a shack, about a mile out from the house. “Here it is!”
“This is where people sit, for hours in the cold, just to shoot some poor innocent animal?” My voice is all shades of unimpressed. “Great, can we go back now? I don’t need to bear witness to this slaughterhouse.”
Presley rolls her eyes at me and giggles. “All right, Mr. Martyr. I don’t like what happens here either. But it is the most private place on the property. And there is a tiny heater inside. If we leave our jackets on, it could work …”
“What?” Surprise echoes through me, because I think I know what she’s trying to say.
“The family will notice we’re gone pretty soon, so are you going to get in here and fuck me, or should we head back?” The curse word coming from her lips makes my cock a steel pipe in two seconds flat.
“God, I love you.” I haul her up until her legs straddle me, my erection pressing in between her spread thighs.
Always the spontaneous one, my woman. As she pulls me in by the coat lapels for a searing kiss, I carry her inside like a caveman.
If christening this shack means I get to make love to my wife, and make all the noise we want while we do so, then I’m all for occupying the hunting lodge.
Bowen
“If you eat one more chocolate chip, I’m going to flip a pancake onto your head,”
I warn my sixteen-year-old daughter with a surly scowl.
“Dad,” she whines. “You’ll ruin my hair, don’t even joke.”
My little girl, or the young woman who has replaced her, pats the same long locks her mother gave her, only in my jet-black color.
“So don’t deplete my supply, then! I have to feed this whole army, and that isn’t an easy task.” I flip one pancake and then three more.
The entire griddle is being used, with pancakes, bacon, and sunny-side up eggs all sizzling from the heat. For years now, Christmas Eve breakfast has been my duty, and I take it seriously. Especially since I have a small country to cook for these days.
Jett, Fletcher’s son, zooms by pretending to fly a small toy helicopter. My son, Jeremy, isn’t far behind with Max on his tail. Those two are right on the cusp of molding from boys to men, and it’s nice to see them horsing around.
“It smells fucking good.” Ames, Forrest’s youngest stepson, walks into the kitchen.
“Watch your mouth,” Keaton warns from the kitchen table, where he’s cutting up fruit just like I asked him.
“Sorry, Uncle Keat.” Ames blanches because he knows there are younger ears all around the house.
“They were out of apple juice, so I got two oranges.” Matt, Penelope’s middle son who is now twenty-five, lugs in some more grocery bags. “This family eats like savages.”
“Don’t I know it.” I snort, flipping over what feels like my hundredth batch of pancakes.
“I’m on call today, so I may have to race back to Fawn Hill if I’m called,” Matt tells his mother, who has just walked into the kitchen.
“On Christmas Eve? Come on, Matty.” She pouts. “You live in the same town as I do and we barely see each other.”
“He’s too busy saving the community, Penny. Cut him some slack.” I point at her with my spatula.
I’m the one who steered the kid in the direction of the firehouse when he seemed unsure of what to do with his life. Now he’s a junior lieutenant and one of the most honest and loyal guys in our small town.
“Says the guy who stopped firefighting,” my sister-in-law snarks.
“Hey, that’s because he has a family.” Lily walks in, and as usual, steals my breath.
My wife has been making my heart skip a beat every time she enters a room since … oh, well, probably forever. I don’t remember a day where my sole focus and attention hasn’t been on Lily. Of course, we had our dark times, the ten years where we’d both been heartbroken and damaged, but it only made us that much stronger today. I love that other people look at us like one of those couples who were just destined to be together because I consider it that way, too.
“And a business to run,” I remind everyone. “It ain’t easy keeping the men of Fawn Hill classy.”
“The small-town barber, a quintessential role,” Forrest taunts me as he walks in.
That kind of joke used to piss me off, but not anymore. My small business provides for my family, it keeps