Chapter 8

Luca

F ive days of five adults, four kids and a Teddy had me itching to get back to Sydney. And not for the reasons I’d have suspected when I first walked through the doors and was hit with a thunderous roar of domesticity.

The beach house Finn and Scarlett designed for Nate and Evie’s tribe was stunning and the two-bedroom guest cottage that Teddy, Ash, and I shared a was equally impressive. The babies—well, babies and toddlers—slept soundly each night. When awake, their squeaks and squawks, giggles, and cuddles were nothing but cute. The late-night conversations I shared with Evie as she nursed proved the boys to be right. She was generous, funny, and warm. Her bark was worse than her bite … most of the time.

There were also frequent visits by Iris, Ben, and Shelby, who were Finn and Scarlett’s kids. Ben was a cool dude who was fairly quiet, surfed a lot, and was intensely protective of Iris and his little sister Shelby, but for the most part, kept to himself. Baby Shelby wasn’t a baby; she was called baby because she bore the name of Nate’s late sister, Finn’s first girlfriend, and Iris’s birth mother. It was a complex situation that took me three days to get my head around. The junior Shelby hid whenever she saw me, so I hadn’t seen much of her personality, just a hint of her wavy red locks as she cowered behind someone more familiar.

Iris was the polar opposite and seemed enamored with me at first sight. When she wasn’t telling Teddy to stop calling her Iwis, a cruel but funny throwback to her past speech impediment, she was pounding me with questions about hockey, New York, and what I liked in a woman. Again, super cute. But still, I needed out.

Surrounded by all this, thoughts of Jasmine consumed me. I was all kinds of twisted and would undoubtedly receive a restraining order if I continued to contact her with the frequency and lewdness matching my thoughts. For a week there was no reply, but as I jogged along the beach with the already scorching Aussie sun belting into my face, I struck gold.

Jasmine: Persistent little thing, aren’t you?

Me: Persistent, yes. Little? Well, I think you might remember that there’s nothing little about me.

Jasmine: Up yourself much?

Hmm. I’ll have to ask Nate what that means when I get home.

Me: I don’t know if you read it already, but my Aussie friends are taking me to a football match in Sydney. Tonight. We’ll be staying at the same hotel. Please, please. Can I see you?

Jasmine: I’d love to, Cowboy. But I have a rule. One-night stands, no matter how good, remain just that. One night.

Me: That’s a stupid rule.

Jasmine: Maybe I’m stupid.

Me: Jasmine, you are many things. Stupid is not one of them.

Me: I, on the other hand, am not the sharpest tool in the shed, but I do know this. You don’t know my name. Which means technically, we have never met. Which means the one-night rule is not applicable.

As depressing as it was, that was possibly the smartest thought I’d ever had. While I congratulated myself, the ominous bubbles appeared, disappeared, and appeared again.

Maybe I celebrated too early.

Jasmine:I like your logic, Cowboy. Message me your room number when you get to the hotel. I’ll be there at midnight. Should I bring Katie? Would you like to watch us together this time?

My cock damn near broke off.

Me: Ya know what? I think … I know I would enjoy that very much. But no. I just want you. Only you.

After a short, agonizing delay another text appeared.

Jasmine: Okay, But I have an additional rule. No spending the night, so make sure you don’t shoot your shot before I arrive. My lucky number is six and that’s how many orgasms I want before I leave.

Bare-chested and dripping with sweat, I took three steps into the house, pulled Nate from his favorite armchair, my phone from my pocket, and dragged him into the walk-in pantry fit for a doomsday prepper. “Nate, buddy. If an Aussie girl says … up yourself much with a question mark at the end, is that a good or bad thing?”

A smile teased his lips but disappeared in a flash.

“Who said that to you?” Iris snapped, popping out from behind from uncle, causing him to jump out of his skin.

“Jesus, Iris. I didn’t even know you were here. Why are you here? It’s like seven-thirty.”

Slowly, she tore her gaze from my abs and faced Nate. “Morning, Uncle Nate. Mum sent me over to help Evie with the babies.” The way her blush intensified very much cast doubt on that. Nate seemed to think so, too.

“ Sure . Right, then. Well, Evie is upstairs with the tribe. They might still be sleeping, so why don’t you quietly go check and leave me and Luca to chat.”

“I could do that,” She smiled, fluttering her lashes and facing me again. “Or I could stay right here and help Luca with his woman troubles. As a woman myself, it’s probably better for him to talk to me than to you.”

“Iris, it’s scary how true that is, but still.” Doing a really poor job at suppressing his smirk, Nate left it at that and pointed toward the exit.

“And I thought you were the cool one?”

“I am the cool one!” He whined, utterly devastated, as his niece rolled her eyes and sauntered away.

