“How about we sneak away?”
Her mouth dropped open. “What? Everyone is here for you. You can’t leave.”
“Why not? No one seems to even notice I’m still here.”
She narrowed her eyes and bit down on her lip. “Where would we go?”
“Our spot. I want to sit in the very location we plan on building our house.”
Her smile grew bigger. Taking my hand in hers, she whispered, “Lead the way, Mr. Morris.”
We took two steps and came to a stop. “Now, did I ever tell you kids about the time I jumped up on a bull to impress my Emma?”
Taylor giggled as Garrett stood there looking between us. The man did not look, nor did he act like he was ninety-eight years old.
“Um . . . I don’t think so, Gramps,” Taylor said.
Garrett turned to me and winked. “Oh, you’re in for a doozy of a story, son. Grab us some iced tea and I’ll meet you right here.”
Garrett walked back into the dining room and sat down in a chair. “Do we have to?” I asked as Taylor’s eyes widened in surprise.
“Yes! Jase Morris, go get some tea for Gramps. I’m excited to hear about his bull riding days!”
Moaning internally, I walked into the kitchen. Gunner and Jeff were talking to my father.
Jeff let out a laugh and said, “You look like someone just rained on your parade, son.”
Rolling my eyes, I poured a glass of tea for Gramps. “You could say that.”
“What happened?” my father asked.
Glancing over my shoulder to make sure we were alone, I turned back to them. “I finally talked Taylor into sneaking off with me and Garrett stopped us. Said he wanted to tell us a story about him bull riding.”
Jeff and Gunner looked at each other and busted out laughing. My father and I looked at them like they were crazy.
Gunner was holding his side while Jeff was bent over trying to catch his breath from laughing so hard.
“Did I miss something?” I asked my father with a confused look.
He chuckled and took a drink of his beer. “If you did, I missed it too.”
Once they finally got themselves under control, Jeff let out a sigh and wiped at his eyes. “Oh man. Shit, I must have needed a good laugh.”
Gunner looked at me and shook his head. “When we were your age, Jase, my grandfather I swore had some kind of detection system. If you were close to having any kind of . . . relations . . .” he said lifting his eyebrows. “You could almost plan on Gramps walking in and stopping it.”
Jeff blew out a breath and smiled as if remembering something. “I had to have extra locks put on our house because Garrett had walked in and called out Ari or mine’s names one to many times.”
My father and I both laughed. “And it wasn’t just us. He did it with everyone.” Gunner turned to Jeff. “He even banged on the hotel door at Heather and Josh’s wedding when Ellie and I snuck away for some . . . alone time.”
With another round of laughter, Jeff shook his head and lifted his hands up. “Sorry. Sorry, it’s just funny as hell to know the old man still has it in him.”
Taylor came walking into the kitchen looking flustered. “I need water.”
“Why? What’s wrong?” I asked as I quickly poured her a glass.
“Sweetheart, are you okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” Amanda said as she walked up to Taylor.
Ari walked up to Jeff and smiled. “What’s with the grin from ear to ear?”
“Garrett stopped Taylor and Jase from sneaking away.”
Amanda and Ari both laughed. “Old man still has it,” Grace said as Amanda tried not to laugh harder.
Taylor frantically shook her head. “Oh God, don’t say that. Then that means she still has it too . . . oh shit.”
Amanda faced Taylor again. “What? What’s wrong?”
When Taylors beautiful green eyes shot over and pierced mine, my heart dropped to my stomach.
“Nothing. It’s nothing. I think all the stress from last week hit me all at once. I’m not feeling very well. Jase? Would you mind if we left?”
Turning to Layton, Taylor said, “I know everyone is here and I hate taking him away.”
Kissing her on the top of the head, he replied, “No I don’t mind. No one will mind. Y’all get home and get a good night’s sleep and I’m sure you’ll feel better tomorrow.”
Grace and Amanda glimpsed at one another before Amanda grinned and said, “Sweetheart, y’all take off. Don’t worry about anyone else they will all understand.”
“Go out the back door so you can slip away without Garrett catching you,” Grace said with a wicked smile.
The idea of being alone with Taylor was too strong of an urge to pass up. Walking up to her, I reached for her hand and pulled her with me.
“You heard them. Let’s go, Taylor.”
Jeff and Gunner busted out laughing as we walked past them.
Once we got outside, I spun around and pressed my lips to hers. “Don’t think about anything but me kissing every inch of your body.”