It's Getting Hot in Here Read online

  "So, for real," Riley said as Jennings and I adjusted ourselves with only half the people standing around watching and laughing at us. "Why won't you ask him out?"

  I looked up to watch Grant go right back to looking completely horrified by the very idea. "Uh, well… he's like crazy gorgeous."

  Riley nodded, a crease popping between his brows. "Mmhmm. No doubt. The man is definitely beautiful. And?"

  "Uh."

  My brother looked so uncomfortable with all those eyes on him, and I honestly felt bad for him since he spent a lot of his life trying to hide in plain sight.

  "Grant thinks he's ugly," I finally supplied, making every omega in the vicinity gasp in surprise.

  "What?!" Kent demanded, stepping closer. "Are you serious?"

  Hinton came out of nowhere, throwing his arms around Grant and hugging him hard, his handsome face scrunched up in sadness.

  "Damn it, Wagoner," Grant grumbled, patting Hinton awkwardly while clearly trying to pull out of his arms. "Don't tell them that shit. They're going to start… " He trailed off, groaning and then pointed at Riley, Jennings and then Kent. "Doing that."

  I knew exactly what he meant as I looked around at all the omegas, all clearly feeling sorry for the big, sometimes gruff man.

  "You're not ugly, Grant," Riley said a little weepily, reaching up over Hinton who was still wrapped around Grant like a corset, to grip the man's beard on both sides of his face to wiggle his head around. "You're adorably scruffy."

  Grant tried to pull back, but Riley had surprisingly long arms. "Adorably scruffy? Like a sheep dog?"

  "Well––" I started, but the glares coming from Grants impromptu fan club stopped me. "No. Not like a sheep dog."

  "All you need to do is maybe trim up a bit," Kent said, reaching behind the man's head––also while leaning around Hinton to grab Grant's ponytail before also grabbing part of his beard. "You have really pretty eyes, but nobody can really see the rest of your face."

  Jennings elbowed me in the stomach, and I grunted, rubbing my abs while glaring at him. He widened his eyes at me, clearly indicating that I needed to say something, and I sighed, rolling my eyes.

  "True," I said dryly, shrugging. "If you were to put snow goggles on, I don't think I could see your face at all."

  Jennings glared at me and I shrugged again, not really sure what he wanted from me. I wasn't going to start complimenting my brother.

  "What he means is that your beard is a bit too natural. We can't really see any of the features of your face."

  "Trust me, you're not missing much," Grant grumbled. "That's why I grow all this hair."

  They were all still hovering pretty bad, and I really was starting to feel bad for the guy, so I looked around hoping to find something that might draw everyone's attention… and found little Casey.

  Now don't get me wrong, I loved Casey, and I really loved how much he and Ricki seemed to get along, but the fact that he was currently watching my boys like they were exciting new tools he might put to work, made me nervous. The kid was always doing… something.

  "When did Casey get here?" I asked as I looked around for all the things he might try to do that would possibly involve my boys getting hurt.

  "What?" Riley demanded, letting go of Grant finally and looking around. Spotting his cousin Riker, he stomped over to the man, clearly pissy. "What the hell are you doing here?"

  I was sure Grant was relieved as most of the attention switched from him over to where Riley was looking back and forth between Da and Riker like he was accusing them of something.

  Kent also released him and moved away, but Hinton just turned his head to watch as he remained glued to Grant.

  "Da invited me," Riker said, smirking at his cousin.

  "Da?" Riley said incredulously. "You're dating a man nearly the same age as Da."

  Frost, who was standing next to Riker, gasped in outrage, putting his hand to his chest before blinking and then nodding. "That's probably true."

  Da reached out and patted Riley's back, smiling. "Be nice."

  Riley turned on him fast, glaring. "Why is he here? I had an agreement with myself that I didn't have to see that part of my family until the wedding."

  "I had an agreement with myself that I was going to get Casey and Ricki together as often as I could because Casey brings Ricki out of his shell," Da said, raising his chin.

  "You could have had me bring him. This isn't even Riker's family."

  "Wait," Cole said, chuckling as he walked up behind his omega, wrapping his arms around Riley. "Are you jealous that your cousin gets to spend time with my family?"

