Nick
An island Christmas was weird.
He was a California guy, well used to the month of December being hot and sunny. But he’d now spent just enough holidays at his wife Lila’s parents’ place in upstate New York that looking out the window and seeing a hammock rocking wildly in the wind and white sand and palm trees wrapped in giant red bows was unnatural.
Well, the decorated trees would’ve been unnatural regardless. Who did that?
“We should be visiting Mom and Pop with the girls. We would’ve been, if I’d known interlopers were coming before we got here.”
“Zoe is my cousin, and therefore, she is not an interloper.”
Nick grunted. Zoe was okay. Her choice of a romantic companion, however, left much to be desired.
“We discussed this, remember? You’re supposed to be nice.”
He rolled his eyes at Lila and moved away from the window to flop on the gigantic bed. At least the suite Simon and his wife Margo had bequeathed to him and Li for the duration of this trip was spacious. It even had a hot tub. All told, the accommodations were pretty swanky.
Still though, who would be dumb enough to go on a beach vacation when their wife was about to pop?
Oh, that would be Simon. The guy was his best friend, his brother really, but he was also about as good at planning as…well, he wasn’t.
He sucked at it.
Of course Nick had been making fun of Simon—whether in reality or just in his head—since they were kids. Building a world-famous band together, Oblivion, hadn’t changed that one bit.
Now they were adding families to the mix. Nick and Lila already had their twin girls, who were growing up by the minute and would be in school soon, God help them all. But Simon and Margo hadn’t planned on having kids until their oops baby had come along. This would be their one and only. Unless the fertile Myrtles had more oops, which Nick wouldn’t put past them.
For now, there was just the one Kagan kid on the way.
Like…really fucking soon.
Ian, however, was a different story. He was the black sheep secret brother—The Days of The Restless much—who’d shown up and caused general mayhem along with being indirectly involved in some fucking scary shit that had included Margo’s kidnapping.
You’d think that would blacklist you, but nope. In no time after that, he’d been accepted into the warm bosom of his family.
Well, Margo’s warm bosom anyway. Simon was a bit more discerning. But not by much.
“I’m pretty sure I was nice to Ian. I invited him and Zoe in, showed them around, gave them the lay of the land while Simon and Margo were out cavorting in the surf. I even offered them a cheese plate, for God’s sake.”
Which Ian had refused, claiming dairy didn’t sit well with him. Nick suspected he feared possible poisoning.
He should know better. Nick would never want to do the jail time.
“Well, then, how dare I say a thing? If there’s cheese involved, clearly you were a saint.”
Nick ignored his wife’s smirk. “I’m just saying, I was more than cordial. I’d almost say I was pleasant.”
“And the heavens rejoiced. Though, um, I think Margo is a bit too pregnant to be ‘cavorting’, whether it’s in the surf or otherwise.”
“I can’t believe she’s still ambulatory. She’s literally the size of this building.”
Lila finished buttoning up her plaid shirt. That and a pair of fancy linen-looking pants was her idea of vacation wear. It was better than her usual suit though. “Shh, you’re terrible. Did you say the same thing about me when I was pregnant?”
“No, you were the size of two buildings, because twins.” Nick leaned sideways and snagged his fingers in the belt loops of Lila’s pants, drawing her closer. He undid two of the buttons she’d just fastened and pressed a kiss to her belly. “It’s my life’s work to get you right back there again.”
“Bite your tongue. No more twins. That’s in the marital contract.” She flicked her fingers through his hair.
When she didn’t say anything else, he tilted back his head and swallowed at the pinch around her eyes. He knew better than to say shit like that. Even playfully.
“It might not happen for us again.” She cleared her throat. “And that’s okay, right?”
Hearing that rare flash of uncertainty from Lila knocked him back a step or five, as it always did. She was so rarely anything but steadfast and unwavering in all things.
But trying to have another baby when she had a miscarriage and troubles conceiving in her past were a different story. And he wanted to sew his damn mouth shut for not knowing better.
Some things you just couldn’t make jokes about. Ever.
“It’s more than okay. We have the best girls in the universe. They keep us plenty busy enough.” He tugged on her hand and pulled her down on the bed beside him, shifting until she was half underneath him.
His favorite place for her to be, unless she was on top. That was also fine by him.
