It's Always Complicated (Her Billionaires Book 4) by Julia Kent Page B
Authors: Julia Kent
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Dylan said in a dramatic voice, making Jillian giggle.
Josie’s words about having kids crept into Laura’s mind. Three and a half years ago she would never have envisioned her life quite like this. Guarding an oversized bag of Cost c o cheese sticks and mercenarily questioning her toddlers over the contents.
What the hell was she doing?
“Here,” she said, thrusting the bag in Mike’s hands and sprinting out the door, welcoming the hot, humid weather with the blessed relief of experiencing some kind of change that shocked her out of herself. Being in charge of three kids was more than enough for three adults. Y ou would think one-on-one would be enough, but it wasn’t. The children seemed to multiply, as if the sum of the three of them were greater when you put them in the same room.
And then there was the wedding.
Josie was her best friend in the world. These past two years since all the guys had proposed were filled with her pregnancy, the surprise of having twins, the delight of the babies, and the relentless joy of planning the double wedding.
And yet.
In the corners of Laura’s mind, where dark thoughts lived, a jealous little green monster crouched in the shadows, hissing and grunting, just there...coming out at times to groan and wiggle and make itself know n .
Josie would actually marry Alex in three days. They would be husband and wife.
Laura? Laura had to pretend.
Dylan and Mike were husband and husband. On paper, anyway. They never, ever talked about what happened that day at the Cambridge courthouse, when they’d taken care of the necessity of legal protection for Jillian. Having her two dads—one biological, one not—marry each other had given the three adults some breathing space as fears of a legal system gone awry in the event of Laura’s death were assuaged.
After the twins had come out, as dark as Jillian was fair, it had been obvious: Mike was Jillian’s biological father, while Dylan had fathered the twins. A short talk with Josie, the only person in Laura’s life who had seen the birth certificates, confirmed it.
Truth be told, Laura, Mike and Dylan had known Jillian was of Mike’s blood for a long time. Waiting until they’d had more children, and especially knowing each man had fathered at least one child (bonus—two in one shot for Dylan, as he liked to say...), had changed the calculus of their daily lives in more ways than one.
They’d all relaxed. The power balance in the relationship seemed more smoothed out. If you had asked them three years ago whether the children’s paternity mattered, they’d all three have argued until red in the face that it didn’t matter.
It hadn’t.
Until it did.
As Laura fairly ran down the well-worn path through the woods, away from the cabin, she let these thoughts loop through her mind, the cheese sticks long forgotten, the thousands of tiny details about the wedding all on pause.
Josie would be Alex’s wife.
And Laura would just be the same as she ever was to Mike and Dylan in the eyes of the law .
Nothing.
Chapter Six
Dylan
He watched as the long, flowing skirt Laura now wore billowed out behind her, gauzy and mysterious, like something almost gothic. Almost four years together and he still hardened at the sight of her sometimes, her beauty more captivating as their life together deepened and matured.
Through thick and thin, she had been so loving, so stalwart, her joy for life and ability to go with the flow such a wonderful gift. Dylan observed Laura as the woods swallowed her, walked into the living room, and found a very perplexed Mike holding a bag of cheese sticks designed to feed an entire Boy Scout troop.
“What’s going on?” he asked as Adam struggled to take off his diaper. They’d recently learned to put it on backwards, so the toddler couldn’t remove it. Adam grunted with frustration.
“Laura. She’s...I don’t know.” Mike surveyed the chaos. “I think she needs one of us to go after her.
Josie’s words about having kids crept into Laura’s mind. Three and a half years ago she would never have envisioned her life quite like this. Guarding an oversized bag of Cost c o cheese sticks and mercenarily questioning her toddlers over the contents.
What the hell was she doing?
“Here,” she said, thrusting the bag in Mike’s hands and sprinting out the door, welcoming the hot, humid weather with the blessed relief of experiencing some kind of change that shocked her out of herself. Being in charge of three kids was more than enough for three adults. Y ou would think one-on-one would be enough, but it wasn’t. The children seemed to multiply, as if the sum of the three of them were greater when you put them in the same room.
And then there was the wedding.
Josie was her best friend in the world. These past two years since all the guys had proposed were filled with her pregnancy, the surprise of having twins, the delight of the babies, and the relentless joy of planning the double wedding.
And yet.
In the corners of Laura’s mind, where dark thoughts lived, a jealous little green monster crouched in the shadows, hissing and grunting, just there...coming out at times to groan and wiggle and make itself know n .
Josie would actually marry Alex in three days. They would be husband and wife.
Laura? Laura had to pretend.
Dylan and Mike were husband and husband. On paper, anyway. They never, ever talked about what happened that day at the Cambridge courthouse, when they’d taken care of the necessity of legal protection for Jillian. Having her two dads—one biological, one not—marry each other had given the three adults some breathing space as fears of a legal system gone awry in the event of Laura’s death were assuaged.
After the twins had come out, as dark as Jillian was fair, it had been obvious: Mike was Jillian’s biological father, while Dylan had fathered the twins. A short talk with Josie, the only person in Laura’s life who had seen the birth certificates, confirmed it.
Truth be told, Laura, Mike and Dylan had known Jillian was of Mike’s blood for a long time. Waiting until they’d had more children, and especially knowing each man had fathered at least one child (bonus—two in one shot for Dylan, as he liked to say...), had changed the calculus of their daily lives in more ways than one.
They’d all relaxed. The power balance in the relationship seemed more smoothed out. If you had asked them three years ago whether the children’s paternity mattered, they’d all three have argued until red in the face that it didn’t matter.
It hadn’t.
Until it did.
As Laura fairly ran down the well-worn path through the woods, away from the cabin, she let these thoughts loop through her mind, the cheese sticks long forgotten, the thousands of tiny details about the wedding all on pause.
Josie would be Alex’s wife.
And Laura would just be the same as she ever was to Mike and Dylan in the eyes of the law .
Nothing.
Chapter Six
Dylan
He watched as the long, flowing skirt Laura now wore billowed out behind her, gauzy and mysterious, like something almost gothic. Almost four years together and he still hardened at the sight of her sometimes, her beauty more captivating as their life together deepened and matured.
Through thick and thin, she had been so loving, so stalwart, her joy for life and ability to go with the flow such a wonderful gift. Dylan observed Laura as the woods swallowed her, walked into the living room, and found a very perplexed Mike holding a bag of cheese sticks designed to feed an entire Boy Scout troop.
“What’s going on?” he asked as Adam struggled to take off his diaper. They’d recently learned to put it on backwards, so the toddler couldn’t remove it. Adam grunted with frustration.
“Laura. She’s...I don’t know.” Mike surveyed the chaos. “I think she needs one of us to go after her.
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