Faith

 

“Would you like to do the honors, Faith?” Jamie says, appearing in front of me and holding out a light bulb. Ezra and Cohen stand beside him.

“Huh?” I stare at him like he’s grown two heads.

Bryant chuckles and gives my waist a squeeze. “Babycakes, at the end of each flip, someone screws in the last light bulb. Then we eat and drink and celebrate. It’s a tradition.”

“Oh,” I reply. I look back to Jamie. “But why me? Shouldn’t Bry get to do it?”

“How many biologists does it take to screw in a lightbulb?” Cohen asks.

“How many, Co?” Jax asks, joining us.

“Nobody knows because Bry and Faith can’t decide who’s going to do it,” he says.

I snort while the rest of them chuckle.

“So Co,” Jamie says, looking around the group before returning his eyes to the youngest Cook. “We’ve got a proposition for you.”

Baby Cook’s brows bunch together. “Yes…”

“Our offer on the three-flat property has been accepted. The owner called me yesterday.”

“Okay. You know I can’t take a break like twin one, and twin two did. Maybe in a few years but not right now,” Cohen explains.

“Yeah, we know. But you’ve been grumbling about living with the parents for a while now, and we were all thinking that you could live in one of the flats while we all work on it together. It wouldn’t affect your job, but it would give us someone on-site,” Jamie explains. “One tenant has already moved out, so that gives us a place to start. The other tenant has yet to give an indication either way as to whether she’ll stay and we renovate around her, or if she’d like to leave.”

“Okay. So where is it?” Cohen asks.

When Jamie rattles off the address Cohen’s eyes go wide as saucers before he shocks the shit out me and smiles… huge.

“Yeah. I can definitely do that.” He looks at Jamie. “Did you already know it was Skye’s building?”

Jamie grins by way of an answer. “It was Skye who put April onto the property. From there, it almost seemed like fate.”

Now my eyes are bugging out because all of this is news to me, and now my matchmaking brain has gone into hyperdrive.

“Jesus, Co. Don’t grin like that. It’s scary,“ Ez teases.

“Asshole,” Co mutters, his lips curving into a smirk as he shoulder-bumps my brother. “A change is as good as a holiday, right? And I need to get out of home. I need my space, and Mom and Dad definitely do.”

I study my youngest brother-in-law, my compulsive need to fix things sparking to life. I wanna know what’s going on with him and want to help him work towards wherever he needs to be. If it’s got anything to do with his love life though, I’ll be tagging Faith in. Cohen hasn’t had the best track record with women—and that’s just talking about the ones I know about.

“I’m surprised you haven’t needed therapy, living with our deviant parents,” Bry says with a laugh.

“Right?” Jax nods in agreement. “Last week I figured I’d be safe just popping in to raid their fridge and I—”

“Enough said,” Co says with a sigh.

“Please tell me Marcy and Rick have at least learned to close the curtains. I’m still scarred by their unfortunate lesson in human sexuality when I was seventeen and still living at home,” I ask with a wince.

The guys all shudder, Jamie grimacing.

“I heard the word sexuality. What did we miss?” Ronnie asks, entering the room arm in arm with April, having obviously finished their self-guided tour of the shack now that it’s finished.

“This place is amazing, by the way,” April says. “So different from when we first came to view it.” She sidles up to Jamie, who kisses the top of her head and pulls her in tight.

Jax claims Ronnie, moving her in front of him and wrapping his arm around her waist, his hand resting on her not-yet-showing baby belly. “This is the kind of place I could see us living in, Ken,” she says, looking up at her husband.

“Maybe we should buy it,” he says with a gentle grin so soft and sweet I wouldn’t have believed it possible in the past.

“Yeah, about that,” Jamie says, sneaking a glance down at April. “I’ve already had an offer on this place so I guess we can toast this place being sold now too.”

“What?” Bry splutters. “Already?”

“Yeah. They saw it, they liked it, they put an offer in, and they bought it,” Jamie says like it’s no big deal.

Bry looks at me. “We’ve got our plan. We just might need to give the tenants an update. If the timing’s not quite right, we could always bunk in with Co or stay with one of our par—”

My gaze turns razor sharp. “Hell no. If they’re deviants, then God knows what we are.”

“Sinners?” Ez says, with a shit-eating grin.

Bry shoots my brother a devious smirk. “Do you really want to know?”

“Dude, we had this talk years ago. I do not want to hear about that shit. Doesn’t matter if Faith is eighteen or eighty.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

“All right. Are we doing this thing or what?” Jamie asks, bringing us back full circle.

“Faith?” Bry asks, tightening his arm around my waist and looking down at me.

“You do it,” I reply. “You started this—now I want you to finish it.”

His eyes flash as he doesn’t miss my double-meaning.

“Celebrate now in public, later in private?” he murmurs, dropping his lips to mine.

“Sounds good to me.” I touch the tip of my tongue to his mouth then pull away, stepping back with a slow-growing smile. Bry narrows his eyes, shaking his head at me before reaching out for the light bulb.

He moves to the center of the room and climbs the stepladder. Reaching above his head, he shoots me a soft shot-to-the-heart look before screwing in the bulb and lowering himself back to the ground.

“So that’s house six in the books,” Jax says, looking straight at Jamie. “Still happy you’re not driving boats for a living?”

“Considering I never would’ve met my wife if I was, which means you wouldn’t have met your wife, I think you know my answer to that,” Jamie muses.

“Well, not all of us meet their soul mate at eight,” Jax says, nodding at Bry.

My husband locks eyes with me across the room, and like many times before, it’s like everyone else fades away. “Yep. I’m one lucky son-of-a-bitch.”

“Does that make me a lucky daughter-of-a-bitch? Because I’m not sure Mom would appreciate that,” I say with a giggle.

“God!” Ezra says, breaking through the haze. “Sickly sweet loved-up newlyweds. Y’all make me sick.”

“You’ll get your turn, Ez,” April rubs my brother’s shoulder.

“Again,” Ronnie says, unable to hold back a snicker. That sets the rest of us off—including Ez.

Bry comes up beside me and curves an arm around my shoulders, moving me to face him. “You happy?”

“I’m with you. How could I not be?”

“Fuck. Now we have to kick everyone out so I can take you on the couch.”

“Again?”

He dips his head and brings his mouth to my ear. “When it comes to you, it’s going to be a lifetime of again… more… yes, please…”

Pulling back, I lock eyes with his and lick my lips. “Bring it on.”