  "No," he grumbled, so clearly jealous as he crossed his arms over his chest and glared at Riker.

  Riker just continued to smirk at Riley.

  "Don't worry, Riley," Da said patting Riley on the top of the head. "My love for you isn't the same as my love for Riker."

  "What is your love for Riker?" Dad asked incredulously.

  "Hmm, you're so damn sexy when you're jealous," Da said, rubbing on Dad's chest.

  I gagged.

  "I wasn't worried about that, anyway," Riley said, still pouting.

  Cole laughed, snuggling his omega closer, looking giddy. "Yes, you were."

  Chapter Six

  AUGUST

  "A

  rden, you little shit," Wagoner whisper-growled, doing his best to stay quiet as he chased the little hellion around the bedroom.

  I snickered into my pillow. There was a time when Wagoner tried not to cuss in front of the boys, but he'd since then stopped worrying so much about that in light of the fact that they could get into some shit sometimes, and it was clear by the giggles that they loved when he got all grumbly and took off after them.

  But I guess that was what he got for basically moving into my house without even bothering to ask me if I was okay with that.

  He didn't think I noticed more and more of his shit showing up, but aside from his furniture, I was pretty sure he didn't have anything left in his house. Hell, had a bed in the corner of our room––yeah, our fucking room––and a little doggy swimming pool in the back yard that he shared with the boys.

  Of course, Arden and Calen loved Wriggly, which meant if Wagoner tried to leave me, I was going to have to kill him so we could keep the damn dog.

  "Dada isn't ready to wake up yet," Wagoner whispered, but I could barely hear it over Arden's muffled giggles. "Where is your brother? I know he was the one that climbed the gate and opened the damn thing.

  "I'm up," I said, turning my head against the pillow to look at the two as Wagoner held Arden around the middle with his hand over the hellions mouth like he was kidnapping the critter.

  Arden blew a raspberry against Wagoner's hand, and spit oozed out from between the alpha's fingers. I laughed as Wagoner scrunched up his face, and jerked his hand away from the kid's mouth, glaring down at the drool dripping from his fingers… and then promptly whipped it on Arden's shirt.

  God, I loved him. Him wiping my son's drool on my son's shirt hadn't been the thing to cinch it. I'd actually been thinking it more and more lately, and I'd almost slipped a few times when he did something I found irresistible… you know, like exist.

  He just did these things all the time that for some reason really got to me. Like the fact that he insisted on taking the morning shift with the boys, calling it his bonding time with them, and the fact that he adored them like they belonged to him and didn't know that I knew that he was trying to get them to call him Wawa behind my back.

  First of all, as long as he was planning on staying around, I didn't care if my boys called him something special, but it also made me laugh, because it definitely sounded like something someone would call their grandmother.

  "Go back to sleep. You didn't get a full eight hours," he said quietly stepping closer, and I smiled, hating myself a little for the sweet flutterings happening inside my belly.

  He was making it really hard not to blurt out something I wasn'
t sure he was ready to hear.

  "I don't wanna. I want to play with you guys," I whined, opening my arms and making grabby hands at them.

  "If the you who punched me in the stomach to swipe a key from me could see you now, begging me to climb in bed with you. He'd be so disappointed."

  I pursed my lips and narrowed my eyes, once again motioning with my hands for him to get his ass in bed with me, and he laughed, tossing Arden on the bed, making the turd squeal.

  "I have to find––" Wagoner started, but suddenly a squealing, giggling diaper ball jumped off the headboard, nearly landing on my head, and I gasped. "Never mind. I found him.

  Wagoner climbed up in bed with us, pulling me into his arms as we watched the boys stand up and bounce to the bed on their little butts over and over.

  "I love you," he whispered in my ear after a bit, and I gasped, turning my head to look at him. Smiling, he raised an eyebrow at me before kissing the side of my head. "What? You're actually surprised?"

  "A little, yeah."

  "You're ridiculous."

  "You're ridiculous."

  He chuckled again, reaching out to snag Calen's shirt when he got a little too close to the edge of the bed, dragging him back toward the middle, and I nearly swooned. Seriously, he was such a natural at all of this. How did I not know what an amazing alpha he could be to me and the perfect Wawa to my boys?

