by Harlow Layne
“Baby, don’t give her a hard time. You’ve been going on and on about how you wish Lily would start dating again.” He looked over at us with a devilish smile. “It looks like she’s back in the saddle.”
“Not you too, Jax.” Lily laughed from beside me. Walking over she gave them each a friendly hug and then turned back to me. “Gabi, Jax, this is my boyfriend, Dante. Dante these are two of my good friends, Gabi and Jax.”
We said our nice to meet you’s and then stood around the kitchen awkwardly until another couple walked in talking amongst themselves. Both blond haired with blue eyes, their height difference could be comical, but somehow, they worked together perfectly even from a glance. Even though I’d never seen him, I knew the man walking toward us was a movie star. As a man who was confident in himself and his sexuality, I could freely admit when a man was good looking and Luke definitely was. He was a modern-day Viking with his short blond hair.
Putting down a few dishes on the island, he smiled over at us. “Alex couldn’t stick to bringing just one dish. We’re definitely having a fiesta tonight.” Turning to the other couple, he clapped Jax on the back. “You brought the beer, right?”
Jax looked insulted as he tapped Luke’s back a little too hard. “Who do you think I am? You can’t have Mexican night without cervezas.”
“Good man.” Luke laughed.
“Lily,” the small woman called softly, “are you going to introduce us to your friend?”
“Maybe I should wait until everyone is here,” Lily bit her bottom lip. “Where’s Mason?”
“Oh,” she looked out the wall of windows and tilted her head to the side. “He’s out there with Ben. Taylor and Jack should be in any minute.”
More people? I was going to be lucky if I could keep them all straight if any more showed up. I wondered if they could see my head spinning.
“Poor thing,” the small woman cooed in my direction. “We’re overwhelming him. Let’s give him a break, okay guys.” She looked around the room with a look that brokered no argument. It was a look I knew too well growing up. It was the mom face. “I’m Alex and this guy here,” she held her arm out, and the Viking went straight to her side, “this is my husband, Luke. I know there’s a lot of us, but I promise we’re all nice.”
“Nice to meet you,” I shook both their hands. “I’m Dante.”
The second my hand dropped, in walked two more couples. I hated that Lily had to endure having these dinners alone, but now she didn’t have to. I’d do everything in my power to be by her side at each one.
“We need to get outside before the kids get into trouble,” one of the women said as she set down a covered dish. “I’m surprised they haven’t jumped into the pool yet.”
“Oh no,” Lily rushed to the window to look out. “The pools not heated. I really need to rectify that, I guess. Earlier Dante wanted to get in.”
All the guys in the room looked at each other as if they knew exactly what I had planned to do to Lily in the pool. I was pretty sure they had a good idea.
“Why isn’t it heated?” Alex asked, her brows drawn down. “We keep ours heated almost year-round.”
“Some of us aren’t married to millionaires,” Lily sassed back with her hands on her hips.
I noticed one of the new women, short with long brown hair and light green eyes flush. How many people in the room were millionaires?
“Oh please,” Alex shook her finger at Lily, “don’t play that game with us. You’re well on your way with your books.”
I really needed to find out what books Lily wrote. I knew she did it under a pen name because I tried looking her up after meeting her. Not that it mattered to me what name she wrote under.
“Now that everyone’s in here except the kids, I’d like to introduce you all to Dante Ricci, my boyfriend.”
It didn’t escape my notice all the women looked at each other with looks of delight on their faces.
“I expect details,” Gabi said as she reached around the wall and came back with a beer. “I’ll be outside making sure the kids don’t kill themselves.”
Jax disappeared for a moment coming back with two cases of beer. It was more alcohol than they could drink in one night. The bottles clinked as he set them on the counter. “I’ll see you all outside.”
“Do you need any help?” Alex asked, unstacking the dishes she brought.
“I need someone to start up the grill so I can grill the chicken and steak.”
“Let us men man the grill, why don’t you,” one of the new guys said as he strode to grab the meat. “By the way, I’m Jack. It’s good to meet you. We need all the help we can get with these ladies.” He winked.
“Jack,” a blonde swatted at him, “you’re going to give him the wrong impression of us.”
“Really,” he laughed. “Wait until they’ve got a few beers in them and you’ll see.”
“Since it’s our night not to drink, he won’t,” She slapped him on the ass. Moving in my direction, she tilted her head up to meet my eyes. She was small but I could tell she was feisty. “I’m Taylor and that jackass is my husband.”
