Always Only You by Chloe Liese (z-lib.org).epub

“Ren’s said such great things about you for so long.”
I catch his eye and watch him turn bright red. “Oh?”
She cocks a blonde eyebrow. “I mean, he’s been crazy about you for—”
Ren cuts her off with a hug, muffling her against his chest before he sets her
at arm’s length. “Freya Linn. You’ve been wimping out on me.”
She thumps his stomach with a loose fist, but it just bounces off his abs. She
shakes out her hand. “Am not.”
Ren smiles at me, hooking an arm around Freya’s neck, pulling her in and
giving her a noogie. She twists his nipple, which makes him yelp and spin away.
“Strumpet,” he calls her.
She lunges for his nipple again, but he’s too fast. Setting his hands gently on
Ziggy’s shoulders, he stands behind her. “The birthday girl is base. No more
nipples.”
This is the real Ren. The one I’m seeing a little bit more of each day I’m with
him. Playful, dorky, a smidge antagonistic, still a bit bashful. My smile’s so wide
my cheeks hurt, watching him among his family.
“Happy birthday, Zigs.” Ren hugs her from behind and kisses the top of
Ziggy’s head, slipping a card into her hand.
She tears it open, reads it, folding what looks like a gift card tight in her grip.
When she glances up at him, she’s teary eyed. She hugs him for a long moment,
and he hugs her back.
Ziggy turns to face us all and wipes her nose. “Ren got me a gift card big
enough to get the cleats I wanted,” she says quietly.
Elin smiles over at Ren and shakes her head. “The money Americans spend
on shoes—”
“They’re not shoes,” Ziggy says defensively. “They’re cleats, and they mean
so much to me. Thank you, Ren.” She hugs him again. When she turns back
from hugging him, she smiles at me, stacking the gift card on top of the book I
got her. “I’m glad you brought Frankie,” she says.
Ren grins at me over Ziggy’s head. “I’m glad I brought Frankie, too.”
My cheeks heat. Ren’s looking at me how he looked at me when he stepped
past me, then into the shower this morning, and it’s revving my engine in ways
that aren’t acceptable for family gatherings.
“So.” I turn toward Freya. “What’s this challenge he’s talking about?”
“Freya and I are doing a squat challenge,” Ren answers. “But she’s failed to
report her reps for the past week.” He points to Freya’s long, muscular legs
sticking out of ripped-up denim shorts. “Clearly, she’s slacking.”
Freya narrows her eyes at him from the other side of the kitchen island. “I’m
not slacking.” Inverting a giant bottle of wine into a tall glass pitcher, she steals