Page 57 of I Loved You First

She screamed now. “Get out of here, Lake Shark!”

And then Cam closed the distance, growling as he wrapped his arms around her waist, nipping at her shoulder as he spun her to face a screaming, laughing Brady.

She gave up any fight, unable to stop laughing when Cam nipped at her neck this time, carrying her into the deeper water.

Brady charged forward. “Get the lake shark!”

Cam growled again, reaching for Brady. “No one can defeat the lake shark.”

Taking advantage of his loosened grip, Fiona turned and launched herself onto him, using her weight to knock him off-balance.

Cam roared with laughter as he fell with a massive splash, taking her with him as he sat in the chest-deep water.

Fiona found herself sprawled against hard muscle and smooth skin as she landed in Cam’s lap.

Brady joined the chaos, hooking his good arm around Cam’s neck. “We got him! We got the lake shark!”

“Splash him! Splash the lake shark!” Fiona encouraged.

Brady went to town, sending a tidal wave of water crashing into both of them.

Cam laughed again, grinning into her eyes as his palms rested against the sides of her waist.

Grinning back, she added another wave of water to the cascade.

And then Brady fell, choking as he tried to stand again.

In an instant, Cam yanked Brady up by his good arm. “Are you good, bud?”

Brady nodded as he smiled, wiping at his eyes as he continued to cough. “Yup.”

Fiona untangled herself from Cam’s hold. She moved to shore, grabbing everyone’s towels as the clouds started to roll in with the promise of the rain that was in the forecast for tomorrow. “Is anyone else ready to head inside?”

Cam walked out of the water with Brady following behind, taking the towels and handing one to his son. “Showers are probably a good idea before dinner.”

Fiona did her best to wipe the worst of the sand off herself, knowing it was time to head home. Swimming with Brady was one thing. Roughhousing with his half-naked father was entirely another. “For sure.”

They all wrapped up in their towels, starting toward the house.

“How was your day today?” Cam asked Brady.

“Good. We went to the party store. I was Fiona’s helper. And I made grilled cheese.”

Cam blinked. “That’s impressive.”

Brady nodded. “I put the butter on the bread with a knife, and then I put on the cheese. Then I flipped it in the pan on the stove. Fi only helped me a little bit.”

“You did a great job,” she added, finding it adorable when he occasionally called her by her nickname.

“Yup.” Brady hopped about. “And I know about adding and taking away like kids do at big kid school. The plus means you add more, and the other one means to take it away.”

Cam looked from Fiona to Brady. “You’re adding and subtracting now?”

Brady beamed as he nodded. “One M&M plus one more M&M means you have two M&Ms.”

Cam laughed. “Brady, that’s amazing. I’m raising a genius.”

Fiona smiled, loving the ring of pride in Cam’s voice that Brady so clearly felt as they reached the door to the mudroom. All three of them took the time to dip their feet in the water bucket on the step. “He’s a supersmart boy.”