Joke’s on You by Lani Lynn Vale Page 0,37

was about to pull him away from me to gain better access, Dillan was there.

We did this back and forth game for a while, not stopping—despite the pain in my chest—for a while.

“Not that this isn’t interesting,” Bourne said with amusement over all of our antics. “But we have a family dinner in about forty-five minutes. And I’m supposed to be picking y’all up. And you’re all soaked, covered in grass and dirt, and very not ready to go.”

I reluctantly stopped my tickling of both Asa and Dillan and turned to look at my brother.

He was standing there, arms crossed across his chest, tapping his foot.

I glanced at Asa out of the corner of my eye and watched him move toward the hose.

Dillan sat up, momentarily causing my brother to look toward her.

When she held out her hand, he reached forward to help her up. Only to get a face full of water, too.

Bourne took the hose straight to the face for all of two seconds before he was running after Asa.

Bourne caught him in a matter of steps, tossed him over his shoulder, and pointed at us.

“Y’all need to get dressed.” He stopped in front of Delanie. “You need to get this thing handled.”

Delanie took the very wet, very dirty, very laughing boy of ours and grinned at Bourne.

Bourne momentarily got stuck, and I used that moment of distraction between my brother and Dillan’s sister to kiss my girl.

She gasped, reached for my face, and held me to her as we kissed.

When I pulled away, it was to see her blinking rapidly.

She had a piece of grass stuck to her nose that was perilously close to her eye.

I reached forward and plucked it from her face.

“I need to go home and get changed,” I said. “You want to come with me? Or you want me to come back for you?”

She frowned. “If I go with you, I don’t think I’ll get ready to go.”

I knew exactly what she meant without her having to elaborate.

If we went with each other, she would definitely be getting some cock to go with her shower.

So yeah, best idea at this point was to shower separately.

“I’ll be back in thirty minutes,” I growled.

Then levered myself up.

Seconds later, I had us both up on our feet, and my mouth on Dillan’s.

“Ewww, Daddy! You can’t kiss Aunt Dillan like that! It’s against the rules!”

I pulled away and looked down at my son. “Watch me.”

***

“Look at this picture that my sister got,” Dillan whispered in my ear.

I looked over her shoulder to see the phone that she had in her hand. She was twisting it my way so that I could see the photo.

It was of her, me, and Asa.

Asa was on my back, holding on for dear life. I was straddling Dillan’s body with my knees.

I had her arms pinned up high over her head, and only now that I wasn’t playing with her did I see the way that her t-shirt clung to her body. The way that her pants were molded to her body.

Oh, and let’s not forget how she felt underneath me.

I shifted in my seat and growled under my breath.

“I think I’m going to frame it,” she said. “Or blow it up canvas size and put it on the wall.”

I grinned at that.

I’d like that.

I’d like it a lot.

The idea of us having a family portrait hanging on her wall felt important. Like it was a step in the right direction.

“And who’s this?”

I blinked and turned to see my uncle Ace staring at me with confusion.

“Oh,” I said as I stood up and offered him my hand. “Ace, this is my girl, Dillan.”

Still, I could see his confusion.

Ace had met Delanie a handful of times, and I knew what he was seeing.

Their similarities.

“Delanie and Dillan are identical twins,” I explained. “Like Bourne and me.”

Understanding dawned.

“Ahh,” he said as he turned and held his hand out to Dillan. “It’s nice to meet you.”

Dillan grinned and held her hand out, her eyes a bit wide.

“It’s nice to meet you, too,” she said. “And that is…”

“Oh, that’s my wife, Codie,” Ace said, looking at his wife apologetically. “I forgot about you.”

Codie rolled her eyes and offered her hand to Dillan as well. “It’s okay. It’s rare that I ever get introduced. It’s nice to see that you have some manners, though.”

As my family and extended family trickled in, the tables started to fill, and the noise level started to ratchet up.

I was so busy worrying