Page 65 of The Anchor Holds

As Nora held out her arms to her daughter, I watched Rowan hesitate, no doubt worrying about his wife’s ability to hold their daughter while pregnant. Nora challenged him with a simple stare, one that communicated without words since they’d been in this battle since she found out she was pregnant.

As was normal, Nora won.

Nora took her daughter, nuzzling into her neck and whispering in her ear.

Everyone else was leisurely rounding up their children, preparing to get them home, Kip fiddling with the grill, Kane chasing his daughter.

“Looks like dinner is cancelled.” I hadn’t realized Elliot was beside me until he spoke. “And I’m in front of you unable to believe any excuses you may make. So how ’bout that dinner?” His eyes twinkled. “You know, the one you promised me. You don’t strike me as a woman who goes back on her word.”

I glared at him.

There was provocation in his tone. And a teasing warmth that always existed with him. Under the weight of his gaze, I eitherfelt comfortably warm or alight with an inferno of desire that wasn’t at all bad. I felt none of the coldness from the shadows that seemed to stick to me like glue.

It was disconcerting, to feel such comfort with someone who wasn’t part of my family or inner circle. Especially being a man I barely knew.

“I am a woman who keeps her word. But I have to help clean up here.” I gestured to the table cluttered with glasses and appetizers.

Tina let out a snort from beside me, from where she’d obviously been shamelessly eavesdropping. “Since when do you help clean up?”

My head swiveled in her direction. “Since my brother and sister-in-law are going to have a baby and deserve a clean house,” I said through gritted teeth. I hadn’t been willing to go up against the take-no-shit biker babe before, but I considered doing it then.

“Don’t worry, hon,” Tiffany singsonged from where she was stacking plates. “We’ve got this. Go have a date with your fisherman.” She gave Elliot a sweet smile.

I might’ve glared at Tiffany if her wife wasn’t right next to me and likely to wallop me one for daring to do such a thing to her wife. But Tiffany wasn’t being calculated or scheming; she was a genuinely nice person who wasn’t reading the nuance of me not wanting to have dinner with Elliot.

Which made sense because on the surface, who wouldn’t want to have dinner with the amiable, attractive, eligible, single man who could eat pussy like a champ?

Well, not Tiffany or Tina, who I figured could give Elliot a run for his money in that department.

Jesus, how my mind wandered just so I didn’t have to formulate an answer.

“See?” Elliot’s white, slightly crooked self-satisfied smile pummeled me with its beauty. “I take you away and ensure you’re a woman of your word.”

His grip on my hip was gentle, the pressure a whisper of what was to come. Him directing me. Without clothes on.

Desire blasted through my entire body, setting fire to all the reasons why this was a bad idea.

“Fine,” I barked out. “But I can’t guarantee that I won’t have to rush out to meet my new niece or nephew.” He couldn’t argue with that, he was far too good of a person.

I stepped out of his grip to go hug my sister-in-law. “Make it a quick labor, for both our sakes,” I whispered.

She laughed. “Yes, Calliope, I’ll endeavor to make my labor as short as possible to ensureyourcomfort.” Her sarcasm was good-natured and without any venom— the woman simply wasn’t capable of it.

“I’ll have my phone on,” I spoke to Rowan. “Call me the second she crowns.”

“How about we don’t and say we did,” Nora cut in, wincing at the mention of crowning. I didn’t have any first-hand experience, but I was guessing a head stretching your vagina to its limit was not a pleasant experience.

“I’ll come pick up the girls in the morning for a coffee date,” I told Fiona. “Does Mabel want to come?” I asked Avery.

“If you’re game enough to take on three toddlers,” she nodded.

I grinned. “I’m game enough.”

I just wasn’t game enough to turn my back to my family in order to face the smiling man I’d been craving for days.

Therefore, I stretched out my goodbyes, using the children as human shields against the onslaught of emotions I felt toward Elliot.

But soon there was no one to say goodbye to, and there was just Elliot, waiting patiently, an amused look on his face and an outstretched hand.

---