Page 408 of Wicked Brutal

“Inside the cake?”

Piper groans. “Everybody says that.”

“Because that’s the part we’re concerned about,” I say.

Ryan sets Piper down, and then he comes straight to me. Not the decorations. Not the food. Me. One arm circles my waist, his other hand settling automatically over my stomach. “Hi.”

“Hi.” He kisses me — slow enough that Piper makes a dramatic gagging sound behind us — and smiles against my mouth. “How are my girls?”

“One tried to feed twenty people a penny.”

“Okay.”

“The other kicked me in the bladder twice.”

His hand moves over the baby. He kisses me again, then his eyes narrow slightly, his thumb brushing beneath mine. “You’ve been crying.”

“No.”

“Baby.”

I look toward the back door, at where Tobias is out there with his friends. “Tobias called me Mom.”

Ryan goes still. Just for a second. His eyes move toward the yard, then back to me. His face changes. “He okay?”

“Completely.”

“And you?”

I laugh softly. “Really fucking okay.”

From somewhere behind us — “Dollar!”

Ryan laughs, and I close my eyes. “Of course.”

Piper comes running with her palm out, and I give her a dollar, and she kisses it.

Ryan watches her run off. “She’s ruthless.”

The front door opens without a knock. It never does anymore.

“ALLY?” Cat, of course — first to arrive, already running something. Kaiden comes in behind her carrying two enormous bags and a box.

“You flew across the country with all that?”

Cat looks offended. “Piper is four.”

“That did not answer my question.”

“We checked bags.”

“How many?”

Kaiden drops everything on the floor. “Four.”

She kisses him, and he immediately grabs her ass.

“Kitchen,” I remind them. “You have a four-year-old and a ten-year-old and are pregnant with another one,” Cat says. “You’ve done worse things in that kitchen.”