Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 89145 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 446(@200wpm)___ 357(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89145 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 446(@200wpm)___ 357(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
My mouth twitched.
Kellan laughed and slapped Finn on the shoulder. “I don’t think you’ve got anything to worry about, boss. Your abs have just gone into hiding lately. They might reappear. And Alfie’s gay as fuck.”
“Gym membership, it is,” Finn sighed. Then he faced me and buttoned his suit. But to quote Kellan, the man had nothing to worry about. He was lethally handsome, with steel-gray eyes and cut features. He had a few inches on me too, and I wasn’t precisely short at six feet. “I hear we’re cousins.”
Technically.
I opened the door wider and extended my hand. “I’m Alfie.”
He nodded with a dip of his chin and shook my hand firmly. “Finn.” As he entered, he tilted his head at Kellan again. “He’s got Liam’s eyes.”
Uh, no, I had my own eyes. Cheers.
I didn’t want them to start looking for similarities between me and the Murrays.
“Huh. Maybe you’re right.” Kellan eyed me pensively. “Yeah, you can kinda see it—both Liam and Alec.”
“Don’t make me close my eyes, mate,” I said. I gestured vaguely to the living room and asked if they wanted something to drink.
They didn’t.
Finn wasn’t shy. He took a glance around the living room before he walked over to the shelves and studied my pictures. Plenty of photos on the walls too. Most of them were obviously of the kids, but some were of my folks, me, a couple cousins and their kids…
“Ford mentioned you have a son and a daughter,” Finn said. “How old are they?”
Kellan took a seat on the couch and pulled out his phone.
I cleared my throat and joined Finn. “Uh, Tanner’s eight, and Noelle is six. Their nicknames kinda stuck, so everyone calls them Trip and Ellie.”
“Trip.” He smiled faintly. “They’re cute. I have an army of my own. Children are a blessing. Ain’t that right, Kellan?”
I grinned at that, ’cause I remembered when I’d first told Kellan about Ellie when I’d flown out here to visit. We’d just been approved as foster parents for Tanner, so I’d kept that to myself at the time. And who could blame me? Kellan’s exact words had been, “Congrats on your tax break” and “You know gay men don’t gotta do that shite, right?”
“With all due respect, boss, fuck off.”
Finn and I chuckled. Kellan never looked up from his phone.
He did add something, though. “Lemme be clear. I like the little shits when you can communicate with ’em. But when Finn and Emilia want the house to themselves, and Shan offers to babysit…? Fuck me sideways, I wanna jump off the balcony. There are five of them. Five.”
Finn laughed. “Consider it monthly payback for hooking up with my old man.”
Kellan kissed his fingertips, and Finn shuddered.
I pinched my lips together. Shit was going all right, wasn’t it?
So far.
Figuring kids was a safe topic, I went with it. “How old are yours?”
“This is gonna take a while,” Kellan muttered.
“Fuck you, mate,” Finn laughed. “Autumn’s fifteen. The wife and I adopted her, so we’re not from Alabama or anything.”
“To be fair, you started early enough,” Kellan pointed out. “Well, Emilia did. And not by choice…”
I raised my brows.
Finn sucked his teeth. “Motherfucker, you make it sound like I’m a rapist.” He flicked me a glance. “She was very willing. I just neglected to tell her I’d replaced her birth control with placebos.”
Jesus Christ, that was all kinds of batshit. Not that I’d tell him that.
“In my defense, she’s the one pushing for more now,” he went on, and that was directed at Kellan.
“Like you’re complaining,” he replied with an eye roll.
“I didn’t say I was.” Finn shrugged. Then he got back on track and explained to me. “We had Ryan almost five years ago. Our twin boys, Reagan and Cory, will be three soon. And then we had an oops baby shortly after—Kian. He turns two next week, actually. And, so anyway, we all decided it was best if Emilia could rest for a while, but she’s itching for another girl, and the doctor cleared her before the summer.”
“So now Shannon is babysitting a whole fuckin’ lot,” Kellan drawled. “By the way, there’s nothing oops about fucking unprotected.”
Finn just looked proud. “What can I say, my swimmers and a bottle of wine will make shit happen for the wife.” He adjusted his cuff links absently. “In another by the way, nobody’s buying your act, Ford. Last time you and Dad babysat, he told me you’d taken Ryan and Kian shopping—your suggestion and everything.”
“Because you dress them like hobos!” Kellan defended.
“They’re children,” Finn grated out. “You know what Ryan did with the suspenders you got him? He tried to choke the nanny.”
Oh my God. I couldn’t help it. I cracked the fuck up.
“Good!” Kellan laughed too. “I never liked that old bird anyway.”
Finn rolled his eyes but couldn’t really withhold his own amusement. It must’ve been a sight. I could picture it too, mostly because it sounded like something Ellie would do.