“She’s laughing, baby! Hurry! Teddy, you too—come on.”
“Dad, I’m home!” I heard Teddy shout. Default mode for when he was excited.
Soph gasped at the same time. “Oh my God—are you sure? It could be gas.”
“And it’s so good to see you, son.” Dylan gave Teddy a squeeze and ushered him toward us. “I’m sure, Soph. I swear—just listen to her.”
A beat later, I was swarmed by family members, and my sister wrestled her way to my side while Teddy ran right up to me and wrapped his arms around my middle.
“I’m happy you’re here again, Uncle Blake!”
The kid melted my heart.
A moment of commotion had to be untangled; Soph needed to know how to keep Isabella giggling, and Dylan and I spoke at once about what I’d done. Simultaneously, I handed over the little darling to Soph so I could hug my nephew.
“I’m even happier, Teddy, I’ll tell you that.” I squeezed him tightly and took him to the side for a semblance of privacy. “Lemme get a look at my champ.”
He grinned up at me, and I cupped his cheeks.
“You gotta quit gettin’ taller, ya hear?” I couldn’t believe I’d lasted so long before I’d come crawling back. “Give me your game face.”
He remembered, and it made my day. He flexed his muscles and growled like a mean killing machine, and I mirrored the pose and growled right back, much to his delight.
I pulled him in for another hug and kissed the top of his head. “I’m sorry for not saying goodbye when I left this summer, buddy.”
He shrugged and ran his fingers along the ink on my arms. “I don’t like saying goodbye. But Momma said you’re staying longer now.”
“Much, much longer,” I promised. Someone moved in the corner of my eye, and I knew it was him. It was as if my body had a Sebastian radar, which was mildly terrifying. “I wanna hear all about that new school of yours. Are you making any new friends?”
“Four!” he boasted. “Right, Momma? I have four new friends!”
“Yes, you’re quite the popular boy in Seattle, sweetie.” Soph joined us with Isabella in her arms and combed her fingers through Teddy’s hair. “Are we ready for pizza?”
Dammit. I was hoping to drag this out. I didn’t wanna have to acknowledge Sebastian. By now, he was on the patio too, opening pizza boxes with Dylan.
“Yeah, come on—I’m starving,” Dylan said. “Everyone sit down.”
“I’ll grab the drinks in the car.” That was Sebastian. Hadn’t heard his voice in two months, and…fuck. Fuck.
I lifted my gaze as he stepped off the patio and trailed toward the car, and it caused a whirlwind of memories to resurface from this summer. He was…a behemoth of a man, and that was coming from me. I hadn’t weighed below two hundred pounds since high school, and I couldn’t exactly call myself short at six-one. And yet, he was larger. Everywhere.
When he turned it on, his personality was immense. He cracked jokes and was sweeter than sugar to Teddy, but Christ—I remembered when he finally reeled me in. The jokester was nowhere to be found. Rough didn’t come close to describing it. He took, commanded, and beckoned. He turned me into a desperate fucking whore.
I could still see it in my head, my fantasies, my dreams. The muscles of his back rippling beneath my fingers, his biceps bulging, the veins in his forearms showing, his torso becoming defined as he pounded into me—
“Christ,” I exhaled to myself.
In a way, Sebastian Wilder was the personification of deception, because I wouldn’t have been able to guess what kind of man he was in the sack just by looking at him. I mean, sure, he was big. Probably around six-five, no exaggeration, stocky frame, solid strength. But he was also Teddy’s personal clown, wore flip-flops in the summer, and had one of those man-buns.
My father would’ve looked him up and down, spat out some chew, and felt that all his preconceived notions about people from Washington were correct.
My first impression of Sebastian was nowhere near being accurate. I’d seen a hot-as-fuck man and thought, hey, maybe we could fuck. But in the end, it’d never been up to me. Once my intentions had been clear, he’d taken over completely. More than that, he’d shown me other sides to himself that were unforgettable.
Those were the sides that made him downright lethal.
Teddy wanted to sit between Sebastian and me, so I made my way to the table and sat down at the head. Sebastian returned shortly after, and no one wasted any time grabbing their first slice.
It was still weird for me to be part of a family dinner where no one said grace. It’d been the rule for as long as I’d lived. If dinner was among family and you sat at a table, someone said grace.