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“No.” Two voices—Nikki’s and Gabe’s—were adamant.
Juliet looked at her youngest sister, then glanced at Gabe who’d just come back inside the shop with Noah trailing behind. “Um…”
“Don’t let her make pie,” Gabe said. “She doesn’t use real sugar. The flour has weevils ground in for extra nutrition.”
Juliet blinked. Ew. “Well, then that leaves you, Gabe. You’re our Thanksgiving pie man. My house, Turkey Day, two pies.”
“Wait. Whoa—”
“Noah’s going to come up with a special cocktail,” she said over the sputtering Gabe.
“I am?”
All right, so she was planning on her personal spring lasting at least through the fourth Thursday in November. Was that presumptuous? Optimism and happiness seemed to go hand in hand and she didn’t regret the pairing.
“I’ll have Jay put together a special three-sisters soundtrack,” Nikki offered. “And he’ll bring the wine. So c’mon, Gabe, you’re in, yes?”
“All right,” he agreed, though he didn’t look pleased.
Cassandra was regarding him with watchful eyes. Seeming satisfied, she relaxed into the cushions again. “Haven’t heard your ‘yes,’ Noah. Have you got other plans?”
Juliet’s heart clenched. She slid a look toward him, but his face was unreadable.
“I…” He glanced at Gabe, then his gaze settled on Juliet. “I give up,” he said, a small—rueful?—smile curving his lips. “I’m in. I’m in all the way.”
Juliet smiled back. Had she ever felt this joyful? Anticipation—of Thanksgiving and of the night ahead—carbonated the blood rushing through her veins. As if he was drawn to her good mood, Noah crossed to the couch and hitched his hip against the back of it, his hand making a soft pass down her hair. She shivered, as if the caress was tickling her naked skin.
Cassandra cleared her throat. “At the risk of nuking all this camaraderie and happy holiday planning, can we please make a decision regarding”—she hesitated as if searching for the correct term—“Donor 1714?”
Juliet’s mood took an instant dip—but then the renewed argument threatening to rain on her beautiful spring didn’t happen.
She tried explaining it to Noah as they left the Malibu & Ewe parking lot a few minutes later.
“Cassandra needs to see this all the way through. That’s what I realized.” To be truthful, Juliet was so pleased with her world that she wanted everyone else to get their fondest wishes, too. She would have done nearly anything to make her sister happy. “Maybe Jay’s been working on Nikki to soften her up, or maybe the idea of our first family Thanksgiving gave her a new perspective. Whatever the case, Cassandra has the permission she needs now.”
Noah took the turn that led them into the hills above Malibu. “Everyone was talking in code back there and I didn’t want to stop the flow of conversation. Halfway through I walked out to help Gabe look over Cassandra’s car. I don’t know what agreement the three of you just made.”
“Oh.” She remembered, now, that the last time she’d discussed the subject with Cassandra and Nikki had been right before getting locked in her office with Noah. After that, discussing Donor 1714 had fallen low on her list of priorities. “It’s about our biological father. He registered on a website of sperm donors looking for their progeny. We’re going to make contact.”
Noah pulled his truck into the driveway and she popped open her door. Before she could slip out, he was there, his hands up, ready to lift her off the high-perched seat. Smiling down at him, she hesitated, giving herself time to appreciate his rugged handsomeness in the moonlight. Giving herself time to marvel that he was hers.
For the moment, of course.
But it was going to be his body against her body when they got inside. His hands stroking her skin, stoking the fires she’d never known she had. This man, who treated her with such care, but who also treated her to his unchecked passion. In the morning, he’d point out a thumbprint bruise on her hip maybe, or perhaps a tiny bite on her inner thigh, but it wouldn’t be to apologize or to show regret.
He’d point it out because he knew it turned her on—her body, her mind—to be with a man who found her woman enough, passionate enough, to mark with his untempered need.
A delicious shiver rolled over her skin and a knowing smile curved his luscious mouth as his hands closed around her waist. When he tugged her off the seat, he let her make a slow, intimate slide along his body until her feet touched the ground.
