Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 78793 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 394(@200wpm)___ 315(@250wpm)___ 263(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78793 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 394(@200wpm)___ 315(@250wpm)___ 263(@300wpm)
“That’s… confusing.” Rowan sniggers.
“Well, my costume was the best. Not one person spotted me,” Reid boasts.
“It’s the cow ears, and that pink belly, my man,” Baker jokes. “No one is expecting one of the best, if not the best, tight ends in the league to be the head of a cute-ass cow family.” He chuckles.
“Best.” Reid smirks. “The numbers don’t lie, and I know. That’s why it was the best. I had a hassle-free night with my girls and my friends. We have to do this every year,” he says. “Halloween, we can be us, and no mob. We should have thought of this sooner.”
“Daddy, open,” Camden says, rushing into the kitchen and handing Baker a piece of candy he somehow managed to grab out of his bucket. I thought I put that up. I look up at the cabinet and sure enough, it’s there. It must be a straggler he had hidden or something.
“After dinner,” he tells him.
“Swoan, open.” He comes to me next, pulling on my cheerleader skirt.
“Daddy said after dinner,” I remind him. He huffs out a breath and surveys the room before rushing over to Landry.
“Una Wandry, open,” he says, and I can see on Landry’s face he’s going to cave.
Landry smiles down at Camden and doesn’t even glance our way as he opens the mini piece of chocolate and hands it back to Camden.
“Ank ooo,” he says, after shoving the entire piece into his mouth.
“You’re weak, Reynolds.” Knox laughs.
“You can’t give him everything he wants,” Baker tells him. He’s not mad; in fact, I don’t even have to look at him to know that he’s highly amused with Landry’s lack of willpower where the kids are concerned.
“I—Yes, I’m weak,” he says, holding his hands up in the air, and the room erupts in laughter. “He’s too damn cute. The struggle is real.”
“It’s okay, babe. At least you admit there’s a problem,” Rowan teases.
“How do you do it?” Landry asks Baker.
“It’s hard at times, but kids need structure. And if he fills up on chocolate, he won’t eat his dinner, and he’ll be bouncing off the walls and will be up all night with a bellyache. Then Sloane and I will never get any sleep.”
“So, this is what we have to look forward to,” Reid muses.
“We’re already there.” Bellamy laughs. “And you’re as weak as Landry when it comes to telling Coral no.”
“What? I am not,” Reid counters, but his tone and the look on his face tell us he knows he’s guilty.
“Yes, you are,” Bellamy fires back. “What about last night? She kept tossing her cheese puff to the floor, and instead of ignoring it or telling her no, you laughed, which meant she was also laughing, and she kept doing it to make you smile at her.”
“It was cute as hell.” Reid sniggers.
Camden comes rushing over to Landry and hands him another piece of chocolate. Landry looks pained, so I intercept as I step closer to him, lift Camden into my arms, and twirl him around, making him giggle. I manage to take the piece of candy and toss it to Baker, who shoves it into his pocket.
“Teamwork.” Baker winks at me.
Camden presses his hands to my cheeks and kisses me, and he tastes like chocolate. “Have you been eating more chocolate than we know about?” I ask him.
“Where are you getting those?” Baker asks him.
Camden points to the living room, and Coral’s bag is beneath his wagon, the one we used to haul them around the neighborhood. She was sleeping, so we wheeled it inside, and this little bugger took full advantage.
Her bag is on the floor, and sure enough, there are some empty wrappers. I want to tell him he’s been a bad boy, but I’m fighting my own smile, because he also told on himself.
“You little sneak,” I say, tickling his belly. That earns me a big laugh, and I twirl us around again. We end up bumping into Baker, who wraps his arms around us with a smile.
The doorbell rings. “I’ll get it,” Foster says, moving toward the door.
“I put the tip on the card!” I call after him, and he waves over his shoulder.
Once everyone has a plate, we move to the dining room and talk about some of the silly and even scary costumes we saw tonight as we walked around the neighborhood. Baker finishes before me and tries to take Camden from Landry, but he’s stuck like glue to his uncle, who feeds him chocolate. So instead, he leans back in his chair, stretches his arm out on the back of mine. Landry smirks, proud as a peacock that Camden chose to stay with him, and offers Camden a piece of his wing he just tore off the bone.
Baker leans in close. “Today was one for the memory books,” he says, kissing just below my ear. “Thank you for this.”