“Girl talk!”
With a roll of my eyes, I leaned in closer. “Girl talk about what?”
The door opened, and I jumped back, my hand going over my heart.
“Shit! You scared me!”
Paxton lifted a brow. “If you think I’m not going to ask her about you two doing the deed, you’re nuts. I’ve got Waylynn, Corina, and Meli on a conference call. We’re about to discuss how well you…performed.”
My cheeks heated, and my mouth suddenly feeling very dry. “W-what? You’re kidding,” I stated with a half-hearted laugh. “Right? You’re not going to talk to my sisters about that. Are you?”
She shrugged and wiggled her fingers goodbye as she shut the door.
Spinning, I walked down the hall to the stairs that had nearly killed me last night.
Chloe was running around the living room singing a song to Gage.
With my fingers threaded through my hair, I silently prayed. “Please don’t let anyone else be here.”
When I made my way through the house, I found my mother in the kitchen standing next to an ungodly amount of food.
“Mom?”
She spun around and gave me a once over.
“Cord Parker, you scared the shit out of me. Why did you not answer your phone? I called and called and even called Maebh this morning. You left me no choice but to make the almost three-hour drive to make sure you were telling me the truth that you were all right.”
My mouth hung open. “Mom, did it ever occur to you that maybe we were…”
Her brows lifted, and I snapped my mouth shut.
Shaking my head, I pointed at her. “This is all your fault.”
She pointed at herself like she had no clue what I was talking about. “My fault? How is this my fault? I simply…double booked.”
I tossed my hands in the air. “Double booked, my ass! You knew we would be here together and you knew something would happen between us.”
Her eyes lit up. “My goodness, son, did you use protection?”
Stumbling back, I tried to find air for my now closed-up throat.
“I hope you were gentle with her. Paxton told me Maebh hadn’t been deflowered yet.”
Tripping over the chair, I shook my head and managed to find words. “Stop! Please…for the love of God, stop talking, Mom!”
“Dear Lord, I hope you didn’t go all caveman on her like your father did me.”
This time I turned and ran right into the sliding glass door. I fell on my ass and pain shot through my already aching ribs. With a shake of my head, I blinked a few times to clear my vision.
Was that…Steed? Mitchell? Tripp? Holy fuck…Dad?
“Cord! Are you okay? What is it with you falling? Did you hit your head yesterday? Are you dizzy? Do we need to go back to the doctor?”
The door opened, and Tripp stood over me, laughing his ass off. “Dude, who the hell were you trying to run from?”
My mother grabbed my chin and forcing me to look into her eyes. “Did they check to make sure you didn’t hit your head?”
“I didn’t hit my head!”
“Then why did you run into the glass door?” she asked, acting innocent.
“Because you said protection…and deflower…and…about your first time with…Dad!” I made a gagging sound.
“Oh hell, I don’t want to know what this conversation is about,” Steed said, stepping over me like I was nothing more than a barrier while he made his way over toward the sounds of his two kids.
Corina stopped in front of me. She held onto her daughter Merit. I knew by the smile on her face, I was about to catch hell. “Hey, Cord! I knew someday a woman would knock you on you’re a-s-s. Just didn’t think it would happen twice in twenty-four hours.”
I rolled my eyes and stood. “I thought you were on a phone call with Paxton?” I said, eyeing Corina.
“Oh, I got the FOUR one one, don’t worry!” She put emphasis on the number four and it took me a minute to get her equating that with the number of times I’d made Maebh come. Jesus, was nothing sacred with this family? “Good job, by the way!”
I groaned. The only good thing was that my mother had long forgotten me by the time Waylynn and Jonathon walked in. She took Liberty from Jonathon’s hands.
“Corina, Merit is up next!”
Tripp stopped in front of me and motioned for me to follow him outside. I did, and shut the sliding glass door behind me.
“You want to tell me how in the fuck you’re all here on my weekend away?”
Tripp chuckled as he made his way down to the boat dock.
“Mom called this morning in a panic. Said she hadn’t heard from you, and I said I had talked to you this morning and you were fine. She then decided we all needed to pack up and head up here.”
“Why? If she arranged for Maebh and I to be here alone, why in the hell would she bring damn near the whole family?”