Should’ve Known It’s You (Not You Again #7)

Chapter 47

CHAPTER 47

AUSTIN

W e played card games late into the night, but Slate was getting his butt kicked and he was a bit of a sore loser about it. It was entertaining as hell, watching him grumble.

He scowled at his hand before shooting a glare at me. “You’re cheating. You have to be. That’s the only explanation.”

I laughed. “You shuffled the cards for this hand, bro. Are you cheating?”

He scoffed. “If I am, I’m seriously bad at it.”

Jess giggled, but it ended on a yawn. She stopped massaging her feet and groaned. “Okay, guys. I don’t know which one of you has been cheating, but I’m calling it a night. I’m exhausted and my feet are swelling into footballs.”

She pushed herself to her feet and glanced at her husband. “Are you coming, or do you need to lose another round before you realize Austin is unbeatable at Go-Fish?”

“No one is unbeatable, but I’m coming,” he said, getting up and taking her hand. “It sounds like your feet need massaging by someone who isn’t you, and I’d rather do that than keep trying to work out how he’s winning.”

“I’m winning because I’m awesome,” I said, matter of fact.

Kenny offered me a high-five, and I slapped her palm with a satisfying sound. She’d been relatively quiet since she and Jess had gotten back from their girl time. “Good night, guys,” she said to Slate and Jess. “See you in the morning.”

“See ya.” Jess had a twinkle in her eyes for some reason as she smiled at Kenny, and I was immediately suspicious, wondering what on earth my little sister was up to, but then I remembered what Slate and I had spoken about while they’d been gone.

I guess we’ve both got our secrets for now.

“I think I’m going to head to bed too,” Kenny said as they walked out of the room.

I nodded. “Yeah, I’m beat. I’ll come with you.”

Mom and Dad had left just a little while ago, so Kenny and I were the last people standing anyhow, and honestly, I was happy for some alone time with her. Seeing my family was always amazing, but I was ready for it to just be the two of us for a bit.

“We’re in the old hayloft in the barn tonight,” I told her as I stood up. “I’ve already taken our things there. It’s been converted for the farmhands, but they’re only moving in after New Year’s. It was either that or the couch.”

“The hayloft sounds perfect,” she said, letting me take her hand.

We left the house and hurried across the field to the barn, shivering by the time we finally shut the door behind us. Kenny let out a low whistle as she looked around, her arms wrapped around herself.

“They really haven’t wasted any time getting this ready, have they?” she said, taking in the simple but comfortable space that had been the venue for my sister’s wedding reception just months ago.

The hayloft had since been fitted with four bunkbeds and a large pull-out sofa that faced the window. My sister and I used to sit up there, our legs dangling over the edge as we looked out at the farm below.

“Should we take the sofa over the bunkbeds?” I asked as we climbed into the loft where our bags were already waiting.

These last few nights, we’d slept in the same bed and I’d gotten used to having her next to me. I really didn’t want to sleep in a twin either above or below her tonight.

Kenny glanced at the options available, then strode over and pulled out the sofa. “Let’s do it. Do you know if there are any sheets for it in here?”

“Yep. In the linen closet,” I said, walking to the cabinet Jess had installed in the corner for this very purpose. “I brought all this bedding over here from the house earlier, so it’s all clean. I just didn’t want to make any assumptions, so I brought enough for two bunks as well.”

She giggled. “You’re sweet when you’re being considerate, but of course, I would rather sleep next to you. It’s becoming a bit of a habit, isn’t it?”

I shrugged. “As long as it’s what we both want.”

“True,” she said, but she still seemed more thoughtful than she had been since we’d arrived this afternoon.

Working together, we quickly made the bed. Then I turned my attention to the wood-burning fireplace. Slate had gotten it ready for us, so all I needed to do was light it, which I did before I got into my sweats and went to brush my teeth.

While Kennedy and I got ready for bed, the fire warmed the loft. Soon, the ambiance was just right and she and I were in bed. She was tucked into my arms and we were looking out at the farm and stars together.

“One thing I’ll always miss about Firefly Grove is the sky at night,” I murmured against her hair, breathing in the vanilla scent of her as I gazed up at the stars. “There’s nothing like it anywhere else I’ve been.”

“Same,” she murmured before turning her head to glance up at me. Her eyes captured mine with the soft intensity of them. “Thank you for bringing me with you, Austin.”

“You’ve already said that, and you still don’t have to.”

The intensity didn’t fade from her eyes, though. Instead, she brought her hand up to my cheek to make sure I kept looking at her, her touch sweet and gentle on my skin. “No, Austin. I do have to say thank you. This was the best Thanksgiving I’ve ever had.”

“Really?” I pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Why is that?”

She gazed up at me, her fingertips still absently ghosting across my skin. “When we were still living here, my sister and I used to spend Thanksgiving with our parents and our relatives, but once we left Firefly Grove, even that changed. All those traditions fell away.”

I pulled my head back a little bit, my eyebrows tugging together. “What do you mean? They stopped spending the holiday with you?”

She shrugged. “Not always, but as we got older, they just seemed to care less and less about being with us on the holidays. One year, we were left at the estate with a nanny while our parents went to Bora Bora for Christmas.”

Anger flared through me. “That should be a fucking crime. Who doesn’t want to spend Christmas with their own kids? I would never do something like that.”

“Never?” she asked quietly. “I don’t think I would either, but my parents said it was normal. They said that Christmas is for kids and that we weren’t that little anymore.”

He shook his head. “I really look forward to the day where I can wake up on Christmas morning and see the magic through my child’s eyes. I know that will change as they get older, but Jess and I have both been adults for a while and we still see our parents looking at us every year, enjoying all the time we have together.”

“You’re really lucky to have that,” she murmured. Her eyes lit up as she thought about something. “I’m really lucky to have had it with you for Thanksgiving this year. Your parents are incredible people. Jess and Slate’s baby will be so blessed to have them as grandparents.”

“Yeah, for sure,” I said. “For now, I’m excited to get to spend Christmas with their child until I get to do it with my own, but you do realize that the same is true for Winrey’s baby, right? That kid is really lucky to be getting you as an aunt.”

“Well, I’m going to have to make up for its absent grandparents, so there’s that,” she said, inhaling deeply. “I guess we’ll make do, though. Winrey, Benji, and I are going to spoil it enough that it won’t even miss them.”

“That’s the spirit.” I smiled and laid my head back down, turning it toward her so my lips were moving against her forehead as I spoke. “If you really think about it, it’s up to all of us to create new traditions for our kids anyway. It’s kind of exciting actually, that you can turn a holiday into anything you want.”

She chuckled. “What’s your plan for it? It sounds like you’ve given it some thought.”

“I haven’t before, but now that I am, I’m thinking giant Christmas trees at home in the city and Thanksgiving here. Maybe Halloween someplace in the suburbs and Labor Day weekend at a lake. Definitely at a lake.”

“Why a lake?”

“I don’t know,” I admitted, my chest warming when I heard the twinge of sadness slowly vanishing from her tone. “In all the movies, people are always spending it at a lake. It just looks like fun.”

“Yeah, it does.” The weight of her head suddenly disappeared from my arm and I refocused, realizing that she’d lifted it up to look at me, her face hovering just inches above my own. “You really are something, Austin Merrick.”

As the words left her mouth, she slid her hands around my neck and surprised me by laying the deepest, most passionate kiss I’d ever had on me. I responded immediately, caught off guard but not at all opposed to this turn of events.

I was still waiting for an answer about what she thought of being more than just business partners, but I had a feeling we were getting closer. While I would have preferred to just know, I was okay with giving her space to figure it out.

As long as she stayed this close to me while she did it.