“Benson?” I say against his lips as he drops into the boat, pulling me onto his lap.
Deacon struggles with pushing away from the dock and starting the motor, but we let him figure it out. Learning experience and all.
“Yeah?” Benson answers, nibbling my bottom lip in a delicious way.
“You forgot to tell me you’re a twin.”
He breaks the kiss to pull back, studying me like he’s confused. “So?”
“So? We’re definitely never having kids. We’d end up with quintuplets or something.”
His grin reforms, and his lips are back on mine. “I’m fine with that,” he murmurs, stealing my sanity as the sound of boat motors rev in the background. “Because I want you all to myself for as long as I can have you.”
“What the hell are they doing?” Deacon asks. He still hasn’t gotten us started.
I look over to see my uncle and some of the other men on the boats, scooping out the fish that are floating to the top.
“They’re making sure the fish don’t go to waste,” Benson answers before I can.
“Fish just float to the top?” Poor Deacon. He’s so confused.
“Pipe bombs,” I remind him.
“How have you hidden all this crazy from us for nine years?” Deacon asks his brother.
I arch my eyebrow as Benson smirks. “This is barely anything. You’ve only seen one corner of crazy,” I point out. “We’re the smallest corner too.”
I can’t tell if he looks terrified or intrigued. Maybe both.
“Fish fry tonight!” my uncle calls out, as my brothers shiver next to the fire my aunt has made.
Their clothes are in heaps on the shore, and they’re wrapped in blankets. I wave at them, and they wave at me.
“See you tonight!” Hale calls out.
“Fish fry and we’re invited,” Killian adds.
My aunt just shakes her head like she’s annoyed, but she smiles when her back is to them.
Benson’s arms tighten around me as Deacon finally starts the boat. He’s been paddling us way away from the dock. Yes. Paddling us. In a bass boat.
It’s a good thing he doesn’t live here. The guys would mock him mercilessly.
Deacon manages to make it across the lake—what feels like an hour later.
Benson gets up, depositing me to a seat in the back, and moves toward the front when Deacon gestures for him. Deacon still can’t dock a boat—in case you’ve forgotten.
Benson pulls into his lift instead of tying off, and he presses the button that slowly cranks us up.
I climb out the second I can, and Deacon follows. Benson is the last out, but his hands are on me the second he’s out, and his lips find mine.
I’m not sure how long we stand on that dock and kiss like we haven’t seen each other in years, but I know I’ve forgotten everything by the time he finally breaks the kiss.
“Come on,” he says on a sigh. “I want you to meet my family.”
When I tense, he grips me tighter, making sure I can’t run.
“I’m in love with you. I should have told you about Sadie being in our family, but I had no idea how to make that okay with our relationship so new.”
I narrow my eyes. “I’m literally a Wild One. I could have handled it if I had been prepared, Benson. That’s a fraction of the reason why I have to fly that damn flag in my yard when I’m home—because we can handle anything thrown at us. And to warn the neighbors I’m in—town rules and all that—but that’s not the point. The point is that I can handle complicated and crazy. I just need to know you won’t keep me in the dark when things are uncomfortable for you.”
I’m looking up at him as he frowns down at me.
“You’re right. And I’m sorry. But you kept on about not settling down for years, and then—”
I kiss him, dragging his head down to shut him up. He groans as he pulls me closer, and one of his hands goes to my hair, angling my face up even more. Finally, I smile against his lips.
“I didn’t know how much fun settling down could be,” I say against his lips, smiling.
He smiles back, and I start to tell him I love him…when I see his family is all on the deck and staring down at us. Sadie included.
I’d rather my first confession of love not be in front of his ex.
Benson looks over, and he takes a deep breath, his touch on me tensing.
His mother has tears in her eyes for some weird reason.
“So, do you guys want to go to a fish fry tonight?” I ask them.
Benson goes absolutely stiff, and Deacon grins at him.
“We’d love to!” his mother squeals. “Benson never lets us join him with townies.”
I let it slide that she just called us townies.
“No one tells our last name,” Benson says, pointing a finger at the little boy who looks over, confused.