“I’m exhausted,” Drea commented.
“That makes two of us, sweetness.”
“You ready for your first Friday night dinner?”
“Anything I need to know going in?”
“Not really. It’s basically like Wednesday breakfast, except we don’t have bets to compare,” she shrugged. “Oh! I can promise you they will tell you all about why we have Friday night dinner, so prepare for an embarrassing story about me.”
Kyle popped up quickly, and reached his hand out to Drea to help her up. She grabbed it and stood, looking at him skeptically.
“Is the idea of me being embarrassed that exciting?”
“Yes,” he answered without hesitation. “Although I’m certain it’s actually a super cute story. But if your uncles are going to be in storytelling mode, then this might actually be a good time.”
That, and he really, really wanted to see Drea embarrassed.
Chapter Sixteen
Kyle knocked on Drea’s door promptly at seven fifteen, dressed in khaki shorts and a short-sleeved button-down shirt. This was the most dressed up he’d been since the last time he visited his mom a couple of Christmases ago. He wished this was for a real date, just the two of them, without her entire family involved, but he wasn’t going to complain about being included in family stuff either. Being invited to this dinner meant that they trusted him on some level, and he hoped he could leverage that into support of him and Drea once he was out on his own.
She opened the door, dressed in a baby-blue, spaghetti-strapped sundress that he was pretty sure forced her to go braless. Stop thinking about her boobs—you’re about to have dinner with her uncles. You can’t sport a semi at this meal.
“Why’d you knock? Why didn’t you just come in?” she asked, looking confused but moving out of the way to let him in. He smiled at her and pulled a single lily from behind his back. “What’s this for?”
“Hasn’t a guy ever brought you flowers on a date?”
“Uncle Miller let me have some extra roses on Valentine’s Day when I was like twelve, does that count?”
“No, not even close. I’m happy to be the first, though.”
“You’ve racked up quite a few firsts of mine already,” she said coyly, standing up on her toes to kiss him softly.
Kyle groaned as she stepped away to put the flower in some water. He snuck a peek at her ass as she walked away. The top of her dress was fitted, but not overly tight, and the skirt was loose and flowy but only came to just above her knees. It moved easily with her hips as she walked and he couldn't help but wonder what she had on underneath.
“Stop staring at my ass,” she said, without looking up from her task.
“Just wondering if there is anything on underneath there.”
She walked back over to him, grinning mischievously, and slipped her arms around his neck. He encased her in his arms, placing his hand on her lower back, and pulled her into him. He ran his hand up and down her back, feeling for a bra, and was pleased when he didn’t feel one. He started to journey lower, when she wiggled out of his grasp and took a couple of steps back.
“Behave yourself during this dinner, and maybe you’ll find out,” she winked.
They walked into the kitchen to find everyone but Vaughn already sitting at the table. Kyle looked at his watch to make sure they weren’t late. It was seven thirty on the nose—they were right on time. The kitchen smelled fantastic, like rosemary and garlic, with fresh bread wafting in every couple of breaths. He pulled out a chair for Drea, and then pushed it in slightly as she sat down. He took the seat to her left, as if it was automatically his seat. He could get used to this.
She reached over under the table and snuck her hand into his, just letting them sit there for a moment, holding hands. Her hand fit into his so perfectly, it was like it was made to fit there. The thrill of holding her hand wasn’t new—he’d always enjoyed taking her hand in his—but there was some extra excitement in it to be secretly doing it in front of her family, knowing that it wasn’t them just being friendly.
“Sorry I’m late,” Vaughn said, bursting through the door, carrying four bottles of wine, two in each hand.
“It’s seven thirty-two,” Simone said, dryly pointing out he wasn’t exactly late.
“Yes, but we meet promptly at seven thirty.”
“You’re the only one in this family who is ‘prompt’ about anything, man,” Grayson said.
“As long as he has the wine, I don’t care,” Miller added from across the kitchen. “I’m just finishing up—give me five more minutes.”
“Yes, would you sit your ass down and open the wine, please? I spent the afternoon with the governor’s wife, and well, I just need a drink,” Simone said, grabbing for one of the bottles.
Vaughn set the bottles down on the table and pulled a corkscrew from his pocket. He opened the first bottle and poured a larger than average glass for Simone, before pouring himself something normal. Kyle motioned to Drea to see if she wanted some, and she nodded her head slightly. He grabbed two glasses and poured them each a smaller glass, and handed hers to her. She smiled brightly at him, taking a sip.
“So, how’d the cruise go this afternoon? Everyone behave themselves?” Grayson asked. Drea’s hand stopped mid sip, and Kyle tensed at the question. Could Brig have said something about what he saw? No, he said he understood that they weren’t public yet, so he wouldn’t have run off and complained. Although if someone else in the group saw something, there was no telling what the reaction would have been.
“Can I get a definition of ‘behaved’ please?” Drea said, quickly recovering from her pause. “Because for a moment today I wondered if we had become a charter for the Playboy Mansion.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Miller asked, bringing the first round of food to the table.
“All the girls on the trip ended up taking off their tops and spent the afternoon combating tan lines,” Kyle said, trying to hide a grin.
“Maybe I should have sent Dalton,” Grayson commented.
“Pretty sure he’s already seen what was on display, but he would have still appreciated it more than Drea.”
“Were they nice?” Grayson asked.
“Grayson, seriously?” Vaughn asked.
“Kid got an eyeful all day, it’s only right to ask the question!”
“You don’t have to answer, son,” Miller said.
“They were the best money could buy—I’ll leave it at that,” Kyle commented. The men all chuckled and nodded their heads in understanding. He looked over at Drea who was rolling her eyes. He would bet that if he glanced over at Simone he would see a similar reaction.
“But other than the peep show, everything went fine?” Grayson returned to his original inquiry.
“Yeah, they managed to not actually have sex on the trampolines,” Drea said sarcastically. “And despite showing up pretty hammered already, no one puked. So I’ll call it a successful day.”
“Alrighty, that should be the last of the food,” Miller said, bringing over a large platter of sliced beef. “So no more talk about puke. Let Friday night dinner commence.”