a starring role.
If Cam already had doubts about his devotion to her without the bonus of children, he didn’t need his rowdy family poking their prying noses in where they didn’t belong and adding to her skittishness.
Jodi frowned. ‘Okay, but you better make it soon. Otherwise I’ll definitely get Sandy, Mon and Mum onto you. And you won’t stand a chance of holding us all at bay.’
‘Too right.’
He chuckled, pushing the fruit platter closer to her as he stood. ‘Now, eat up while I go and spend some time with those gorgeous kids of yours.’
As he headed for the sandpit, he couldn’t help but wonder if he’d ever have any kids of his own…and coming to the same conclusion he had when Cam had first told him. If he had her in his life, it wouldn’t matter. Nothing would, as long as they faced it together.
‘You shaved,’ Camryn accused, running a fingertip along Blane’s smooth jaw. ‘And you’re wearing designer jeans and a snazzy shirt! Why didn’t you tell me to dress up?’
As if she wasn’t in enough of a tizz meeting his family. Now she’d be inappropriately dressed, too.
He laughed and ran a hand over her hip, gliding over the summer cotton dress she’d finally flung on after pulling out half her wardrobe, his sensual touch going a long way towards calming some of her nerves.
‘You look gorgeous. And it’s not dressy. I just thought you might like to see me in something other than work jeans and T-shirts.’
‘Actually, I like seeing you without any clothes,’ she purred, sliding a hand up his chest and leaning into him, inhaling as she did so, reassured by his familiar crisp cedar scent.
He laughed and pulled her in for a swift kiss. ‘Hmm…I’m sure that would go down a treat with my family.’
His family…She’d been steeling herself all week, ever since she’d agreed to accompany him to this barbecue.
He’d made it sound casual at the time, just a small get-together, and, while she was curious after hearing so much about the Andrews family, she couldn’t help but worry.
What if they didn’t like her? It wasn’t as if she’d had much practice playing happy families lately.
Drawing back, he rubbed her arms up and down. ‘Hey, it’s not going to be so bad, you’ll see.’
‘How much have you told them about me?’
‘Enough.’
He winked and, grabbing her hand, tugged her gently towards the ute. ‘Come on, they’ll love you.’
That was what she was afraid of. He loved his family, had always been close to them, so she was betting his family knew about his dreams for kids, too. So where did that leave her?
She’d been honest with him on that score, and, while he’d said all the right things after their candid chat at his house, she’d caught him staring at families with kids on the odd occasion, a wistful expression on his ruggedly handsome face. That look had terrified her, as it had confirmed what she’d suspected for a while now. She would never be enough for him no matter how many times he said otherwise.
Not that she thought for one second he didn’t mean it, for Blane was nothing but sincere. But what if he grew to resent her? What if the endless dramas they went through to have kids—and still failed—put a strain on their marriage they could never recover from? Or the absolute kicker: what if he left her again if she couldn’t give him the family he wanted?
‘They’ll love you if you lose that mournful expression, that is.’
Tweaking her nose, he brushed a tender kiss across her lips, and she smiled up at him, slinging her favourite plum carryall over her shoulder. ‘I’m ready.’
‘That’s my girl.’
Handing her up into the ute, he deliberately grazed her bare calf as he withdrew, the simple touch combining with his smouldering stare to set her heart thumping. As if it wasn’t jumping around enough.
Loving how quickly and thoroughly he could turn her on with a look and the barest of touches, she sent him a seductive peep from beneath lowered lashes.
‘We don’t have to stay too long, do we?’
She toyed with the hem of her dress, plucking at the scalloped edge, smoothing it where it ended on her knees, enjoying his slightly glazed expression as he gripped the steering wheel and started the engine.
‘If you keep looking at me like that we won’t even make it there.’
‘Okay, I’ll behave.’
She laid a hand on his thigh and gave it a gentle squeeze, enjoying the flexing of hard muscle beneath her palm, all too aware of exactly how that muscle felt without the denim covering. ‘For now.’
Chuckling, he pulled out into the heavy city traffic, his concentration focused on navigating the traffic-logged roads around the Docklands while she tried to keep her mind off the constant nagging worry that the kids issue was bigger than he was willing to acknowledge.
Camryn’s face ached.
Her cheeks were stiff and her mouth hurt from too much smiling. Blane’s family were amazing. They’d welcomed her, chatted with her, plied her with food, showered her with attention, and she’d smiled through it all until her gut had seized and her heart bled as they’d fielded the inevitable ribbing question for a married couple: ‘so when are you two lovebirds having kids?’
Blane had deflected that one nicely, but she’d caught the significant look passing between his folks, as if judging her for possibly not wanting kids.
Well, she’d have to get used to it. Either that or tell a bunch of people she’d only just met her personal problems, and she had no intention of doing that yet.
She might have laughed at the incessant teasing from his sisters and relaxed in the sprawling homestead on a half-acre block in outer suburbia, but they still weren’t her family.
Her family…It was times like this she missed her folks, her mum in particular. They’d always been close, she’d always confided in her, and during her harrowing health ordeal she’d wished for her mum’s comforting hugs too many times to remember.
Ever since Blane had sowed the seed that maybe, just maybe, her folks had done what they’d done out of love rather than an awful desire to control her, she’d been wondering if it was time to lay the past to rest, to head home and give her folks a chance to explain.
It wasn’t as if they hadn’t tried to breach the gap, but she’d slammed the door in their faces, metaphorically, every single time. Until they’d stopped trying.
Coming here, surrounded by genuine warmth and happiness and familial love, rammed home how much she missed her own family. Being welcomed by the Andrews family as Blane’s wife was lovely. Maybe it was time to reintroduce her family to her husband.
‘Hiding away won’t work. They’ll hunt you down eventually.’
Blane
