Sit by her side in that dress. Walk by her side while she was wearing that dress. Have her on his arm whatever way he could while she was in that dress.

When he was sitting across from Dave in The Star, he’d finally got it. He’d finally got why, all Johnny’s life, it seemed whenever Dave was with Margot, he stood straighter, walked prouder.

Because that was how Johnny felt sitting next to Eliza at The Star.

She wasn’t his then, exactly, but anyone seeing them would think she was.

And he sat straighter, moved prouder as the man who caught that woman’s attention. The man she let be in her life.

She tipped her head, with her huge seventies-style sunglasses over her eyes, up his way and smiled.

He started to smile back but it ended in soft laughter when she was nearly bowled over as both her dogs jumped out after her.

That was his Izzy. Sexy as fuck and cute as hell.

Swirl and Dempsey greeted Ranger with dog abandon and went off to dance around each other, heading toward the creek.

Johnny headed toward Izzy.

She’d shut her door and met him halfway, holding a pie up in one hand, some kind of felt material bunched up under it, a little bag with a long strap dangling off her shoulder.

He rounded her with an arm and marveled how she could make those ridiculously huge sunglasses cute.

The same way she could make those just plain ridiculous boots she had cute.

He bent and touched his mouth to hers before muttering, “Hey.”

“Hey,” she muttered back.

He gave her a grin then let her go and moved right to Addie.

“Hey,” he said. “Welcome.”

“Yo, Magnus McHotterson. Boss pad,” she replied.

He shook his head, still grinning, and since he’d made it to where she was pulling Brooks out of his car seat in the back, he took the kid. Then he took the big bag she had slung on her shoulder. He planted Brooks on his hip and Brooks went right for his beard. He then planted the strap to her bag on his shoulder.

He turned to her.

“Got any more?”

She was staring at him.

“Addie?” he prompted.

“Just his highchair in the back,” she answered quietly.

“Leave it. I’ll come back and get it when we need it.”

With that, he turned toward the steps to see Izzy standing at the foot of them now wearing a brown floppy hat that was so fucking adorable and so fucking ludicrous, he felt his dick start to get hard at the same time his stomach burned with the need to bust out laughing.

She was also smiling so huge he thought her face would break.

“The dogs’ll be okay, get your ass upstairs,” he ordered.

“Roger that, Ghostrider,” she returned.

To that, he let himself laugh.

He got them all in, dumped the diaper bag on one of his armchairs, kept the kid held to him and headed to the kitchen, saying, “Think I got all you need to make your guac, spätzchen, so get on that.”

He jerked his head to the ingredients he’d left on the island, the stuff he saw her use when she’d made it.

She was twisted toward him, inside the door of his fridge, putting the pie in, and she’d taken off her hat and sunglasses.

She looked to the island, again to him, and she smiled.

Her smile, aimed at him from her standing in the open door to his fridge, hit him like a rocket.

Christ, if there was a definition somewhere of the whole package, she would be it.

The pie she put in his fridge he had no doubt would be fantastic. She never failed to make him want to fuck her in whatever she wore, even if it was another man’s pajama bottoms. She’d made her home on her own, stamping it with all that was her in a way that was confident so it was also impressive. To have that, she had to be good at what she did at work. Her sister was loving and loyal and their relationship was tangibly close and strong. She treated her pets better than some people treated their children. That smile could brighten the depths of a mine shaft. And she was a woman who got off on letting him fuck her ass as he ate her pussy and she sucked his dick, losing herself so much in it, after he’d taken her there, she nuzzled his cock with the same adoration she sucked it. She did that, and when they weren’t in that zone, she was shy and prissy.

He’d almost lost his shot at that.

He’d almost fucked it up.

And holding her nephew and taking in her smile, Johnny swore to himself he wouldn’t do dick to let the promise of her slip through his fingers again.

He swore that and he swore he was taking his woman camping the first chance he got.

He forced himself to turn away from that smile, held Brooks to him as the kid tried to pull his beard out by the roots, and put the lids on the containers of meat and shoved them in the fridge.

“So he doesn’t leave bald patches on your hot guy cheeks, give him to me. We’re checking out that fab-you-las water wheel. That way, you can suck face with my sister and I don’t have to witness it. With that over, we can get on with our day,” Addie declared, pulled Brooks out of his arm and gave her sister a jerk of her head Johnny’s way before she walked across his space, out the door and down the balcony toward the water wheel.

He was watching her sister, but that wasn’t the only reason Iz took him by surprise as she bum rushed him into the corner of the countertop in the kitchen. Mostly the reason was that he didn’t think she had it in her.

Another part of the whole package.

Eliza Forrester was full of surprises.

He was smiling down at her and just sliding his hands from her waist down to her ass when she took hold of his head on both sides, pressed into him, got up on her toes and laid a wet, heavy one right on his mouth.

Johnny took over, yanking her deeper into him and up, using her ass to do it. He took the sweet, little noise she made down his throat and the kiss got serious.

He was semi-hard but fully cognizant of the fact he had no place to do it and not enough time to offer her a quick fuck when he pulled his mouth from hers.

“Whatever I did to earn that, you gotta tell me, baby, so I can do it again,” he muttered.

She stared right into his eyes and replied, “You’re the best, Johnny Gamble.”

He had a feeling he knew what this was about so he skated his hands up to wrap his arms around her waist but kept holding her close when he whispered, “I just carried him up the steps, Iz.”

He knew he’d got it right when she said, “Her shoulders are sloped from lugging that diaper bag around, honey. Something little to you is something big to her and she’s my sister so it’s big to me too.”

He gave her a squeeze. “You can pay me back by making your guac.”

“Oh, I’ll pay you back, but the guac will only be part of it.”

That got her another squeeze and he put his lips to hers. “Lookin’ forward to what you got planned, spätzchen.”

“Okay, ugh. Hurl. Your time is up,” Addie announced, and he looked beyond Izzy to see her sister coming in the door. “And just to say, it’s dog bath day since those beasts have decided to frolic in the creek.”

“Oh no,” Izzy murmured.

He gave her another squeeze before letting her go, setting her gently away and telling her, “Don’t worry, babe. I’ll hose ’em down when they’re done messing around.”

She gave him a grateful look and moved toward the island.

“I need a bowl, a knife, a spoon and a cutting board,” she declared.