Kiss by Kiss (Riggins Brothers #3) - Kaylee Ryan Page 0,59
the middle of the night.
“Grant.” I jerk out of my thoughts to find Aurora watching me. “You okay?”
I look around and see that we’re the only two left still sitting. “Yeah, baby. I’m good. Just thinking.”
“Everything okay?”
“Yes.” I stand, pulling her with me. “I was just thinking about how I get you all to myself tonight and how I need to find a way to convince you to do it more than one night a week.”
Her eyes soften. “I’ll see what I can do. You can stay with me, you know.”
“Aspen doesn’t want to hear that.”
“No, but you can hold me,” she counters. Her face is still flushed, but she’s speaking without hesitation. She’s telling me what she wants, and that’s a huge leap in the right direction.
“Done.”
She throws her head back in laughter. “Come on. We need to congratulate the happy couple.”
Hand in hand, we make our way to Owen and Layla, passing out hugs and congratulations. We devote the next few hours to spending time with our family. Marshall and Conrad take turns spinning Aspen around the dance floor while the rest of us have our own women, not that Aspen seems to mind. She’s lapping up the attention my brothers are throwing at her. I know because I keep checking on her. She’s my girl’s little sister, and I don’t want her to feel left out or unwelcome.
“We’re going to start putting everything back,” Royce says as he and Sawyer step up next to where I’m spinning Aurora around the makeshift dance floor.
“I’ll help.” I kiss Aurora on the forehead and release my hold on her.
“What can I do?” she asks Sawyer.
“I think we should start in the kitchen.”
“I don’t know why she didn’t let us hire this done,” Owen grumbles as Royce and I join him and our younger two brothers to take down the decorations and put the furniture back.
“Stop bitching. She’s yours now,” Royce tells him, and that’s all it takes to shut him up. It doesn’t take us long to take down the decorations, setting the vases of flowers throughout the room, once we have the furniture moved back into place.
“Looks like home,” Layla says as she waddles toward us.
“I thought you were putting your feet up?” Owen asks her.
“I was in the kitchen, but then I decided to help. The girls kicked me out.”
“Good. Sit.” Owen guides her to the couch.
“Nice to have it all back in order. Silly man changing it around so early.” She smiles up at him.
“Any excuse to keep you from changing your mind, Mrs. Riggins.”
“You’re stuck with me.”
“Fucking finally,” Owen says, and the rest of us roar with laughter, including his new wife.
“I’m going to go check and see what else needs to be done so we can get out of your hair.”
“You don’t have to rush off,” Layla announces.
“It’s your wedding night,” Royce counters.
“And we all know this one is eager to get you alone.” Marshall wags his eyebrows, bending to give Layla a hug.
“Welcome to the family, sis,” Conrad says, swooping in for a hug as well.
“You’re good for him,” I say, taking my turn to hug my new sister-in-law. There are tears in her eyes, but she nods, offering me a watery smile. I don’t stick around to get yelled at by Owen for making her cry yet again today. Instead, I hightail it to the kitchen, looking for my girl.
“Thanks for the lift,” Aspen says, reaching for the door handle.
I find her eyes in the rearview mirror. “Call us if you need us, and make sure you lock the door.”
“Yes, Dad,” she teases. “I’ll be fine. You just take care of this one.” She reaches up and squeezes Aurora’s shoulder.
“She’s in good hands.”
“Oh, I’m sure she is.” Her cackling laughter follows her all the way out of the SUV.
“Ignore her,” Aurora says from her spot in the passenger seat.
“I don’t know. Keeping you in my hands sounds like a pretty damn good plan to me.”
“That’s not what she meant,” she counters.
“That’s exactly what she meant, and you know I’m a man of my word, baby.” Glancing up at their apartment, I see the lights come on, and Aspen comes to the window, giving me a thumbs-up, which is all I needed to see, and I’m pulling back out onto the road.
“I walked right into that one, didn’t I?” she asks, resting her head back against the seat.