“What the hell’s got your panties so tightly wedged up your ass?” Remy had asked with a cocky grin.
“You know what!” Scott snapped, knowing he shouldn’t speak to his superior like that but also not giving two fucks at the moment how he spoke to the maggot.
Remy rolled his eyes, continuing to grin. Now Scott wanted to punch two people in their stupid faces. “He didn’t seem to know, and if he does know, he didn’t seem to care. Relax.” He smacked Scott on the shoulder and headed out of the conference room. “You need to do some tai chi, Scottie. It relaxes the fuck out of me.”
He reached for Eva’s hand across the center gap between the driver’s seat and the passenger seat. Their fingers laced and rested on the armrest. “It’s going to work out, I promise.”
The line of her mouth turned grim. “You can’t promise that. He’s dangerous, Scott. We’re playing with fire here. I’m so sorry I got you involved.”
He squeezed her hand at the same time he pressed his foot on the brake when they came to a red light. “Hey, I’m involved because I want to be. You’re worth every headache, every risk, okay? Besides, whether we were together or not, I would still have found the guy a tool to work for. Any way I can ditch him, I will. And if we happen to put him in prison as the fallout of all of this, then hey, bonus!” He offered her a thumbs-up to try to dilute the mounting tension.
The boys in the back were bantering playfully back and forth. Freddie was giving Kellen and Lucas a rundown of all the other kids they were going to meet at the BBQ.
“Now, Gabe is one of my best friends, okay? He doesn’t really talk though, but that’s okay. We’re such good friends, I know what he’s saying without him even needing to talk.”
“Why doesn’t he talk?” Kellen asked.
Scott glanced in the mirror to see Freddie shrug. “Dunno. He just doesn’t.” His nose scrunched for a moment. “I mean he does talk. He says Tori and Dad—sort of, but that’s about it.” He shrugged. “You’ll see.”
Eva’s eyes shifted to Scott so he could fill her in.
“Gabe is Mark’s little guy. He is on the autism spectrum. Great kid. Nonverbal though. Mark’s girlfriend, Tori, was and is Gabe’s intervention therapist. The little guy has come leaps and bounds developmentally since she started working with him.”
Eva’s head bobbed in understanding.
“And now, Mira and Jayda are sisters but also cousins,” Freddie went on. “It’s complicated, but not really.”
Again, Eva’s eyes shifted to Scott.
“Mira is Adam’s daughter with Paige. They’re separated, but amicably. Paige is with Mitch, whose daughter, Jayda, is Adam’s niece via his girlfriend, Violet.”
“Okeydokey, then,” she breathed, glancing out her window at the passing houses. Zak lived in a really nice neighborhood. Not as elite as Liam’s neighborhood on Lake Washington, but it was still pretty fancy. His buddy did well for himself with his gym franchise, and now he was dating a lawyer. When Aurora paid off her student loans and made partner, they’d be rolling in the dough.
“Hey Dad?” Freddie called from the back at the same time Scott pulled into Zak’s driveway. It was already lined with vehicles.
“Yeah?”
“How do monsters like their eggs?”
Scott groaned and put the van into park. Freddie was obsessed with corny jokes. The kid lived for them. He lived to make people laugh. With a wry smile at Eva and unbuckling his seatbelt, he replied, “I don’t know, bud, how?”
“Terri-fried!” Freddie paused for the laugh, his mouth open, his hands making gun shapes and poised at his dad. “Get it? Terri-fried.”
Lucas and Kellen both erupted into giggles.
“Terri-fried,” Kellen snickered, shaking his head and unbuckling his belt. “That’s hilarious.”
Eva was smiling now.
His jokes might be corny as hell, but Scott’s kid really did have a way of making people smile.
They all bailed out of the van. He grabbed the fruit and dip platter Eva had made, his six-pack of beer and the container of seven-layer dip and chips he’d grabbed from the grocery store. The boys took off at a run up the driveway.
“Front door or back gate, Dad?” Freddie called.
“Back gate,” Scott replied, wishing he could take Eva’s hand to reassure her, but his arms were loaded.
“Did Liam give any indication what his PI found?” she asked, falling in behind him as they traversed the stepping stones in the lawn that led to the gate separating Zak’s front and back yards.
“No. He just said that his PI dug up some stuff, and it’s best if shown and explained in person.” He held open the gate for her. She wore simple white denim capris and a sexy yellow and blue check short-sleeved button-up shirt with a black tank top beneath it. Her makeup was minimal, and she wore aviator-style sunglasses with brown lenses and gold metal frames. But it was that raspberry red lipstick she always wore that made him crave a kiss from her juicy pout. She was every bit a spring beauty, with bright eyes and a healthy flush to her cheeks.
She walked past him in her black flats but paused on the path until he shut the gate. Murmurs and the sound of squealing children drifted around the side of the house, followed by the sudden shrill cry of a newborn.
Ah, Brielle must be awake.
They turned the corner into the thick of the party just in time to hear Freddie telling a swarm of children one of his jokes. “What do you call a moose with no name?”
Mira bounced up and down on her toes. “What?”
“Anonymoose!” Freddie said, slapping his thigh and laughing. But he wasn’t the only one. A bunch of the other kids were giggling uncontrollably too, including Gabe.
“I don’t get it,” Mira said, scratching her head.
Jayda whispered in her ear, then Mira’s face lit up, and she joined in with the children’s glee. Since meeting nearly a year ago in dance class, Adam and Mitch’s daughters had become inseparable.
They were greeted by everyone, one at a time, the women introducing themselves first, starting with Aurora. Even though she didn’t live with Zak, she stayed at his place more than her own, so she was essentially co-hosting the party. Then came the men.
Scott mentally prepared himself for his “brothers” and their assessment of his love interest, particularly since a few of them—his brother Liam for sure—were still jaded about love. Emmett had been opinionated about introducing a new woman to children too early into the relationship, and his views had actually put his relationship with Mark in hot water, but the man seemed to have cooled down a fair bit. Especially since his own woman had met his daughter, Josie, on day one.
But, thankfully, not only were they all kind to Eva and her boys, his woman fit into their little crew seamlessly. In no time, she, Zak and Adam were playing bocce ball in the lawn, and she was kicking both their asses.
“You a professional bowler or something?” Adam asked, shaking his head in bewilderment as Eva lobbed another dynamite toss at the target ball, knocking his ball clear into the hedges.
Her grin was warm and beautiful. “Not quite, but I did pitch for my softball team all through high school. We made nationals.”