Shane (Mallick Brothers 1)

“You don’t know the half of it,” I agreed as he slowly slid out of me and moved away.

“One day I will,” he promised, moving back toward the shower. When I didn’t move to follow, he stepped back, grabbed my wrist, and pulled me with him. “Gotta get that lube off,” he said.

Then we showered.

And he cleaned up the puddled mess that was the bathroom floor from when he came charging out of the shower at me.

We had some coffee and bagels. Then we both passed back out.

Easy.

Effortless.—Saturday meant we were both in knock-around clothes with big to-go coffees in our hands as we parked on the street out from of Fee and Hunter’s house and made our way up their drive.

They lived in the ‘burbs part of Navesink Bank, literally the last place you would expect to see a woman like Fee. Or a man like Hunter for that matter. But they found a house that butted up next to a park that was in walking distance to both the elementary and middle schools so, despite being city and apartment-type people, they bought a two story colonial with four bedrooms, two and a half baths, and a half an acre full of outside toys, a gated in-ground pool, and the best deck I had ever seen in my life.

There was a moving truck in the driveway that Charlie was climbing out of, giving us a smile as a group of Mallicks came from the side yard toward us. Everyone, including usually dressed-to-the-nines Ryan, was in jeans and white, blue, or black tees, making each and every one of them look burly and capable.

Shane’s hand slid down and squeezed mine before, out of nowhere, little Becca came barreling at me, almost knocking me off my feet at the impact. “You’re here!” she exclaimed, hugging my legs tight, like she never thought she’d see me again.

“Of course I’m here.”

“Uncles Mark and Ryan have a bet,” she explained and I looked up at them with a raised brow.

“What kind of bet?” I asked her, though kept looking at her uncles.

“That Uncle Shane wouldn’t see you again.”

“Huh,” I said, ruffling her soft hair and picking out a few twigs that had found themselves wrapped up in it, “Looks like they lost, doesn’t it?”

“Good,” she declared, taking a step back. “We need more girls in the family,” she said, running off toward the back yard again.

“Charlie wants us to keep going until we have a boy,” Fee explained as she walked out. Dressed in a bright yellow mini-skirt and black tank top with five inch heels, she in no way looked like she was going to be doing any manual labor.

“Hey you have that extra bedroom,” Charlie said, shrugging.

“Start nagging your other sons to start procreating,” Fee declared, shaking her head. “I’m done.”

Charlie’s eyes slid toward me and how I was nestled into Shane’s side. The smile he had was a little wicked.

“Yeah, so not at that point, Pops,” Shane said, taking the pressure off me.

“You’re older,” Charlie said, turning from us and whacking Ryan across the back of the head. “Where’s your wife and kids?”

With that, Shane leaned down and let me in on another piece of his puzzle. “I do want them though. A litter just like Fee and Hunt.”

“That’s, ah, good to know,” I said, feeling a bit conflicted at that. Partly because I liked that image, a hoard of little Shanes running around. He would be a good father one day. Also because, if he was telling me something like that, it said something about how serious he was about making it work between us. But the other part of me knew that the chances of us ever getting to that point were slim to none. I hadn’t even given much thought to reproducing honestly. I had always been a little too young, a little too reckless, a little too busy enjoying my young adulthood to think about settling down or making babies. I made sure I never missed a gyno visit for that very purpose. As if sensing my hesitance, Shane shrugged.

“Don’t worry. We’re having fun practicing making them now,” he told me, throwing an arm around my shoulders and leading me away.

“So why are we moving the second set of living room furniture in a year?” Mark was asking Fee as we made it inside the house.

“Hunter made some new furniture for the living room. It didn’t match the old couches and chairs and carpets and accessories. So we are changing all that.”

Mark looked at Hunter who shook his head with a smile. “Whatever makes her happy, man. You’ll learn that soon enough.”

“So where are we taking it this time?” Ryan asked, picking up a box labeled “bric-a-brac”.

“Over on Wilson,” Fee explained as she snatched a lollipop out of a running Izzy’s hand. “You’ve had three,” she explained to the child who pouted and walked away. “They are opening a women’s shelter in a couple weeks. They have counseling and daycare and about a dozen apartments for women and families. They’ll do a lot of good. We’ve already given a huge donation, but I figured giving them all this stuff for their common room will save them money in decorating costs. Becca actually put a box together of a bunch of her toys too when I explained what a women’s shelter was. She tried to stash a bunch of Izzy’s toys in there as well before I caught her.”