Page 63 of No First Kisses

He’d rather attack someone when they are defenseless.

Young.

Not able to turn him away or plead for help.

And one day, he’ll fuck with the wrong person.

Who am I kidding? He already has. I just can’t kill him without losing everything I’ve ever worked for or wanted in my life.

I turn the corner and see Poppy waiting for me with a small smile on her face.

“You brought tacos.” She stands on her tiptoes and kisses my cheek. “Thank you.”

See? That’s why I can’t kill him.

I still need a lifetime of her kisses.

23

POPPY

My entire world goes to shit because I don’t know how not to eavesdrop. Honestly, I blame my mother for it. At least, that’s the lie I tell myself when I have no one else to blame but myself.

After all, she brought me into the world without asking my opinion on the whole thing. That means that she is responsible for all my bad habits.

“Hey, Poppy.” I look over at Parker, who is staring at the baby in my arms with a smile on her face. “Do you think I could have my baby back?”

“No.” I mock glare at her. “You haven’t even named them yet.”

“Yes.” Parker sighs. “I’ve named them. You’re holding Brody. Chloe’s snuggling with Blake.”

I look down at the upturned nose currently pressing into my neck and smile at the perfect little boy.

“I don’t care. You can’t have him. I want snuggles. I’ve still got like three weeks until I get to meet my little guy.”

When she reaches for him, I waddle away with a triumphant look on my face. At least until he starts rooting around on my neck, trying to get milk, which I don’t have yet.

“Okay, fine,” I huff when I turn back to Parker. “You can feed him if you want to. But I still want some baby snuggles before I have to go home.”

After my last OB appointment, where Kyle essentially told me I could pop at any moment, Logan asked me to stay home unless he was with me. His head bobs outside the kitchen window, and I can’t even pretend that I didn’t give in as soon as he asked me to.

I am a complete and undeniable sucker for that man. There is no use trying to deny it, either. Not when every single person both inside Parker’s house and outside is in the same position with their partner.

“Remy’s parents really didn’t mind keeping Cassie for the night?” I look over at Parker, who looks like she’s about to fall asleep and hasn’t slept in a month. “That’s really nice of them.”

“They love her. And Cassie actually sleeps through the night at their house, which she doesn’t do here unless Nox is in her room. No eight-year-old boy wants to sleep in the same room as his three-year-old sister. So it means that none of us really get a full night’s sleep.”

“That sucks.” Chloe blows out a deep breath, smiling when the baby in her arms gurgles loudly.

“I’m not saying if they don’t finish that barbecue soon that I’m going to eat someone’s child,” Emma growls. “But if they don’t finish that food soon, I’m going to sneak into Dom’s truck and raid his hidden chocolate supply that he thinks I don’t know about and that I’m not allowed to have because I have gestational diabetes.”

Chloe burps loudly, pressing down on the top of her stomach with one hand while she stretches her back, still holding on to the baby like she’s done it a thousand times before. “I think you’re probably just talking a lot so that you don’t actually get tempted to go and get the food that you’re so sure he’s hiding from you.”

“He is.” Emma throws a pillow from the couch across the room, but she intentionally misses and it lands at Chloe’s feet. “I can smell the chocolate in his truck. And he keeps trying to hide it in different spots. Last week, I found it taped under the driver’s seat.”

“Taped, like with duct tape?” I can’t help the question. “I’d have thought he’d be smarter than that. I reach under the driver’s seat almost every day to grab something that I dropped.”

“That’s exactly what happened.” Emma laughs. “I was trying to plug my phone in so I could use the speakers to blast my labor music and make sure it sounds good. I dropped my phone and couldn’t just bend over, so I had to get out and lean down. He had a freakin’ handle made out of tape so that he could just sort of sit there and yank it out if he wanted to. It was the most… insulting thing in the entire world.” She huffs loudly. “Like I’m not strong enough to keep myself from eating a bunch of stuff that I can’t have because it might put our baby in danger.”

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