Lily looked around in confusion. “Where’s the baby?”
“He fell asleep on the way over here, so I left him in his car seat and put him in the living room, so hopefully he’d sleep for a while and not be cranky.”
“We’ll keep the door open so we can hear him if he wakes up. If you guys want to grab everything so we can take it outside that would be great.”
I eyed the other couple who had remained relatively quiet as I grabbed as much as I could carry. I was a gentleman at my very core even if only my sister saw it. He leaned down to murmur something in her ear, his eyes connected with mine.
“I’m going to get the food we brought and bring it around back.” With one final look my way, he walked out the way he came.
Did I do something?
“Hi. I’m Prue,” she held her hand out to shake, and I took it. “That’s my husband, Holden. He’s…shy, I guess you could say.” Prue looked to Lily with a strange look on her face.
He didn’t seem like the shy type with tattoos covering his arms, but whatever. Not everyone had to like me.
“Did you tell him?” Prue whispered to Lily, none too quietly.
“I can hear you.” I laughed.
“Sorry. I’m not trying to be cryptic.” Prue shrugged, looking worried. “I don’t know what to do. I thought he was better, and I don’t want him to start to feel self-conscience if…”
Lily hugged Prue, rubbing up and down her back. Looking over Prue’s shoulder, she eyed the door and whispered. “Holden was in the Marines and when he was overseas…” Tears sprang to her eyes and I wanted nothing more than to rip her away from her friend and hold her in my arms, telling her everything would be okay. Instead, I stayed where I was, hating the few feet that separated us.
Prue slipped from Lily’s grasp with a look of determination on her face. “There was an IED, and he lost part of his leg. He’s only been home from rehab a few months and is still getting used to having everyone stare at him when they see his leg. If you see it…”
Now I understood why he looked at me the way he did. I didn’t blame him. It couldn’t be easy.
“I’ll be cool,” I promised. “Thanks for telling me. If I thought I saw something I might have looked a little too hard.”
“Thank you,” she teared up. “He’s better about it, but it’s been hard. Today is one of those days.”
“I won’t push. I’ll give him his space and let him see that I don’t care.”
We started to head outside when Lily put her hand on my arm. I stopped, looking down at her. “Thank you. I should have told you, but like Lily said normally he’s fine. I don’t even think about it and he always has jeans on so you can’t tell.”
“Don’t worry about it.” I leaned down and kissed her chastely. We didn’t need to get carried away and someone walk in.
Stepping outside, all
the men were huddled around the grill and the women were sitting around a large table watching two little boys run around with a dog chasing them. I headed over to the guys. “Where’d the dog come from?”
“He’s mine.” Holden placed the steak on the grill.
“Maybe Lily should get a dog being all the way out here by herself. I live and work in Riverside. I can’t get here as fast as I want.”
“If she needs us, we’ll be here, but it’s not a bad idea. You should get her to install a security system too.” Luke eyed me. “If some book crazy finds out her real name and where she lives…” He let that hang in the air between us.
It wouldn’t be good if she got some stalker or some crazed fan found out where she lived.
“I’ll talk to her.”
“And don’t be cheap. Even with a good one…trust me, I know from experience they aren’t infallible.”
Shit. Now I was worried.
“Maybe when I convince her, you can help us pick one out. I want to make sure she’s safe when I can’t be around.”
“And how often are you going to be around?” Jax gruffly asked before he took a swig of his beer.
“As much as I can. Right now, my club is…not doing the best, I guess you could say. We’re understaffed and until I find someone to manage it, I need to be there quite a bit.”
“What’s the name of your club?” Luke asked. So far, he seemed to be the one most open to me which wasn’t what I expected.
“Flux.”
“Flux.” I heard one of the girl’s shout. Alex came running around the table all excited, her eyes big.
“You own Flux?” She bounced on her toes.
“I do,” I laughed. I’d never had that reaction before.
“That is so awesome,” she squealed. “We’ll all have to go one night. That’s where I went the night that totally changed my life.”
Luke pulled her close, looking down at her adoringly. “I thought it was our lunch?”
“If it wasn’t for my night at his club, I never would have met you. It’s what started our story, but our lunch is one of the best days of my life.” By the end, they were staring at each other and looked as if they’re going to jump each other in front of us.
“Get a room,” Jack grumbled.
Luke hugged Alex to him, laughing at Jack. “Dude, you need to get laid more.”
“Don’t I know it.” He looked down at his feet.
The poor guy acted as if he hadn’t gotten laid in years.
