It was seven p.m. when we prepared to leave the hospital so Branna and Ryder could have one-on-one time with their sons and get some well-deserved rest. Bronagh and I stayed the entire time; the rest of the tribe showed up one hour after she gave birth, and by then, she was settled in a large private room with no distractions. All of us stared at the babies in complete awe. Georgie and Jax looked at them but weren’t all that bothered; the only time they showed any interest was when their parents held the twins. They didn’t like that very much, and they didn’t like when I held them either.
“I told you she was their favourite,” Keela scowled. “They didn’t cry when the rest of us held the babies.”
I grinned, taking Jax from Kane after I carefully handed Jules back to his father. Jax snuggled against my chest and placed his hand on my breast. He began to play with it, and this was how I knew he was tired and that Aideen would have to nurse him soon. I glanced at his younger brother, and my lips twitched. Locke slept nearly the entire time he was in the hospital. He was brilliant at two things, eating and sleeping.
“Am I the only one seeing him openly play with her tit?”
I rolled my eyes at Alec.
“Am I also the only one seeing Damien openly glare at the boy for it?”
I looked at Damien, and sure enough, his grey eyes were locked on his first-born nephew, and they were narrowed.
“I don’t even think I’m allowed to freely play with them,” Damien said, not taking his eyes off Jax. “Why should he be allowed?”
“Because he is a baby.”
Damien flicked his gaze to mine. “That’s no excuse.”
Jax locked eyes on Damien then fully rested his hand on my breast, his palm flattened, and it caused Damien to hiss at him.
“You know damn well what you’re doing, kid. I know you do.”
I couldn’t believe it when Jax tiredly chuckled.
“See!” Damien pointed at him. “I told you. He knows she’s mine, and that touching her pisses me off.”
The playful show of dominance caused a pulse to grow between my thighs.
“Stop cussing,” Kane said to Damien. “He’s nearly one; he’ll learn the words easier if they’re spoken often.”
“Is damn a curse word?” Bronagh mumbled to her sister.
Branna smiled, tiredly. “Not to us, but in America? Yeah.”
“What about hell?”
“It’s a cuss,” Nico answered his fiancée.
“That’s stupid. How can it be a curse word when it’s a place?”
“We didn’t make up the rules, baby.” Nico chuckled, cuddling Georgie to his chest. “We’ve just been raised to know they’re cuss words.”
“Curse, not cuss.”
I rolled my eyes. “Let them have their way of sayin’ it; we’ve a shiteload of words they have to deal with daily, and you don’t hear them complain about it.”
Every male in the room said, “Thank you.”
I smiled and kissed Jax’s head, gaining his attention.
“Do you want to have a sleepover, little man?” I cooed. “With Auntie Alannah?”
“And Uncle Damien.”
I smiled, not taking my eyes off my nephew. “If one of you are stayin’ in me bed, it’s Jax.”
“Damn, kid.”
“Damien!”
“What? Shit, sorry.”
“Don’t say shit either!”
“I can’t remember all these rules, Kane!”
I laughed. “I’ll remind you, big man.”
Damien’s attention zeroed in on me. “Is that a promise, gorgeous?”
I swallowed.
“Oh.” Bronagh sighed. “I can feel the sexual tension between you both.”
Instantly, my face reddened.
“Bronagh!”
“What?” She smiled, fluttering her eyelashes. “What’d I do?”
She knew bloody well what she did.
“Stop talkin’, please.”
She made the motion that her lips were sealed with her fingers, but she had a shit-eating grin on her face, which caused me to shake my head as I fought off a grin of my own. I focused on Aideen and Kane, then with a nod down to Jax, I asked, “Can he sleep over?”
“Yes,” they answered in unison.
Damien snorted. “Locke doesn’t wake up at night; I wonder what you’ll both get up to.”
Kane smirked; Aideen deadpanned.
“We’ll be sleepin’,” she said with authority. “Don’t let ’im fool you either. He’ll be out cold before I am.”
Kane shrugged, not denying the charges against him, which made the rest of us chuckle. We all kissed and hugged Branna and Ryder, congratulating them once again. Each of us cooed over the sleeping twins once more and mentioned how much they looked like Ryder. Everyone agreed they had to keep the different coloured bands on their ankles because none of us could tell them apart.
They were identical.
Kane and Aideen took both the kids in their car because it seemed pointless to put Jax’s car seat in my car when we’d all be driving to the same building. Bronagh went home with Nico and Georgie and Alec left with Keela, which left just me and Damien to climb into my car. I was buckled up before I realised that he was in the driver’s seat.
“Is this a thing now?” I said. “When did you take me keys?”
“They were hangin from your back pocket. I picked them easily.”
I shook my head, smiling. “I’m datin’ a thief.”
“I walk on the wild side, freckles.”
I tiredly chuckled, before I yawned.
“Why did you suggest taking Jax if you’re tired?”
“Because I love ’im,” I answered. “And he goes asleep pretty easily for me.”
“Does he fall asleep on your chest?”
“Yeah, why?”
Damien grunted. “I’d be snug enough to sleep if I was lying on your chest for a while, too.”
I snickered as he backed out of the car park. Damien beeped as we passed Nico, who was loading Georgie into her car seat. He looked over his shoulder, waved at me, then stuck his middle finger up at Damien. Damien returned the gesture without blinking.
“You’re not the only twins in the family now,” I said as we merged into the traffic. “How do you feel about that?”
“Awesome because they aren’t mine.”
My lips twitched. “Could be one day.”
“Then I feel sorry for you since you’ll be the one carrying them.”
My heart stopped, and so did the conversation.
“Lana,” Damien said, giving my knee a pinch. “Don’t freak out on me, please? I didn’t mean to say that out loud.”
I looked at him. “But you meant it either way?”
He glanced at me, then the road.
“We shouldn’t talk about this,” he said. “It’s way too early for that. I don’t want you any warier than you already are about us.”
“Damien,” I said, tilting my head as I looked at him. “You just said I’ll be carrying your babies … that’s not somethin’ we should sweep under the carpet.”
Damien swallowed, and his Adam’s apple bobbed.
“Okay.” He licked his lips. “When I think of having kids, you’re automatically the person I picture as their mother.”
My stomach fluttered with butterflies.
“Really?”
Damien nodded, his hands tightening on the steering wheel. “Are you freaked out?”
“No,” I answered honestly. “I’m pretty touched, though, that you’d see me in such an important role.”
Damien shrugged. “I told you that I want to do this for real with you. I’m not looking for a fling, or a half ass relationship. I’m looking for my wife, Alannah, and I know that’s going to be you someday.”
My mouth dried.
“Damien.”
“It’s crazy, I know,” he said. “But don’t you think that we could get there, even a little?”
I pondered this, but only for a moment because the answer was a no-brainer.
“I envisioned meself marryin’ you a few seconds after I clapped eyes on you in school, so what d’you think?”
Damien looked at me, to the road, back to me, then back to the road.
“Are you serious?”
“As a heart attack,” I answered.
“Fuck, baby, you’ve made an already incredible day so much sweeter by telling me that.”
I lifted my hand, ran it up his arm, and rested it behind his neck as he drove.
“We’ll get there,” I said. “I know we will.”
“Slowly, but surely?”
I smiled and looked out the window, the city passing by in a blur of activity.
“Slowly, but surely.”