After laughing my ass off, I gave him a not-at-all-reassuring pat on the back. “The kid’s brutal. What is she, like eleven?”

“Yeah. Something like that.”

The commotion coming from upstairs suggested that if the babies had been asleep, they certainly weren’t anymore. Nate responded by grabbing me by the elbow and leading me outside to his cherished man shed. Walls lined with photos of his kids, his beloved football team, and Byron’s iconic waves made it clear that Evie had more than a little say in its tasteful decoration.

“I love the kids with all my heart, but sometimes there’s just a bit too much estrogen in this house.”

“Dude, that could be the understatement of the decade. You have four girls under four, a wife, a mother, a sister-in-law, and two nieces living in your back pocket. I get it.”

He didn’t look convinced, “You don’t think it’s wrong for me to think that? Or think that I’m a bad dad?”

The image of my dad rifling through the freshly smashed piggybanks of his children was habitually blinked away. “Generally, I don’t think that much about anything but nope. I’d be more worried if you didn’t feel and express that. You have a whole lot going on here, and despite her feistiness, I bet Evie feels the same way sometimes. Have you ever asked her?”

“Nah, she has a lot to deal with. You wouldn’t know it now, but she really struggled when we brought the new twins home. She couldn’t breastfeed, and I think she felt like a bit of a failure. All I have to do is show up, support her, and try not to be a dick. I don’t think I have the right to complain about anything.” His back was to me, but from his posture alone, I could see the worry weighing him down.

“You’re not complaining, and it’s not a competition. Both of you can falter at times, but it’s how you hold each other up that counts.”

Nate turned and narrowed eyes. “That sounds pretty deep for a guy who doesn’t think much.”

“That wasn’t thinking. Just remembering.” Nodding, Nate ducked beneath a bench made from an upside-down surfboard with its fin removed and watched me from his compact kitchen comprised of one cupboard, a sink, and, of course, a beer fridge. “My dad was a complete asshole and never did a thing for my mom. Trust me, you’re outstanding and have nothing to worry about.”

Trying in vain to ward off the headache just thinking about my father almost always caused, I closed my eyes and pinched the bridge of my nose. When they popped back open, my host stood before me, holding a tall glass of orange juice and my new favorite food, a sweet muffin full of white chocolate with bits of raspberry. “I am not going to fit into my gear if I keep inhaling these. Where do you get them?”

Pride colored his cheeks, and a sly, mischievous grin spread as he rocked back on his heels and scratched his belly. “I make ‘em. My mum taught me cause they’re Gidge’s favorite.”

“No shit! You make these?” Dad’s bad juju melted away as I took a mouthful of sweet yet tart, fluffy heaven. “I swear to God, you could make a fortune off these in Brooklyn.”

“Nah, I keep ‘em for my lady. And I guess for you, too, now.”

“Dude, I’m honored. And see, the fact that you learned to bake your wife’s favorite treat is a perfect example of the care you have for her. You’re a great husband and dad.”

A second bite was working its way down to my gut when the door creaked open, and a round little face popped through. “Hi, Emmy,” Nate said without looking.

“Hi, Daddy. Mummy said to see if you were hiding. And if you were hiding to say, ‘Daddy, stop hiding.’”

“Did she now?” In two strides, Nate was at the door, and Emily, one of his older girls, was in his arms. “Well, I guess I better stop hiding then.”

“Can we go to the beach today, Dad? Me and Britty wanna surf.”

“Sorry, Em. Luca, Uncle Finny, and I are going to Sydney, remember?”

Shit! With the chaos of the morning, I’d forgotten all about Sydney. About Jasmine. About ‘up yourself’. It was the longest time without her body crossing my mind since that night, but boy, was it back.

“Kiddo,” continued Nate. “I promise to take you after kinder on Monday.”

“Super promise?”

“Super promise.”

With his blonde clone hanging around his neck like a cute little monkey, Nate grabbed another muffin, tore it into pieces, and popped the smallest chunk into Emily’s open mouth.

“Hey Nate,” I asked, leaning into his side just in case my question was not kid-friendly.

“You never did tell me what ‘up yourself’ meant.”

“That’s right. And you never told me who said it?”

My breath caught in my throat, the feel of Jasmine’s hair brushing my cheek overwhelming. “This girl I met in Sydney.” I blushed, “She was amazing, and we’ve texted back and forth a bit, and today she said, ‘up yourself much?’”Whistling through his teeth, Nate gave me a slow clap. “One night in the country and you’ve got yourself a girl? You didn’t muck around, did you?”

“I’m not sure, because I don’t know what that means either.”

Nate laughed, but Emily… sure, she may have been four, but the kid gave me a look reeking of judgment.

“Take a seat, big fella.” He motioned towards the sofa with a nod, “Emmy and me are going to teach you some lingo.”