  My heart was so fucking full, I almost couldn’t take it. Spinning in his arms, I grabbed his face, surprising the hell out of him, even as he easily pulled me close, smiling sweetly. "I love you too, Wagoner."

  He blinked for a moment like he was trying to understand something and then he shrugged. "I know."

  "What do you mean you know?" I asked dryly, narrowing my eyes.

  "I know. You told me last night when I knotted you in the shower."

  I gasped, jerking back. "I did what?"

  "Mmhmm. I think you said something like, I love you, I love you, I love you. Your cock is so fucking perfect. Oh, God, you knot me so good."

  The sound of my hand smacking against the upper slope of his peck was loud enough to catch the boys' attention for a moment, and Wagoner laughed, cradling my hand against his chest.

  "I didn’t say any of that," I grumbled, hoping like hell I was right.

  "No, but you said all that with your eyes."

  "Doesn't count. You still said it first."

  Epilogue

  DECEMBER

  "I

  s every mother fucker here knocked up, or what?" Jennings asked, looking around crankily. The hormones were starting to show a little in his random bouts unwarranted snippiness, reminding me of old times. "Wrap it before you tap it!"

  Riley flipped him off, since it had been his ear that Jennings had yelled that in.

  My dick jerked in my pants as I pulled my still glaring husband––as of about forty-three minutes ago––into my arms, brushing his cheek with mine as I whispered in his ear. "I bet they all did it on purpose to try to steal the attention away from you on your wedding day."

  Yep, I still had that problem. There was probably something wrong with me that I found his bitchiness so fucking sexy, but I wasn't going to overanalyze it or even get some probably much needed help since it meant the next eight months were going to be a fucking fuck fest if his hormones screwed with him his whole pregnancy.

  "Don't think I don't know what you're trying to do, Wagoner," he grumbled, but I could feel his cheek move against mine as he smiled.

  "What are you trying to do?" Dawes asked, a small smirk on his face.

  I pulled back, pressing a kiss to the side of Jennings head and smiled at my brother. "He's so much easier to get riled now that he's pregnant. Look how sexy he is when he's pissy."

  Dawes laughed when Jennings blew air through his lips and rolled his eyes. "I'm sexy all the time, asshole," he grumbled, making me smile even harder.

  I shrugged. "Meh."

  He gasped, color rising on his gorgeous cheeks. "Excuse me?"

  I groaned, wishing this wasn't my fucking wedding reception so I could sneak off and fuck my sexy omega. There had to be a storage room around here somewhere, right?

  I pressed closer, grabbing his ass. "You know I think you're the sexiest fucking person in the world all the damn time."

  "You better."

  I chuckled… and then something hit me in the head before falling to the floor at my feet. "Ouch. What the hell?"

  "Is that an ornament?" Dawes asked, tilting his head to look at the little wooden reindeer lying at my feet.

  We all looked around, trying to figure out where it might have come from, but nobody was standing around looking guilty or holding an armful of wooden reindeer they might be randomly lobbing at people.

  Someone tapped me on the shoulder, and I turned to find my omega father, smiling up at me. "May I cut in?" he asked, before shooing me back and away from Jennings without even waiting for an answer to his question and immediately taking my spot in front of my husband.

  We hadn't even been dancing. We were probably supposed to be since we were in the middle of the dance floor, but he'd been too busy glaring at people, and I'd been too busy enjoying it.

  "What are you up to, Da?" I asked loudly as they immediately started a waltz type dance that I seriously knew nothing about.

  "I'm not up to anything, son," Da sang back to me, also loudly as I stood in the middle of the dance floor next to Dawes, looking like an idiot as my father stole my husband. "I just want to get my dance in with my new son in-law."

  "I call bullshit," Dawes grumbled out of the corner of his mouth, and I followed his gaze over to my alpha father who was glaring at the dancing couple.

  "Then why does Dad look like he's about to kill my husband?"

  Da laughed. "Don't be ridiculous." But I didn't miss the low words he spoke next to Jennings, making him laugh. "If my husband comes stomping over here and drags me away like a Neanderthal, I'll owe you big time."

