Whit lowers himself into a chair next to mine and shakes his head. His hand slips into mine, and I bring it up to my mouth, pressing my lips against his fingers.
“I’ve heard it mentioned, but nothing specific.”
My uncle shakes his head. “Those boys were always in trouble. Still are. You should know what you’re getting into before walking down the aisle to this guy.”
“Don’t pretend like you weren’t in on it too, old man,” I say, and my uncle chuckles.
“A few times,” he admits and then leans forward and whispers. “Don’t tell your aunt. She’ll kill me.”
“Oh, I already know,” my aunt says and then adds, “It was very irresponsible, Daniel.”
My uncle laughs loudly at that, and Whit eyes me as if to say,now I know where you get it from.
Sem, Luke, Liam, and Anne amble in, and they take a seat at the table as we reminisce about all the stupid shit we did growing up. Whit looks horrified at some of the stories, and I can’t help but lean over and press my lips to that frown.
“It’s amazing you made it out alive,” Whit says as he makes his way to the kitchen.
“I know,” I chuckle, and Whit frowns.
“You could have blown yourself up. Putting batteries into a fire. Jesus, Caleb.”
I rub at the back of my neck and look at him a little sheepishly. “We were curious what would happen.”
“You lit the backyard on fire with gasoline.”
“Yeah, that was Sem. Not me.”
“You were a part of it,” he says and then pulls me into him, his hand clutching my shirt. “No more of that stupid, reckless stuff when you’re with me. Okay?”
I lean into him and rub my face against his cheek. “Yeah, babe. I’ll tone it down.”
“All the way down, Caleb. I heard Luke and Sem saying something about a homemade potato gun. I don’t want you to be part of whatever they’re planning.”
I chuckle at that and press a soft kiss to his lips. “And if I’m a good boy and stay out of trouble....”
Whit scoffs and shoves me gently away. “I need to go do the dishes.”
“Nah, let’s go out on the ATVs instead,” I say. "Dishes are boring."
“We need to clean up,” Whit protests, but I tug him toward me.
“Do the damn dishes later,” I say. “Let’s go have fun. We only have one more day here.”
Whit throws me a look. “What did I just say about not being reckless. You shouldn’t go out on the ATV. You just got your cast off. Do you want to break your hand again?”
I wiggle my fingers at him and say, “I’m fine. Feel like brand new.”
Whit sets a dishtowel down and turns to face me completely.
“No. You’renotto set foot on that thing. Especially since you always let your cousins convince you to do idiotic things. As history suggests, you don’t make the smartest decisions when coupled with them.”
I pull him into a slow, dirty kiss and then lean back, “All that fancy language makes me hot and bothered. You worried about me, babe?”
He narrows his eyes at me. “I just know how irresponsible you are out there with them.”
I run a hand up his arm and then into his hair. “Why don’t you join me then. Keep me in check.”
He watches me for a moment, contemplating it, and then sighs. “There’s no stopping you, is there?”