I frown. “Good what?”
“To know the name of the lipstick that I’m going to wipe off your lips.”
And then he does just that.
He grabs my face and leans down to kiss me. I’ve gotten a lot heavier now but I’m still a ballerina and my toes jump up so I can meet him halfway.
When he’s done, he lifts his head and I open my eyes to find him wiping my lipstick off his mouth with the back of his hand. “Why did you do that?”
His fingers flex on my face and on the small of my back. “Because I draw the line at cupcakes.”
“What line?”
“The line of what I’ll let you do for other men.”
I fist his hoodie; he’s back in my favorite outfit ever, his white hoodie and dark jeans. “What you’ll let me do.”
“Yes,” he growls again. “You baked him cupcakes and that’s it. You’re not going to wear lipstick for him too.”
I stretch up my toes even more. “Roman, it’s Pete. Your friend. He’s old.”
He flexes his grip on my body again. “He has eyes, doesn’t he?”
“Is that why you’ve been a grumpy bear all day? Because I was baking him cupcakes?”
“Cookies too. Besides, you shouldn’t be working at all anyway. You’re fucking pregnant.”
Yes, I know.
And if he had his way, he wouldn’t even let me get out of bed.
I shake my head at him and Halo chooses that moment to wake up and kick. Which he feels, obviously, because he has me plastered to his body.
“See? She agrees with me,” I tell him. “She thinks Daddy’s crazy too.”
His gaze pierces me then, all dark and dangerous. “Daddy’s crazy because her mommy makes him that way.”
My breasts are all squished into his chest, heavy and achy, and my thighs clench and unclench with every breath I take. But I can’t get distracted. I have to go meet his friend.
“It’ll be fun. I promise,” I whisper up to him and with one last heated and agitated look at me, he lets me go and we go see Pete.
And it is fun.
Pete is like Santa Claus. Bushy white beard, beer belly and a loud good-natured laugh.
He’s happy to see me. He says that he’s heard a lot about me and he was dying to meet the girl who stole Reed’s Mustang and drowned it in the lake.
“Serves him right for being an asshole to such a pretty girl,” he says, laughing. “He had to work on it all summer.”
I shoot Reed a guilty look and he flips Pete the bird, which makes Pete laugh even harder.
Pete practically inhales all my cupcakes as we chat. Because he says my cupcakes taste exactly like how his wife, Mimi, used to make them before she died a few years ago.
And then Pete and Reed start arguing over Pete’s accounts.
Reed sits at the computer at Pete’s desk and tells Pete that he needs to take better care with his finances. That from the looks of it there are some pending invoices that customers haven’t paid yet. Pete tells Reed not to tell him how to run his business. Then Reed tells Pete that Pete won’t even have a business if he keeps going like this and that Pete should move aside and let Reed fix stuff for him.
And to get back at Reed, Pete tells me stuff about Reed’s Bardstown High years, how Reed used to spend all night up in the garage, how he’d be so interested in everything but tried to pretend that he wasn’t. Pete also says that Reed is some kind of a genius with cars.
At which point, a customer appears and Reed chooses to disappear, making me realize that Pete’s compliment was what sent him away. I saw his face, all tight and somehow shaken up.
I realize that their bond is so precious, Pete and Reed’s. Like father and son. And I’m so grateful that Pete was there for him when he had no one.
But that’s not the end of it. I realize something else too.
I realize that Reed loves cars.
I mean, he would have to, to build one of his own, but this is something else.
He’s at ease here, in his element.
Among the cars, checking them out, looking under the hood, sliding under one’s body, working with tools. Tools I don’t even know the names of. All I know is that while sitting inside Pete’s tiny office, watching Reed talk to customers and other employees, I’ve never seen him happier.
Not even when he was playing soccer.
I mean, back when he played, he was fantastic. But he was also super competitive, super wrapped up in winning and goading others, my brother especially. It brought out the worst in him.
It brought out the villain.
But this is different.
He loves this. He has a passion for it.
Halo moves inside me and I rub my stomach, trying to calm her down.
There’s Daddy, I tell her. Look how happy he is here.
“He loves it,” I murmur, watching Reed bent over a sleek black car.
“He does,” Pete says from his chair, pulling my attention back to him.
“I’ve never seen him like this. So relaxed and at ease.”
His smile is fond. “That boy loves cars, yeah.”
I wring my hands in my lap. “Do you think… Do you think he can come back and work for you?”
His smile wavers slightly but still remains on his lips. “You’ll have to ask him.”
I swallow. “He won’t talk to me.”
He chuckles then, his beer belly shaking. “Yeah, that sounds like him.”
With emotions pressing into my throat, making my voice all wobbly, I say, “I’m guessing the house that I live in is yours. He said it belonged to a friend and you’re his only friend.”
Pete nods. “Yeah. He wouldn’t ask but I offered. It was something Mimi wanted. A vacation home but not really out of town. Just close to the cliffs and secluded. Something we could escape to when we wanted. Anyway, he was going to rent an apartment but I told him to take it. After Mimi, it was sitting there empty anyway. How are you liking Dr. May?”
My eyes widen when I realize that Pete was the one who recommended her. “I… You recommended Dr. May too?”
“Well, the boy was freaking out. Showed up at the garage with a mountain of books, saying he didn’t know the first thing about any of this.” Pete chuckles again fondly. “He was a sight to see that night. Told me he needed a doctor, a good doctor, a fucking excellent one for his Fae but someone out of town and so I hooked him up with Mimi’s old doctor. We never had kids but we did try and Mimi seemed to like her.”
Then I blurt out, “Thank you. For being his friend. I-I grew up in a big family. I mean, my parents were never there but I grew up with four brothers who took care of me. They still do. And I was so scared when I found out about…” I rub my belly. “But I had friends, and even though my brothers were mad, I knew I could count on them. But he… didn’t have anyone. To talk to. He pretended he was fine. He always does that, but yeah. So thanks. For helping him.”
At this, moisture coats Pete’s eyes. “He’s a pain in the ass with his crap about computers and things but I love that kid.” When I smile, he says, “Like you.”