Heather let out a giggle. “Nope. I feel the same way. Like every time gets better. No matter if it’s a quickie or a long romantic evening.”

Ari and Ellie both nodded their heads. “I agree. I swear every morning when I wake up and look at Gunner, I fall in love with him more.”

“Same here. What about when they touch you? Like Jeff will grab my hand and I still get those butterflies in my stomach.”

“Yes!” We all yelled out with a giggle.

“What’s your favorite thing they do to you while they’re making love to you?” I asked as I looked at each of my best friends.

“Oh…damn, that’s hard ’cause Jeff does…”

“Let’s hear from Heather first, shall we? I need to work my stomach up to whatever in the hell it is you’re going to say about my brother,” Ellie said as she made a funny face.

“Fine. Heather, you first,” said Ari as she rolled her eyes at Ellie.

“Oh wow…I like when he holds my hands above my head and looks deep into my eyes as he tells me how much he loves me.”

“That’s it?” Ari asked, sounding disappointed.

Heather’s mouth dropped open and she “What do you mean, ‘that’s it’? What were you expecting?”

Ari gave Heather a wicked smile and said, “I don’t know. Some bondage thrown in there I guess.”

Heather reached down and picked up a toy and threw it at Ari. “Fuck you, Ari!”

Ari started laughing as Ellie and I tried to hold in our laughter.

“Okay, okay…my turn,” Ellie said with a huge smile. “I absolutely love it when Gunner kisses on my neck and then slowly moves his way up to my ear and barely whispers to me that he’s about to come. Oh God…it sends me over the edge every time.”

“Hell yeah…the quiet-don’t-wake-the-kids lovemaking. So romantic and hot,” Ari said as she wiggled her eyebrows up and down. Ellie smiled and nodded her head.

Ari looked at me and said, “Your turn.”

I smiled and tried to pick one of the things that I loved. “Wow…this is harder than I thought. There are so many things that I love.”

“I know, right?” Heather said.

“Um…okay I know. Mine is kind of after we’ve made love. Brad does it every single time, no matter if we just had a romantic lovemaking session or a hot-and-heavy fuck session.”

“Fuck session?” Ari said with a laugh.

I rolled my eyes, “You know what I mean. Anyway, afterwards he always puts his hands on my face, kisses my nose and then looks into my eyes and says…”

They all leaned closer in with smiles spread across their faces.

“What does he say?” Heather asked, her voice almost a whisper.

I smiled and said, “He says, ‘You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever laid eyes on, Manda. I love making love to you more than anything. I love you so much, baby,’ then he leans his forehead to mine and says, ‘Thank you for loving me.’”

Heather, Ellie, and Ari all put their hands up to their chest and fell back in their chairs.

“Every time? He says the same thing every time?” Ellie asked.

I nodded my head and smiled. “Yep.”

“Wow. That is so sweet,” Ari said.

Heather pointed to Ari and said, “Your turn!”

Ari glanced over toward Ellie and said, “You ready?”

Ellie rolled her eyes and said, “Ugh…I guess so.”

Ari took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She let a small smile play across her face and I couldn’t help but giggle at the face Ellie was making.

“Holy hell…are you going to tell us or sit there and dream about it, for fuck’s sake?” Ellie said as she folded her arms and looked at Ari.

Ari opened one eye and looked at Ellie. “Sorry, I was just imagining your brother making sweet passionate love to me.”

“Gag me,” Ellie said as she turned her head away from Ari.

Ari started laughing. “Okay, okay…so while Jeff and I are doing the nasty…”

“Stop!” Ellie said in a whiney voice.

Ellie reached over and slapped Ari on the arm.

After Ari stopped laughing, she looked down and said, “No really…I think one of my favorite things Jeff does while we are making love is how he talks to me. I mean, he really talks to me. Ya know? He either tells me how beautiful I am, or how much he loves me. He tells me how happy I make him. All the while he covers me in soft sweet kisses. God…just thinking about it gives me chills.”

I glanced over towards Ellie and she was smiling. Just then I heard the guys. They had all walked down to the park with the kids. I loved seeing Josh pushing a stroller with two sleeping babies in it.

“Does Josh handle the twins good, Heather?” I asked as I peeked over at her watching him. The love pouring out from her eyes was hard to miss.

She looked at me and nodded her head. “He’s amazing with them both, and he’s not afraid to be alone with them. I love that.”

Ari jumped up and walked towards Jeff. Luke was on his shoulders jabbering away.

Luke yelled out and Jeff stopped to take him off his shoulders. Ari bent down as Luke ran into her arms.

I looked at Gunner, who was carrying Alex on his shoulders as well. Ellie got up and walked over to them. I laughed when Alex started crying as Gunner tried to take her down.

“Daddy’s girl,” Ellie said as Alex smiled down at her.

Brad looked up at me and I had to catch my breath. He smiled at me, and I … if I had been standing, I would have had to grab onto something to hold myself up. He winked at me and started laughing. I slowly got up and made my way down to him.

I walked up to him and stood on my tippy toes to give him a kiss. He put his hand behind my neck and held me against his lips as he deepened the kiss. It took everything I had not to let out a moan. He pulled back and whispered, “I missed you, pumpkin.”

“I missed you too.” I looked at Maegan, who was smiling. I stepped back and held out my arms and she smiled bigger as I took her into my arms. I gave her a good smell and Brad laughed as he kissed Maegan on the top of the head. I couldn’t help it; I had to smell her each time. I loved how she smelled.

We all made our way back to the deck. Ari put Luke down to play with Alex in the grass. Before I could even ask, Heather said, “There are no ants, Manda, so don’t worry.”

I giggled and set Maegan down next to Alex. I stood there and looked around as I took in the sight. Gunner was now sitting behind Alex, and Josh was talking to Brad and Jeff. Ellie went in to help Ari and Heather with the little ones. I put my hand on my stomach and tried to hold my smile in.

As I sat down and watched Gunner, Jeff, and Brad play with Maegan, Luke and Alex, I felt someone come up behind me. I felt Grace pulling my hair and I started laughing. I turned around and saw her beautiful smile looking right at me as Ari held her.

“My God, Ari she is going to break hearts,” I said as Ari moved around me, sat down and held Grace up in front of her. She smiled.

“I know she is.” Then she looked at me and asked, “When are you going to tell him?”

I bit down on my lower lip. “Two days.”

“Christmas Eve. Can you wait two days?”

I let out a chuckle. “Hell, I don’t know. I’m dying to tell him but I want to make it special for him.” I peeked over at her and she gave me a weak smile.

“I understand, but Manda, no matter how you tell him, he is going to be beyond excited. You know that, right?”

I nodded my head as I looked back at the man I loved more than anything. To think we almost didn’t make it to where we were today.

I closed my eyes and silently thanked God. When I opened them again Brad was looking at me. The look in his eyes caused me to suck in a breath of air. It was like he was looking deep into my soul.

I never took my eyes off of him but asked Ari, “Do you think Brad knows?”

I pulled my eyes from his and quickly looked at Ari, who was now looking at Brad. She looked back at me and said, “I think that boy is just head over heels in love with you, Amanda.”