Sweet Mischief’s Rollercoaster Romance

Annie: "Mia only hit him because he tried to copy me peeling an apple with a paring knife. I wouldn't let him use mine, so he snuck into the kitchen for his own. Next thing you know, he broke a plate."

Mr. Nettleton: "...So his dad gave him a smack, then?"

Annie shrugged, "He didn't want to go home, took off running, and crashed right into me."

Mr. Nettleton: "If he got off easy, that's not good enough! And you? You alright?"

"I'm fine. He's just a kid, running wild-how much damage can he do? Now he doesn't even want me to hug him."

Annie grinned, teasing, "Tell me, Mr. Nettleton, is your kid really that special? I nearly got dragged to the ER tonight, and there wasn't anything wrong with me!"

Mr. Nettleton, as blunt as ever, snorted, "The kid? Nah. It's his mom who's precious."

Annie burst out laughing. “What if we have a daughter? Still think you'll act so tough?"

"Absolutely. If we have a girl, I'll be jealous of Andre for the rest of my life.”

"And what if Andre has a daughter too?"

"Then I'll be jealous of Asher instead."

"Shameless," Annie said, but she was still smiling.

That night, Annie drifted off to sleep chatting with her husband.

Conner finally felt like he had direction-a family, a home, someplace he truly belonged.

They hadn't had a wedding yet, but he'd already bought wedding rings, and insisted Annie wear hers, making sure she slid one onto his finger too.

Now, Conner couldn't resist showing off his ring finger every chance he got. Annie sometimes pretended not to know him.

With her fingers swelling from pregnancy, Annie found her ring uncomfortable and quietly slipped it off. During video calls, she kept her hand out of sight, worried Conner would start buying her a new ring for every trimester-three months, four months, five months-just so her ring finger would never be bare.

Pregnancy had even let Conner off the hook for a few of Annie's mock

"punishments." Every time she scolded him, he just pulled her close and kissed

her until she forgot what she was mad about.

Late at night, Conner would call up Andre to swap stories about married life.

He thought he was giving the hev

world's best advice, practically ready to write a book. To Andre, it was all nonsense and daydreams. "Just wait till you're a dad. Wait till Annie stops knocking you around. Wait till your sister-in-law finally shows up. Then we'll talk."

"Andre, I'm actually excited about what's coming," Conner said honestly.

"I've been there, man," Andre replied.

When his wife was pregnant, Andre would lie in bed at night, Mia curled up next to him, his hand resting on her bump, imagining how sweet life would be.

And honestly, life did get sweeter-just with more worries to match.

That night, since they were staying at his father-in-law's place, Andre went to bed early, arms around his wife. Meanwhile, the little troublemaker grabbed his tiny pillow and followed his uncle down the hall.

Henry climbed onto his uncle's king-size bed, chubby face tilted up and lips in a pout, looking absolutely pitiful. "Cooper, Daddy hit me. I'm not eating cake anymore-"

Cooper couldn't resist pinching his nephew's soft cheeks, falling for him all over again. He had to fight the urge to cover him in kisses. "So you came home crying because your dad wouldn't let you have ice cream and then gave you a scolding too?" noveldrama

The speech flew right over Henry's head. He just wriggled his little butt and dove

under Cooper's covers. "Cooper~ I'm just a little tiger cub."

Cooper grinned. "Hey, kiddo, why not just live with Uncle Cooper? Let your parents have another one."

"I'm little. I want my mommy and daddy."

"But if you stick with Uncle, you'll never get in trouble, and I'll buy you all the cake you want. Deal?"

Henry, snuggled up with his uncle, couldn't resist. “Deal~"