“That’s a good look on you.”
“One day.”
He sets them down and they climb the stools. He slides up to my side. “This looks pretty amazing.” Just as he’s about to steal another kiss, his phone rings.
“I bet it’s John.” He steps away from the counter.
Chapter Nine
Tobias
“Hey, what’s up?” I answer, pulling away from Ava and the boys just in case they don’t have good news.
“It's as good as it can be. We’re coming home to get the boys after we pick up Marisa. Louisa changed her mind and wants the boys to be home with her. She’s arriving in twenty minutes at the airport. As soon as we have her, we’ll make our way back to the ranch. She would have been going to the hospital tonight, but visiting hours will be over by the time we make it back to the hospital. Anyway, how are they doing?”
“They are doing good. We’re about to make pizza with Ava.”
“Can you take some pictures? Louisa would love that. Something to brighten her mood.”
“Cool. I’ll see you. Be careful.”
“Thanks so much, Tobias.”
“No problem. They’ve been amazing. Besides, I’m a pretty cool uncle.” Someone calls him and he has to go. I turn on my phone’s camera and snap shots of the kids. Ava has them spreading sauce on the individual pizzas. They load cheese on it, stealing the shredded mozzarella and shoving it in their mouths. Ava and I are sharing one large crust.
“What do you want on your pizza, Tobias?”
“What are you putting on your side?”
“Sausage, mushrooms, onions, and green pepper.”
“A Chicago classic. That works for me, too. Do we have enough to make another pizza?”
“Yes, we do.” She makes another crust out of the leftover dough. We do a half sausage, half cheese for it and then we work on ours. She ladles the sauce on while I sprinkle on onions and green pepper. She adds the sauteed mushrooms and sausage and I finish it off with a lot of cheese just like the boys’, stealing some to snack on. Chicago-style thin crust is the way to go. The oven’s ready to go and we insert theirs on the rack above ours and then set the timer for theirs. Ours will need a little longer.
“So how about we watch a movie?” I want a reason to sit in the dark with my woman, stealing kisses and touches. I just came inside her and I’m ready to go again. Every time I look at her, my heart thumps wildly and I imagine a future with her in it. She’s going to be the center of my world.
“How about we straighten up the kitchen and let Auntie Ava pick out the movie?”
“I don’t know what to watch?”
“Scooby-Doo!”
“Okay. I’ll pick a Scooby-Doo movie.” She kisses my cheek before leaving us to clean up the mess.
“Do you love her, Uncle?”
“That’s an adult conversation.”
“Fine.”
“Let’s go watch the movie.” I lead them into the living room. Both of the boys saddle up with Ava, cuddling with her, so I have to take the love seat. She hits play, and we watch it for a few minutes when the timer dings.
“I’ll go check on the pizzas.”
My phone goes off with a text from John. We have Marisa. On our way now.
Cool. Drive safe.
It’s completely done, so I pull them out and set them out to cool while giving ours another ten minutes and add the second large pizza. I prepare their plates and drinks just as Ava comes into the room. “It smells so good in here.”
“You smell good,” I growl, pulling her into my arms.
“I smell like you.” She reaches up on her toes and kisses me quickly, attempting to sneak away.
I kiss her again then let her go. “Good. It’ll keep other men away.”
“Silly.” She shakes her head at me. She thinks I’m playing, but I’m not. I love that she smells like me because I’m a fucking beast when it comes to her. I don’t want any bastards sniffing around my Ava.
“So John and Louisa should be here in thirty minutes or less,” I inform her as she cleans up the kitchen.
“Great. I’m glad we’re making the second pizza. Let me check on them,” she says, grabbing the oven mitts.
“Don’t you trust me?” I gasp, pressing my hand to my chest.
She raises her brow, tilting her head with her lips pursed. “You hired me because you can’t cook for shit.”
“Yeah, but you did all the prep work.”
“Timing still matters. Do you want to cut these up for the little ones?”
“Sure.”
“Okay. I need to take ours out.” She takes it out and sets it on the stove while I cut the boys’ pizzas.
“Let me call them in here.”
“We can take it to them.”
For the next twenty minutes we eat, and then I hear a truck pull into the driveway. Looking out the window, I see it’s John. They all come out and walk toward the house.