“Metallics,” Joss suggested. “As a non–girlie girl myself, you can’t go wrong with silvers and golds and bronzes for decoration.”

“Okay.” I nodded, scribbling that down.

“But make sure it’s sweet sixteenth stuff,” Shannon said.

“Right. What about music?”

“Deejay?” Olivia suggested.

I mused over it. “Do you think we could get him to play alternative rock?”

“Forget a deejay.” Chloe waved the idea off. “We’ll get an iDock and some speakers and plug an iPhone with all her favorite stuff on it into it.”

That was the music sorted, then.

“Is that it, then?” I stared at the list I’d made.

“Ooh, why don’t we put up a projector screen?” Ellie said. “Right across the back wall. At first we can just use it for slides of photos of Maia with us. We’ll take sneaky shots over the next few weeks when we’re with her, and then afterward we can stick on a film for the kids. We could rent a really big one for the back wall. Make a statement.”

We all liked that, so I wrote down “Rent projector.”

As we sat talking and throwing out more ideas, laughing and getting sidetracked, I relaxed completely as I realized these women were genuinely invested in making sure Maia had the best birthday ever.

We were in the middle of discussing whether it would be too much to hire some kind of entertainment act when Logan came striding into my sitting room.

“Hello, ladies,” he said, and brushed his hand over Shannon’s shoulder as he passed her.

“Where’s Maia?” I said. He was supposed to be with her, distracting her.

Logan leaned down and kissed me softly on the lips before settling on the arm of my chair. “I dropped her off at the tattoo parlor. Apparently, Cole said she could spend the day learning about the world of tattoo artistry.”

“Oh, yeah. I forgot about that,” Shannon said.

I wrinkled my nose. “Should she be spending the day in a tattoo studio?”

“Why not?” Hannah shrugged. “They’re only smoking crack and tattooing babies.”

I made a face. “I see sarcasm runs in this family.”

Shannon chuckled. “She’ll be fine, Grace. She’s with Cole. There’s no one more responsible. I promise.”

Logan rubbed my shoulder. “You think I would have left her there otherwise?”

“No, of course not,” I assured him. “I’m just a little frazzled. There’s a lot going on.”

“How are the plans coming along?”

I dove into explaining what we’d come up with so far.

His eyes brightened as the girls jumped in with all their ideas. “Sounds perfect,” he said once we’d finished. He peered down at the notebook and the guest list I’d written out. He frowned. “Be sure to add my mum, dad, and Amanda.”

“What?” Shannon snapped immediately.

Logan shot her a warning look. “I’m not happy about it either, but Maia wants to meet them and they want to meet her.”

“Oh, now they want to meet her. So! It’s not up to them.”

“No. It’s up to Maia. I gave her the choice.”

“And whose bright idea was that?”

I winced. “Uh… well… that would be mine.”

Shannon sighed heavily. “Grace, I know you mean well, but you don’t understand what our parents are like.”

“I can guess. And I’m worried about Maia meeting them, too, but she is old enough to make this decision herself.”

“I explained it to her,” Logan said. “I told her exactly what they’re like so she knows what’s she getting into. She still wants to meet them, and we’re going to let her.”

His sister shook her head and lowered her gaze. “It’s a mistake.”

An awkward, tension-filled silence enveloped the entire room, and the girls looked at one another, wondering what to do. Jo watched Shannon in concern and reached for her hand and squeezed it. “I think we’re done here for today. Come on, Shannon. We’ll go look for Maia’s birthday presents.”

Shannon nodded and started to get up.

The others did, too, the mood completely ruined.

I glanced up at Logan, who was watching his sister. Feeling my gaze, he looked down at me. “I’ll be right back,” he muttered.

Logan led his sister and the others out of the room, each of them throwing me smiles and waves. I waited anxiously for Logan to return, worried about Shannon and worried about Maia meeting his parents. His sister’s negative reaction was just too strong to not warrant concern.

A few minutes passed and I decided to clear up the cups of tea and biscuit plates while I waited. I was in the kitchen, organizing cups into the dishwasher and china ones into the sink to hand wash them, when I heard his footsteps.

At the press of his body against my back, I melted into him.

Logan wrapped his arms around me and rested his chin on my shoulder.

“Is she okay?”

“She will be.” He turned his head and pressed a kiss to my neck. “We’ll talk about it later.” His lips moved up to my ear. “Right now we’re going to forget everything else but each other.”

My skin flushed at the recognizable rumble in his voice. “Now?”

“Now.” His hands coasted down to my hips, and he deliberately ground his erection against my backside. “We’ve had to be quiet the last few times with Maia in the flat. Now we’re all alone… and I want you to be very, very loud.”