Page 10 of Adoring Ink

“My brother’s wife is perfect in every way, and I hate her. I mean, I love her and would do anything for her, but she’s just so freaking gorgeous and perfectly taut, it’s annoying.”

Holly glared over at Maya. “Excuse me, Mrs. All the Right Curves. Don’t talk to me about butts since you have a nice one and mine is flat as a pancake. I can’t even hold up jeans with my derriere. It’s my hips and tummy that do it for me.”

“My butt is a product of all the cake I ate while pregnant with Noah.” Maya paused. “And damn it. I want cake.”

Holly’s stomach grumbled. “If it’s that zucchini cake with all the fruit, that could be a post-workout snack.”

Maya turned and narrowed her eyes. “So we’re just going to ignore the cream cheese frosting?”

Holly nodded. “We do what we have to do in the name of cake.”

Maya laughed and rolled herself up. “Ow. My abs hurt, and this wasn’t even the core workout. I’m going to die when we get to that one.”

“I realize eating cake probably isn’t the best answer for that, but it is an answer.” Holly stood up on shaky legs and grabbed her water bottle. She chugged it down as they walked like baby deer on new legs to the kitchen. Maybe if she filled herself up with water, she wouldn’t eat that much cake. That never actually worked, but whatever. She wanted cake, and damn it, she was going to have some.

As soon as the two of them sat down on the couch with their average-size slivers of cake, the door opened and in walked the men of Maya’s life.

Border took one look at them in workout gear, a bit sweaty and gorging on cake, and shook his head. Noah, their eight-month-old, was asleep in his big arms, and Holly sighed at the sight. There was really nothing better than seeing a big, bearded man holding a child. And Maya had two.

If Holly didn’t love Maya, she could really hate the bitch.

Jake closed the door behind him and let out a laugh before checking to make sure Noah was still conked out. The kid usually slept through anything, and today was no different.

“Cake?” Jake asked as he strolled over to his wife, kissing her hard and licking the frosting off her lips.

Oddly enough, Holly didn’t feel even a tiny spark of jealousy. She was well and truly over Jake. Sure, she might want a man of her own, but Jake was not that man, and never had been.

“Cake, I’ll have you know, can be healthy.” Holly pointed down at the remnants of hers on her plate. “This one had fiber, dairy, fruit, and vegetables. That’s four major food groups right there.”

“Sugar…” Jake winked over at her.

“Are you getting in between me and my cake?” Maya asked. “I mean, you don’t really want to get in between me and my cake, do you?”

Jake held his hands up. “Damn right, I don’t.”

“What did we say about cursing in front of Noah?” Border asked as he walked out of the back area where he must have put Noah in his bed for the rest of his nap. “We don’t want him to start saying ‘fuck’ in front of strangers. It’ll be cute the first time, but then people are going to think we’re degenerates.”

Jake blinked over at him, and Holly held back a laugh. “Baby, we are degenerates. That’s why we have more fun.”

“Stop cursing in front of the baby,” Maya ordered, pointing at all of them with her fork.

Holly was the one to hold up her hands this time. “I don’t think I ever curse over here.”

Jake nodded. “That’s probably right. You’re the good one.”

Maya grinned. “Not for long. Isn’t that right, Holly-Molly?”

Holly narrowed her eyes. “What did I say about calling me that?”

Jake rubbed his hand over Holly’s hair like a big brother would. “Aww, don’t be like that. It’s not our fault the as—buttheads at work couldn’t remember your name.”

Holly had spent three years working with a bunch of people who constantly mixed up her name. She was pretty sure a few of them still weren’t sure what it was.

And because she’d been a little shy and way too nice about it, she’d answered to both Holly and Molly for far longer than she should have.

And, of course, Jake had blabbed about it because it was kind of funny, and her coworkers didn’t mean anything by it.

Border slapped the back of Jake’s head. “Stop making fun of Holly.”