Page 99 of Taming You

The house smells amazing as we step inside, filled with the scent of the real tree. We slip our shoes off, and I follow the smell of food wafting from the kitchen, where I find Mrs. Carter. She smiles widely when she sees me and stops what she’s doing to wrap her arms around me and kiss my hair.

“How are you, dear? I’m so glad you’re spending the day with us.”

“I’m good, thank you, Mrs. Carter.”

Her hand comes under my chin in a very motherly way, and I smile. “No need to be so formal. You can call me Maddison.”

Her words have any tension I had left in my body leaving. Matt joins us, and Maddison smiles more at Jayden than she does Matt, I think. She kisses Matt on the cheek quickly, and then her hands are deftly undoing the buckles on the car seat and taking Jayden out.

“How is my grandbaby?” she asks, and Jayden smiles at her as he babbles.

Matt tips his head to the living room, leaving Jayden with his mom. We move into the living room and greet his dad, who is coming down the stairs with a wrapped box as the front door opens and Josh and Liv walk in. Stopping at the bottom of the stairs, Mr. Carter kisses Liv’s cheek and then Cate’s, who’s in Liv’s arms, and shakes Josh’s hand before coming into the living room to greet Matt and me.

“Where’s your boy?” he asks.

“Mom,” Matt says with a smile, and Mr. Carter nods in a knowing way. “I was chopped liver when I went into the kitchen, she just wanted her grandbaby.”

“Because he’s adorable,” I say, and Matt feigns pain.

“And I’m not?”

I shrug. “Your cheeks aren’t as pinchable.”

He pinches my ass, and I squeal. “You can pinch my cheeks whenever you want, baby.”

I can’t help but to throw my head back and laugh. The way he wiggles his brows, I get the innuendo.

“I’ll remember that,” I whisper, and he kisses my cheek.

Mr. Carter takes Cate from Liv, and she pulls me away from her brother and into the kitchen. She says hi to her mom, kissing her on the cheek before she drags me to the den.

“Okay, so now that the boys aren’t around, tell me everything.” She scrunches her nose and shakes her head quickly. “Okay, not everything. You know what I mean.”

I laugh. “So, you don’t want to know what Matt and I did last night?”

The look of disgust on her face is priceless. “No, no I do not want to know.” She pulls her leg up on the couch and wraps her arms around it, holding it to her chest. “You know, I love that we’ve always been as close as siblings and now you’ll be my sister-in-law.”

“Not for a while,” I say.

“I see the way my brother looks at you. I know he wants to marry you. I’m surprised he hasn’t jumped on that already.”

I play with the hem of my shirt. “I told him I wanted to wait. I’ve spent too much of our relationship not knowing what I wanted to do with my own life, feeling lost. I don’t want my life to be our relationship. I love Matt, I do. But I want to make sure I’m my own person before I’m his wife.”

Liv smiles. “I admire you, Zo. Not everyone is strong enough to admit that, let alone follow through on it. You’re family. You’ll always be family, no matter how long you decide to wait to get married.”

I hug my best friend, and the boys come in with babies on their hips. I grin at Matt. “Now don’t you two look good, two best friends with babies at the same time.”

Matt rolls his eyes and joins us, placing Jayden on a tummy time mat on the floor. Josh puts Cate beside him and takes a seat beside Liv while Matt picks me up, taking my seat and settling me in his lap. I notice Liv and Josh are watching Cate pretty intently.

“Something wrong?” I ask.

Liv shakes her head. “No, but she’s started showing signs of crawling soon and neither of us want to miss it.”

“Already? God, I can’t believe she’s growing up so quickly.”

“Tell me about it. I realized I have to start thinking about her birthday soon, and I cried for a solid hour. I’m not ready for my baby girl to grow up.”

Josh runs his hand over her hair and kisses the top of her head, and I know he’s thinking the same thing.

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