  "You better protect my face… and the baby," Jennings said, spinning Da and then dipping him low.

  Riker came to stand next to Da and Jennings, a small smile on his face as Riley stomped up next to him, crossing his arms over his chest.

  "Da, didn't you say I was invited to all the family dinners?" Riker asked, shooting his cousin a cocky grin.

  "You're not his son in-law," Riley snapped, his arms resting on his baby bump. "I am."

  "I'm an honorary son in-law," Riker said proudly, also resting his arms on his much larger baby mountain.

  "No you're not. He's mine."

  "Actually, he's mine." Dad's voice was growly as he reached into the middle of the three omegas surrounding Da, pulling him away.

  Da threw his head back and laughed, clearly enjoying himself. "Four attractive men fighting over me."

  "Doesn't matter," Dad growled. "You're mine." Devon Foster pulled Mark Foster against him hard, mauling his face with his own while his hands moved over Da's body.

  "Dad," Dawes groaned as I curled my lip in disgust. "You promised you wouldn't do that anymore!"

  A candy cane came flying out of nowhere, nailing Riker in the top of the head and the man ducked, his hand immediately going to the spot. "Ow! What the hell?"

  Riley bent over, picking the red and white, broken candy off the floor, smiling brightly as he held it up for his cousin to see. "You’ve been caned."

  "I'm not into BDSM."

  "Uh, where did all these ornaments… and such come from?" Jennings asked, looking around the floor.

  We all started looking around, suddenly noticing that the floor was littered with Christmas tree décor when it hadn't been when we entered the room nearly an hour ago now.

  Suddenly something big and green fell from the sky and I gasped. "Oh shit," I said, blinking at the mess not twenty feet from us. "Did it just rain a Christmas tree?"

  "Was that Ronni that thing just took out?" Riker asked and Riley nodded.

  "She'll be fine. She was d
runk last I heard. She probably didn't tense before it got her. That's how you get hurt," Riley assured everyone while standing on his tippy toes to look at the heap that used to be his sister.

  Dad nodded. "True. That's what all the statistics say. You have like a seventy percent higher chance of surviving a falling Christmas tree if you're drunk."

  I followed the Christmas tree up and sighed, not even surprised to see Casey, Ricki, Arden and Calen peeking through the bars of the upstairs balcony that overlooked the reception area.

  "Where the hell did you find these stats?" I asked my dad dryly. "And was this if a Christmas tree just fell over, or if four little boys pushed it over a second story banister?"

  Everyone followed my finger as I pointed out the four terrorists, and Dad shrugged. "I don't know. Tanner didn't tell me that part."

  "How did they get up there?" Riker demanded, putting his hand on his hips. "The stairs are blocked off."

  Frost walked up, holding a small plate with a piece of cake on it. "I saw them getting on the elevator." He pointed his fork toward the elevator tucked off to the side.

  "You saw two two-and-a-half-year-olds and two one-and-a-half-year-olds board an elevator together without any adult supervision what-so-ever, and you just… let them?" Riker asked, raising an eyebrow at his husband.

  Frost pulled his head back, clearly confused by Riker's snippiness. "Casey knows how to run the elevator. What do they need an adult for?"

  "Frost," Riker said patiently. "Casey just dropped a Christmas tree on Ronni's head."

  "Damn," he said turning quickly to see if he could see it even though I wasn't sure how he'd missed it. "Was she drunk? Tanner said she'll have a better chance of survival if she's drunk. I didn't know there were so many Christmas tree accidents. That's why Tanner is so jumpy during Christmas."

  "Well, this definitely isn't going to help," Riley said, pointing at the tree as it rustled, showing signs of life, and Ronni came climbing out from under it.

  Another tree fell from over the banister, barely missing one of the teenagers who'd been walking and texting and I shook my head in disappointment at the four little Christmas time bombers as they all peeked down to see what they got that time. If they were going to be up there taking us out one at a time with the wrath of Santa's little elves, they should be able to at least take out a teenager, surely they were easier to hit with their face plastered to the screen of their phone than the lush bobbing and weaving around.