Moonlight on Nightingale Way

“It’s all part of my charm, Mrs. Cole Walker.”

 

 

I flushed, my body tingling with arousal as it did every time he called me Mrs. Cole Walker. I didn’t know why it was such a turn-on and a trigger, but it was, and I seriously regretted confiding it to him. I glowered at him. “You said you wouldn’t.” I squirmed as he cupped my ass, deliberately pressing me against him.

 

He grinned devilishly. “You are so fucking adorable.”

 

I closed my eyes and shut out what he was doing to my body. There was no way we were having sex in broad daylight in a pool! “I want three kids!” I practically shouted to distract us both.

 

Just as I’d expected, Cole stopped teasing my body and stilled. “Three?”

 

“Mmm-hmm.” I popped open my eyes to stare into his in earnest. “Boys or girls… I don’t mind. Although I would like one boy with green eyes and strawberry blond hair.”

 

His smile was slow and boyishly pleased. “Yeah? And when are we starting on making that happen, then?”

 

“Another few years?” I said. “I still want you all to myself for a while.”

 

“Another few years,” he murmured, staring at me with all the love and tenderness in the world. “We’re going to have really cute kids.”

 

I nodded, hugging him tight. “And smart.”

 

“And kind.”

 

“And talented.”

 

“We really love ourselves, don’t we?” he cracked.

 

I shook my head and stared into his eyes. No, I just really love you.

 

As if he read my thought, Cole closed the distance between us and kissed me so deep and so hard, I reconsidered the whole sex-in-broad-daylight thing.

 

 

 

 

 

Meanwhile, back in Edinburgh

 

 

 

Hannah

 

 

I couldn’t remember the last time I’d come around to my parents’ house and it wasn’t chaotic. Mum and Dad had to like it that way because it was constant. I knew Mum well enough to know if it was bugging her, she’d tell us all to shove off.

 

“Dad, can I go upstairs and play the computer with Will?” Dylan said quietly, staring up at his father imploringly as we stood in the hallway of my parents’ house.

 

We’d only stepped foot in the door and already my nephew Will was attempting to drag my stepson up the stairs.

 

Marco stared down at Dylan, as did our son Jarrod, who was reaching out his short little arm for his brother with no hope of obtaining his goal. Dylan helped him out by reaching back and clasping his hand. “Only for a while,” Marco said. “Your grandma Elodie has made lunch, and you’re going to sit with the family and eat it.”

 

“That goes for you too.” Adam, my brother-in-law, stepped out into the hall from the sitting room.

 

His son, Will, who was only a few years younger than Dylan, grinned back at him. “Okay.” He shrugged. It was becoming more apparent as the years went on that he’d inherited his easygoing nature from my sister.

 

Dylan nodded too and then followed Will upstairs.

 

“I thought I heard voices.” Mum appeared beside Adam with five-year-old Braden in her arms.

 

I strode over to kiss her cheek and then steal Bray from her. “And how is this wee man?” I asked him.

 

“Fine,” he said, chewing on a now soggy brioche roll my mum had probably given him. “Hungry.”

 

Jarrod made this cute little grunting sound as he tried to push away from his dad to get to Bray. When it didn’t work, he immediately burst into loud tears. For whatever reason, my son had decided he liked Bray the most out of all of his cousins. Unfortunately, Bray was too concerned with five-year-old boy things to care much for the attentions of a two-year-old.

 

“Oh dear.” Mum smiled. “Let’s put Jarrod in the playpen in the sitting room.”

 

“Where’s Will?” Bray asked.

 

“Upstairs.”

 

“Down, Granny,” he said.

 

Mum let him down, and he hurried upstairs as fast as his wee legs could take him.

 

“Hannah, sweetheart,” Dad said, getting up from his chair to hug and kiss me. “How are you?”

 

“Good, Dad. Stressed with school. Nothing new.” I smiled.

 

“Teaching.” He grunted as he took Jarrod into his arms. My dad would know all about the ups and downs of teaching. He taught at university level. “Marco.” He nodded congenially at my husband and then looked around us, frowning. “Where’s Dylan and Sophia?”

 

“Dylan is upstairs with Will, and Sophia…” I glanced over my shoulder as Ellie walked into the room carrying my daughter in her arms. “Ran straight toward the kitchen.”

 

Sophia adored her aunt Ellie and apparently had some kind of psychic radar for finding her.

 

Ellie came over to kiss me on the cheek, and Sophia buried her head against her aunt’s chest, clearly stating, “I am refusing to budge.” My eyes laughed into Ellie’s. “How are you?”

 

“Good.” She smiled. “We booked our family holiday this morning.”

 

“Ooh, where are you off to?”

 

“Disney World,” Adam answered, coming up behind his wife. He looked pained just at the thought of it. “Florida.”

 

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