“You’re not just saying that?” She fingercombed his hair back from his face, looking at it instead of meeting his eyes. “I know you really want that one perfect son you’ve been fantasizing about since we started dating.”
“I was not fantasizing about a son when we started dating, honey. I was fantasizing about ripping your prim little skirts off and filling you up until I screamed.”
Lila was Oblivion’s rep through Ripper Records, and it had not been love at first sight. Or even like. On either side, though obviously that had eventually changed.
Nick was reasonably certain he’d fallen first. Okay, he had. At least his dick had gotten involved—and falling hadn’t been part of the picture.
His wife was fucking hot.
Even today, when she’d gone without makeup and her long blond hair was pinned up and she wore casual clothes—for her—she was the most stunning woman he’d ever seen. The pale freckles scattered on her nose were just as sexy as her big blue eyes.
Shrewd blue eyes, that took exactly zero shit from anyone. Including him.
Especially him.
Her lips curved. “Thought I was supposed to be the one screaming.”
“Damn women’s lib.” He grinned and gave her a quick kiss. “How about we both scream? That works for me.”
“I like the way you think. Just not here.” She put a finger over his lips when he reached for more buttons on her shirt. “My cousin is in the next room. She doesn’t need to hear that. I don’t need her to hear that.”
“But what, it’s okay if Ian hears it?” Nick barely resisted a growl.
“No, let’s just go with no one hearing anything. And hopefully vice versa as well.” She shuddered. “Bad enough I walked on them practically naked the morning after in the studio. I don’t need an audio soundtrack as well, thanks.”
“At least you won’t have to worry about hearing Simon and Margo.”
“How do you know? Some women enjoy sex right up to giving birth.”
“Yes, but he wouldn’t be dumb enough to risk that here. Isn’t that a sure way to push a woman into labor? Not that I’d know, since you had a C-section way in advance. But I had thoughts if necessary. Assuming you could’ve managed it. You weren’t as…mobile then as you normally are.”
“There’s an understatement. It does seem kind of risky, coming all the way out here when she’s so close to her due date. Relatively speaking anyway. I’m amazed her doctor even let her fly.”
“They probably slipped her some green and made lots of promises. They have that midwife chick traveling with them just in case. Luckily, we’re not here long.”
“Yeah. There’s a storm coming up from—”
“Storms take forever to move. Besides, don’t most of them spin themselves out over the ocean?”
“Have you been talking to Ian? He was saying the same thing earlier. Or is that the typical male response?” Lila kicked him lightly with her bare foot. Then pale pink toenails skimmed up the inside of his leg and he nearly forgot to argue.
She was an evil woman, his Li.
“Do I talk to Ian?”
“No, but you should, because he’s not going anywhere. Simon invited him here, remember?” Lila’s voice was gentle, and even that rankled. He did not need handling when it came to Simon’s newly discovered little brother.
He didn’t need handling period, unless it was of a naked nature. Then he didn’t mind.
“More like Margo invited him here. Let’s be real. Simon may be tolerating him more now, but do you really think he’d invite the guy on a vacation?”
“Yeah. They’re finding their way.” Lila rubbed his arm. “I know that’s hard for you. You don’t have to pretend with me.”
“Who’s pretending?”
He took a breath. “Yeah, okay, it kinda sucks for me. I mean, it shouldn’t. I’m happy for Simon, now that it looks like Ian isn’t a dick. Jury’s still out, since I don’t fully trust the guy.”
“But you’re used to having Simon all to yourself.”
“That sounds kinky in ways I don’t want to think about.” Yet it was kinda true.
Mostly true.
“First, you had to share him with his wife. Now a brother and a baby. Growing up’s rough.”
The amusement in her voice made him poke her in the side. “You’re funny. Pretty sure I have a wife and some kids too.”
Kids he already missed desperately, and they’d been on the island for under a day. He’d already called them twice at their grandmother’s. It was fairly pathetic. Especially since Avery—their clingiest child—had acted as if she was too busy to talk to him, even if it was mostly baby-style babble.
But that was neither here nor there.
“You do, and it still shocks me. And I’m the wife who gave birth to the kids.”
He rolled over onto his back and flung his arms out wide, draping his hand over her belly. “When did I forget how to just loaf? I don’t know what to do with myself without the sounds of screaming over glue and sudden tears. What have I become?”
