I thought I heard her ask, “Where are we going?” but it was too soft to be sure. I did hear what Nick said.
“We’re going to bed and we’re not getting out for three days.”
We stared after them for a full minute before breaking into almost hysterical laughter.
“I hope your fridge is stocked, Jack. They’re going to need to hydrate,” Dev said with a laugh.
“There’s lots of cold drinks in there,” he answered calmly. The man was a mountain. A mountain who rarely worried, other than about his wife and kids. He trusted Nick with his life. We all did. We knew he would take good care of Melissa, especially considering how innocent she was.
“Well, that was . . . interesting,” my sweet woman said from beside me. I slung an arm over her. With Melissa gone, I didn’t want any of the grubs around here slobbering all over her. Looking the way she did, I needed to keep her close at all times.
“I bet you we’ll be seeing a baby in about nine months,” Kaylie said with a giggle. Sally and the girls cackled like cute little witches. Witches who could tie any of us up in knots any time they wanted to.
“I wonder if the baby will have Nick’s hair?” Drake said dramatically. I kicked him. He was almost as bad as Lucky used to be. Insufferable but lovable assholes, both of them.
Moose shook his head. He was just back from another tour of duty. He rubbed his hand over his own buzzcut.
“Not another one. I’m jealous of him and Preacher.”
“Do you have time to grow it out before you ship out again?” Kaylie asked, looking worried. She hated it when any of our guys went overseas. Moose grinned at her adoringly and shrugged. He looked up to Kaylie, even though she was a tiny little thing. We all did.
“Nick finally broke down,” Suzannah said with satisfaction. I could tell the women were pleased with themselves. Watching them congratulate themselves was almost as funny as Nick’s reaction to Melissa’s makeover. “We got him.”
“We have no control over our destiny, do we?” Mac said with a grin.
“Not even a little,” I agreed. We had no power over our women. They held all the cards. And I wouldn’t have changed a thing about it.
“Now, what am I going to do with you, Missy?” I breathed into my wife’s ear. She just smiled.
“I have a few ideas.”
“Oh, honey, you’d better share those with me.”
“Here?” she teased. “I wouldn’t want you to get too . . . excited.”
I growled at her and decided right then and there that Nick wasn’t going to be the only one making a scene by laying one on his woman.
I lifted my petite blonde wife in the air and kissed her. Hard.
“Come on,” I said, tugging her toward the SUV.
“Donnie! We aren’t leaving yet! We just got here!”
I lifted her up and plopped her cute little fanny in the passenger seat.
“But that’s not fair.”
“What’s not fair?” she asked as I pulled her seatbelt across her body and slammed it home.
“Why should Nick be the only one to have all the fun?”
Bless her heart, she didn’t argue with that.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Melissa
“Is this where you live?” I stammered as Nick opened the front door. We were standing in front of an enormous red brick building. He walked in and entered a key into the massive elevator. He didn’t answer me at first. He just led me in and used the lever to take us to the top floor. He stared at me the whole way from across the industrial sized lift.
Only when we hit the top floor and he threw the lever back down did he answer.
“Jack and Janet used to live here before they built a house near Devil’s Lake.”
“Devil’s Lake?”
“That’s what we call it. It’s not big enough to have a name on a map. It’s on a piece of land that Dev’s family owned for generations. He’s sold off pieces of it to a bunch of the guys so they can all live nearby.”
“Oh,” I said. I wanted to ask more but I was staring at his broad back as he threw up the security gate and turned to face me. He held out his hand without a word, and I took it, following him into a cavernous space. I looked around, marveling at the gorgeous loft. The walls were exposed bricks and there were huge pipes painted a flat red running all along the ceiling. There were a few actual rooms in the far corners of the space, but the majority of it was open. It had a bar along one wall and a seating area in the center with a huge sectional couch and chairs.
“Wow,” I said in total awe. The place looked like it was straight out of a design magazine or a movie set. I could see someone getting married here, for sure. There were even candles everywhere, and twinkling lights hung from the pipes above.