I'm in It (The Reed Brothers 10)

“I’ll save you!” I shout, putting on my best superhero face.

“Get her, Mick!” Devon shouts. “You can’t let her die!”

“Never fear, Mick is here!” I shout.

Wren snorts out a laugh, and then she covers her mouth and laughs a little louder because she’s embarrassed.

“What was that?” I ask. “The mating call of a distressed damsel?”

She snorts again, which just makes her laugh even louder.

“Throw me a pillow,” I call to Anna. She lifts one of the couch cushions and tosses it to me. I catch it and drop it down in front of my feet, and then hop onto it like I’m hopping onto a flying carpet. “One more,” I say. Devon tosses me a second one. I step on that one, pick up the first one they threw, and exchange them until I’m standing in front of Wren. “I’m here to save you,” I say to her.

She freezes and looks into my eyes. “What if I don’t need saving?” she asks softly, but a smile still plays around her mouth.

“Then you can save me instead.” I pretend to flounder on my square of couch cushion, and Wren reaches out to catch me.

Anna and Devon are screaming with laughter by this point, and Wren and I jump from cushion to cushion as we move toward the couch. When we’re close enough, I take Chase from Wren’s arms and hold him out to Anna. “Here, hold this,” I say. “I have a beautiful woman to save.”

Anna sits down with Chase in her lap, a smile on her face bigger than any I have ever seen. “You still have to save her, Mick!” Anna cries.

“You heard her, Wren,” I say with a shrug. “I have to save you.”

I scoop her up in my arms and turn toward the couch. She squeals as I swing her through the air. But right before I’m close enough to deposit her beside Anna, my toe catches on the edge of a couch cushion and I find myself falling toward the floor. I roll, so that she lands safely on a cushion and I land softly on top of her. “I’m so sorry. That wasn’t my intention at all.”

“What wasn’t?” Wren says, her thighs cradling my lower body as she stares up at me.

“My throwing you on the floor and landing on top of you. I didn’t plan that at all.”

“Yeah, sure you didn’t,” she says, and she playfully shoves my shoulder.

/> “Is she safe?” Anna asks breathlessly from the couch.

Wren lifts her head and looks over my shoulder. “I’m safe. No thanks to clumsy superheroes.”

“You should totally kiss her,” Anna says with a giggle.

“Ew,” Devon says. “That’s gross. Why should he have to kiss her? He just saved her life.”

“That’s what heroes do!” Anna argues. “They kiss the girls.”

“I’m pretty sure they don’t just lie on top of them after they save them,” a deep male voice calls from the kitchen doorway. I look up to find Wren’s father, Emilio, staring down at me as I lie cradled between Wren’s thighs.

“When did he get here?” I whisper to Wren.

“About twenty minutes ago,” she whispers back.

Emilio loudly clears his throat. “You should probably get off the damsel now.”

Do I have to? “Yes, sir,” I say as I push myself to my feet. I hold out a hand to Wren and pull her up too. As she gets to her feet, she falls against me and says very quietly next to my ear, “I kind of agreed with Anna.”

“About what?” I ask, still a little sideways from having Emilio catch me on top of his daughter.

“About the kiss.” She glances shyly away, like she just realized she said too much.

“Can I get a raincheck?” I ask, brushing a lock of hair behind her ear.

“That would be nice,” she says, and her eyes finally meet mine.