“A dad.” Lila rolled over and lifted up the hem of his nearly threadbare Megadeth T-shirt to kiss his stomach. “That’s probably the sweetest thing you’ve ever said, by the way.”
“Is it increasing your interest in having quiet sex with me?”
She chuckled, but she didn’t look at his face. He lifted his head from the pillow, frowning at her focus on his belly.
“Your workouts are doing their job, hmm?”
“The job of nearly killing me daily?”
Or every other day, since he couldn’t keep up with freaking Deacon, Oblivion’s bassist. That beast could spend three hours in the gym and not break a sweat.
Nick? Not so much. But he’d built up a lot of his endurance over the past six months or so, and he’d kept it up even after Simon had started skipping more often than he showed for obvious reasons. His and Margo’s world had been rocked in more ways than one.
“The results are paying off.” Lila drew her pale pink nail around his navel and pulled down his shorts a fraction. His cock sprung up like it was on a damn spring. “You’re so ripped.”
Nick’s eyebrows rose. “Are you getting aroused by my eight-pack? Hot damn.” Maybe he’d start hitting the gym daily.
If Saint Deacon could handle it, so could he.
Plus, he had a whole case of Icy Hot at home.
“Let’s not get hasty. More like a six-pack.” Lila caught her tongue between her teeth as she lowered her head and pushed down his shorts another inch. “But that quiet sex is sounding better and better.”
“Oh, yeah?” He wove his fingers through her soft, thick hair, magically loosening her tidy little bun so that the apple-scented strands fell down around her shoulders. The tips skimmed his stomach and he went from interested to rock hard. “So, let’s get down to doing it and stop talking about it.” He nudged her head down toward his groin, and she went willingly, licking her slick pink lips. “Before—”
A knock sounded at the door and it swung open before he could so much as shout.
Simon threw up an arm to bar his eyes. “Jesus, man, can’t you control yourself?”
Lila rolled her eyes and casually tugged up his shorts. She hadn’t even gotten them all the way down yet, for God’s sake. So much for building up the moment. “You saw nothing.”
“Nothing he hasn’t seen before anyway.”
“Yeah, Christ, I’ve had to see you parading around naked plenty over the years. But that was before I became a father.”
“You mean of the cloth? Because not sure why else that would cause you to blush and clutch your pearls. Also, need I remind you we’re in our room?” Nick sat up and pushed his hands through his hair. “What do you want? Is your wife in labor yet?”
Simon blinked. “No. Why would you say that?”
“Hello, Murphy’s law. Isolated part of the island, house full of inept people who wouldn’t have the foggiest how to birth a child, incoming disastrous weather. It’s a Lifetime movie of the week waiting to happen.”
Lila leaned over and covered his mouth. “What Nicholas meant to ask was how is Margo feeling?”
“She’s fine. A little tired, but that’s to be expected. I can’t remember. Were you exhausted toward the end?” Simon asked Li.
“I was exhausted all seven and a half months.” She smiled wryly. “Yet here we are, wanting more. Am I a masochist?”
“No, you just know you won’t land on the twins slice of the lottery wheel twice in a row, so it has to be better.” Nick grinned evilly at his best friend. “Maybe Margo is really having twins. Sometimes one hides on the sonogram, and then surprise!”
Simon swallowed audibly. “Nah. We saw in there. Not enough room for two.”
“Oh, you never know. You’d be surprised how…elastic a woman’s uterus is.”
“And you know precisely nothing about it, so stop tormenting the poor guy.” Lila pinched his thigh.
“We’re about to have an early dinner. But if you’re not hungry, stay up here and do what you do.” Simon’s eyebrows waggled.
Nick might’ve even believed he was back in full Simon mode if not for the panicked sheen to his eyes. Ah, the threat of twins was enough to bring any new father to his knees.
It had surely worked on him.
“Thank you for the enthusiastic blessing, but you’re a boner-killer if ever I’ve seen one.” Nick rose and held out a hand to Li. “Coming?”
“Not tonight obviously,” she muttered, making him grin.
“The night’s not over yet, Dragon Lady.” He patted her ass as she moved in front of him to walk out of their suite.
Maybe this vacation wouldn’t suck after all.