Page 101 of No More Secrets
A dozen little ones cheered and stampeded after Carter as he jogged back toward the house.
Summer and Joey jogged to catch up. “This is so wrong,” Summer said, watching Carter and Jax wade through the pack of children now safely locked in the pig paddock.
“This is the best thing that’s ever happened to me,” Tracey sighed. “I could go to the bathroom if I wanted to instead of holding it for eight hours. Or I could eat a sandwich without worrying that one of them figured out the key code to get outside again.”
Grandpa Willis sidled up next to her. “Do you think the parents would go for this if we called it free range play? We could pad the walls of the meditation room in the basement.”
“I think it’s worth a shot,” Tracey nodded, mesmerized by the glimpse of freedom.
“And what does a cow say?” Carter yelled.
“Mooooooooo!” The kids shouted. Except for Katie Bell, who barked.
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“Iswear to you,” Carter said, from under the ice pack on his forehead as he held Summer’s feet in his lap. “Our children will never behave like that.”
Summer shifted the pillow off her face and peered at him on the other end of the couch.
Carter Pierce wanted to have children with her?
“You still want to have kids after that shitstorm?” Jax asked, working on his second beer from the recliner. Both men were completely oblivious to the heart attack happening in Summer’s chest.
“I refuse to believe that they are all demon spawn. We turned out okay, didn’t we?”
Summer pulled her feet off Carter’s lap and sat up.
“Where are you going?” Carter asked, swapping ice pack for pillow.
“I’m going to go see Joey,” she said, heart pounding.
She met Beckett in the kitchen.
“Just stopped by to see if the place was still standing,” he said, poking his head into the great room. “Hey, that’s the pillow that touched my junk,” he told Carter.
Carter hurled the pillow and a colorful insult as Summer hurried out the side door. She followed the grassy track that wound behind the barn and through the fields to the stables.
There Summer found Joey in the stable office, smacking the computer monitor.
“Come on, you son of a bitch, turn back on.”
“Is this a bad time?” Summer asked poking her head in the door.
Joey gave the monitor another slap and sighed. “No. In fact, your distraction may have saved this computer’s life.” She kicked back in her chair. “What’s up?”
“I need to ask you something about Carter.”
If Joey was suspicious, she didn’t let on. “Okay.”
“Is he the type of guy to want kids? A family?”
Joey sat in silence for a minute studying Summer. “I want some water. You want a water?” she said finally.
“Uh, sure,” Summer shrugged.
Joey grabbed two waters out of the mini fridge and tossed one to Summer. “Come on. I think better outside.”
Summer followed her out the back of the barn up. Charcoal and Lolly were in the pasture, both happily munching on grass.
