Series Book 16), стр. 24
“I… can't wait… to tell Vince and… Gerald,” Declan gasps, holding his sides.
“You do that, I'll tell them your nickname from the lacrosse team at Milton.”
Declan freezes. Shannon gives me an extraordinary look, the kind I only thought I gave people when they threatened to spill the secret on an opponent.
“What was it?” she gasps as Declan lunges for me, hand over my mouth before I can react.
He may have the element of surprise, but I have superior muscle strength.
Thanks, Vince.
“Don't. You. Dare,” Dec says, grabbing my arm, which makes Shannon look at us.
Really look.
“Declan, you're a mess!” Shannon says reproachfully, reaching for Dec's hands, mouth turning down as she eyes the black all over them. “What on Earth? You look like you bathed in grease!” She sniffs. “And you smell like tar.”
“Close,” I mutter, wondering if I can grab a quick shower before my wife arrives and I get the same lecture.
Ding! The doorbell snatches my defeat from the jaws of victory.
Damn.
Amanda appears in the doorway, the seconds before she hugs Shannon a moment for me to take her in. The maternity clothes have finally taken over her wardrobe, belly swelling with a grace that mirrors my heart as I watch her. That belly grows my children. That body sacrifices so our sons can be born.
That body gives so much for me.
But it's not her body I have to watch out for.
It's her mouth.
“Andrew!” She looks me over, eyes going to my face, my hands, my arms, then centering on my knee. She points. “What is that? A TIRE TRACK? Did you get run over by something?”
“More like someone,” Declan crows as he ducks into the master suite. His laughter booms until a door closes, then a shower begins. Good thing they have three bathrooms, because I'm taking over the guest one.
“What is Declan talking about?” Amanda asks, coming to me, walking a little slower than usual. Is she… waddling?
No. Can't be. She's only at twenty-six weeks.
“Dec and I got into a fight with a monster-truck tire. Dec lost.”
“I HEARD THAT!” a muffled voice comes from down the hall. “YOU LOST!”
“We tied,” I explain to her and Shannon.
“DID NOT!”
“Declan!” Shannon calls out. “Take your shower. We're going to be late for dinner reservations if you don't hurry up.”
The bathroom door opens and steam pours out. Dec's soaking wet head appears, and he yells, “Uncadoo is lying!”
“TAKE THE DAMN SHOWER!” Shannon shouts in a voice that makes me see how similar she really is to her mother, Marie.
Ellie looks at her mother, fascinated and a little nervous at the change in her demeanor. Shannon's definitely not a yeller, so even I'm a little nervous, too.
“Mama loud,” Ellie says, pointing.
“Yes, sweetie.” Shannon scoops her up and balances her on one hip. “Sorry.”
“Too loud!” she admonishes in a voice you'd expect from a librarian, not a small toddler.
“Yes,” Shannon says in a calming voice.
Ellie's little fingers cover Shannon's lips. “Shhhhhh.”
Something in my chest melts. We're about to have this.
In duplicate.
“Uncadoo shhhh,” Ellie says, reaching for my mouth. Shannon's eyes flash with horror, making me wonder what I actually look like.
“Let Uncadoo take a shower first. And brush your teeth. You have black streaks on the two top ones,” she says, making me reach up.
Huh. Slightly swollen lip, too.
“Did you two get into a brawl at a tire factory?” Amanda asks, giving Shannon so many covert looks they might as well give up on trying to be subtle.
“Something like that.” I hold up my gym bag. “I'll just shower in the guest bathroom.”
“Uncadoo owie,” Ellie says as I walk away. In the bathroom, I stare at my reflection.
Yeeesh.
Dec got me good.
But I got him better.
The bottom of the bathtub has a small pile of black residue around the drain by the time I'm done showering, body still pumped from the competition that–to be entirely, utterly objective–was a tie, whether Dec will admit it or not.
My shoulder screams as I reach into the armholes of my clean polo shirt, and I know my thighs will join the pain chorus later, too, but once I'm done, I'm presentable enough. The swollen lip isn't that bad, and my jeans and shirt cover the red marks left from rubber being dragged across my skin.
But at least I wasn't dragged across the tug of war line.
I call that victory.
Dec and I emerge from our separate bathrooms at the same time. I’m dressed in my casual clothes, he’s in a nice suit and a tie I personally would donate to a homeless shelter, but if he likes it, whatever.
“You two are incorrigible,” Shannon pronounces, her mouth tight with annoyance, her gaze taller.
Taller?
I finally shake myself out of my gym state and look at her. My sister-in-law is a hot, full-figured honey blonde who any man would be lucky to pin down, but she chose Declan.
Which means she has weird taste in men.
She's dressed in deep, dark blue–a dress that hugs her curves. It’s cut low in front but with long sleeves and skirt, and tied at the waist. Diamonds sparkle in her ears, sapphires on her wrist. And she smells great.
Dec's fastening his cufflinks.
One wrist shows a black streak he couldn't get off in the shower.
SCORE!
“You two are positively medieval,” Amanda says to me as she examines my face like a mother, one hand clenching my chin, turning me from side to side. She sure does have the maternal seething expression nailed down already, huh?
“That's right,” I agree. “Because I'm the king.”
“More like the court jester,” Declan says calmly, pulling at one cuff. Shannon whaps him.
He kisses her cheek.
He grins.
And then his eyes widen as he really takes in his wife.
“You look hot.” He pulls her in for a deeper kiss, one that makes me wrap my arm around Amanda's waist.
Her growing waist.
“I tried,” Shannon says breathlessly as they break the kiss. “I waxed and everything.”
“You waxed... everything?”
Another whap.
Laughter pours out of both of them as Ellie