Audrey refuses to walk around the house naked even while I let my dick swing free. She also insists on wearing panties and one of my shirts. Admittedly, this comes in handy when I call for food delivery.

“I don’t want anyone seeing your monster,” she says, sliding on her jacket as she retrieves our Thai food from the guy.

I wait behind the door, ready to pounce in case he causes trouble. Naked or not, I’m still capable of fucking up any asshole who messes with my woman.

“You should sit on a towel at least,” Audrey demands and rests one on the chair at the table as I set out our food. “Your parents worked hard for this house, and I can’t imagine they’d be happy with your bare ass on everything.”

“It’s not on everything,” I say, resting on the towel and realizing sitting on leather might have been a bad idea for my balls. “Besides, what makes you think my father’s ass hasn’t been on every surface of this house? I told you they like to run around naked when they’re alone.”

“But you’re always here, so are they ever really alone?”

“I’ve spent many weekends away to allow them to go full-nudist. I can’t blame them for wanting to embrace their naked selves. If you plan to spend a lot of time fucking, why waste time by dressing?”

Audrey grins and tugs off my shirt she’s wearing. “Fine, I’ll go topless, but I refuse to have my leaky pussy making a mess in this house.”

I take her hand and sigh. “You had me at leaky pussy.”

Audrey smirks and takes back her hand. “I’m not in the middle of my fertile period, but we should probably stock up on condoms until I get on birth control.”

“Man, I feel like this is a conversation for yesterday.”

Laughing, she nods and points at me. “I didn’t think I’d be ready for your beast inside me until we celebrated our first-year anniversary.”

“That long?” I balk, shocked at her self-control.

“It’s too big to be safe.”

“Yet you survived,” I say and lift my beer.

Audrey clanks her beer against mine. “That tattoo set fire to my lady bits in a way I never could have imagined.”

Smirking, I remind myself to send Dad a gift basket. Possibly something with nuts.

“How do you like White Horse so far?”

“Don’t ever tell Mom and Pop, but this town is so much more fun than Ellsberg. All of the small shops and quirky restaurants make walking downtown fun. I’ve never been the kind of person who window-shops, but I’ve already spotted a few places I want to check out.”

Audrey’s excitement makes me wish she was sitting next to me rather than across the table. Then I remember I can just fucking move and take my towel around to the chair to her right.

“I missed you,” I say, explaining why I’m now nearly on top of her.

Grinning against my lips, she whispers, “I missed you too.”

“So no regrets about running off with a strange man?”

“Nope, I have no regrets over running off with the man I love.”

I stare into her eyes, and my dick comes alive. “I want you on the table right now.”

“No.”

“In the bed later?” I ask, chuckling at her expression.

“Sure, but can I ask you something since we’re talking about love and happiness?”

Exhaling deeply, I get a bad feeling about where this discussion is going. Even my balls shrink up in fear at what might be coming.

“Hit me with it.”

“I know Bianca Bella won’t be back for a few months, but I’m already nervous about meeting her.”

“Because she’s like another Cricket?”

“No, because you had a thing for her.”

“A crush,” I say, sighing dramatically. “We didn’t date. She never had a thing for me. Why would you be nervous?”

“I don’t know.”

“Are you worried I still have a thing for her?”

“No.”

“Are you worried she might have a thing for me?”

“Eww,” she says, grinning at my expression. “I don’t know why I’m nervous.”

Studying her face, I mentally go over everything I know about Audrey. We met less than two weeks ago. She ought to be a stranger to me, but I know how her heart and her head work.

“You’re worried she might be cooler or prettier than you. You aren’t concerned that I’ll think those things, but that you’ll think them. So my question is why don’t you compare yourself to Cricket or Tatum or even Lottie?”

“I did compare myself to Lottie, though.”

“But you’re fine around her.”

“I got a groove at the Kitchenette and didn’t think about it anymore.”

“You found your place there and no longer worried about failing.”

“Yes, I guess.”

“And with Bianca Bella, you would fail how?”

“I don’t know.”

“She’s not competition to you in any way,” I say, taking her hand.

“I know.”

“Do you think if she’s around that you’ll be left out? As if you’re the odd girl in the group while they’re all friends.”

Audrey considers my words and shrugs. “Maybe. I did sometimes believe my parents had me as an accident. Like they had my sisters and then kept going to get Colton and figured they’d try for another boy and ended up with me. Then they were so disappointed with another girl that they stopped altogether.”

“You know that’s fucking dumb, don’t you?”

“No,” Audrey mutters and then sighs. “Well, maybe yes. I got the idea in my head when I was a kid, so, yeah, it probably does seem stupid like something a kid would think.”

“Well, you’re not the extra kid or the child they wished was a boy. No way would your father throw such gigantic tantrums if you were the kid they’re forced to keep around. Oh, and your mom’s crying was a dead giveaway that she’s crazy about you.”

“Well, I know that on a logical level. My heart tells me they love me. It’s just a worry that’s lingered in the back of my mind all these years.”

“And now you think my family has this setup with Cricket, Tatum, and Bianca Bella. They all have their roles just as Chipper, Poet, and I do. Six of us perfectly aligned and then you come along and shit all over our symmetry.”

“Yeah,” she mutters, rolling her eyes. “Something like that.”

“You do have a point, you know? There are six grandkids, three per OG twin. Symmetry. When we normally eat at the Waffle House, Bianca Bella comes along. Three younger men, three younger women. Two old farts who keep us in line. Symmetry.”

Audrey’s lips settle into a pout so quickly I nearly burst into laughter at the sight of them. Restraining myself, I sigh. “There’s clearly only one option if we want to keep that symmetry.”

“Get Bianca Bella a man?”

“Oh, no, she’s too old and cranky for a man. No, we’ll have to kick her out of the group to make room for you. Yeah, it’s the only viable solution.”

“That’s not funny.”

“I’m not kidding. I’ll draw up the eviction papers as soon as I find my pants. The diva can stay on her cruise forever.”

“You know that’s not what I want.”

“Admittedly, Bianca Bella might come in handy when we have kids one day. She’s got the babysitter shit down pat.”

“I thought she went on cruises because she hated kids,” Audrey asks as I begin dumping food on our plates.

“No, only babies creep her out. Once a baby starts walking, she’s pretty psyched about babysitting. She’s patient with stupid people too because she’s spent so much time with Cricket and Chipper.”

Settling down, Audrey laughs. “Then I guess we should keep Bianca Bella in the group. Symmetry be damned!”

“All right then, but if you ever change your mind after I find my pants, feel free to let me know.”

Sliding into my lap, Audrey sighs. “I hope you never find them. I’m feeling very empowered as the only person in the house with underwear on.”

I reach down and tear the side of her panties, leaving the fabric to dangle helplessly. Despite glaring hard, Audrey’s so obviously faking her anger. I love the girl to death, but her sweet open-book of a face will never allow her to lie to me.