The chicken, steak, and vegetables didn’t take long to grill and soon we were all sitting at a long table digging into our Mexican feast.
As I looked at everyone enjoying everyone else’s company, I could see they were a family. Something I’d been missing for far too long. I was glad I asked Franca to help me out and I hoped once Flux was back to what it was, she’d stick around. I also hoped to one day count everyone here as part of my family. Especially Lily.
The food was amazing. The marinade Lily put on the steak and chicken made these the best fajitas I’d ever had. She was an amazing cook.
The banter kept me on my toes. They loved to tease each other but loved each other just as much. I answered the few questions they asked me, though they didn’t ask much or pry too far into my life. Maybe they were afraid they’d scare me off, but nothing could have been further from the truth. There wasn’t much that would get rid of me.
As I was taking in the platters and dishes to help clean up, Alex dragged me off into a corner. She chewed on the inside of her cheek, nervous. “I haven’t known Lily long, but I wanted to let you know this is the first time I’ve seen her smile so brightly. You’re good for her. I can tell.” She giggled and quickly looked around to make sure no one heard her. “Tommy was an asshole to her. I didn’t know her until afterward, but she opened up to me and I’ve observed the impact he’s had on her. I’m sure she’ll tell you all this eventually, but I wanted you to know. Don’t fuck over my girl. I don’t think she’ll be able to handle it. For some reason, she stayed with Tommy for over two years and during that time he cheated on her through most of it. That’s not the worst of it though. The things he said to her made her feel as if she wasn’t good enough. Ugly.” Tears filled her eyes, but she pushed through. “He always made her feel as if her writing was trash. She couldn’t do anything without running it by him.”
“Thank you, Alex. She hasn’t opened up to me about him, but I did meet him today at the grocery store.”
“Really?” She looked alarmed. “What was he doing here?”
“He said visiting friends.” Alex snorted, shaking her head. “I knew the instant he spoke he was the one who tarnished her self-esteem. I’m going to do everything in my power for her to see herself as the beautiful person she is.”
“Good luck. I just wanted to give you a heads up, but it looks like you’ve got it handled.” Her smile grew with each word until I wasn’t sure her cheeks wouldn’t split. “I’m so happy she found you.”
“You and me both.”
Now I only wished I had punched Tommy when we saw him earlier. I wasn’t sure when I’d get another chance, but the next time he wouldn’t be so lucky.
8
LILY
Putting the dishes into the dishwasher, I heard Alex talking to Dante. I knew it should probably bother me that she was spilling the beans to him, but I couldn’t fault her for caring about me. I planned to tell him eventually but hadn’t had the time. I headed back outside to give them their privacy. The moment I sat down, Prue dropped down at my side with a crazy smile on her face.
“Where did you find him? And damn is his accent sexy.”
“I know. I damn near swoon with every word coming out of his mouth. He actually came into Rocco’s when I was working and asked me out.” I leaned back and watched her eyes widen.
“When are you going to stop working there? You don’t need to work there,” Jack asked. He was really grumpy that night. Maybe he really did need to get laid. I decided to talk to Taylor about babysitting and giving them some free time.
“I know I don’t, but I like it there. It gets me out of the house. Otherwise, I might wear the same clothes for days on end.”
“What? I love not getting dressed?” Alex said as she sat down next to her husband.
“Beautiful, she means out of pajamas.” He kissed her temple, stifling a laugh.
“Oh, well, either way, I like to be naked or in my pajamas or lounge clothes. Regular clothes are overrated.”
We all laughed at that. Alex did like her comfortable clothing.
“I heard Tommy was in town today,” Alex threw out.
Everyone at the table scowled and gave some sort of, ‘what the hell was he doing here?’
“He said he was visiting friends, but we all know that’s a lie,” I answered, wishing Alex wouldn’t have said anything. “Something seemed off about him, but I can’t quite put my finger on it though.”
“From what you’ve told us, he hated it here so you should probably keep an eye out,” Jax growled.
Dante sat down next to me and pulled me tight to his side. “I knew I didn’t like that guy.”
“I don’t think anyone does.” Holden put his arm around Prue as if Tommy was going to show up and take her away.
Mason and Ben came running up to stand in front of Gabi. “Ms. Gabi will you please sing for us. Sing the song for Mama and Luke.”
Mason was too cute for words.
I’d only seen it a couple of times, but according to Alex, she and Luke danced every day. It was really sweet.
“Only if Lily joins me,” Gabi smiled mischievously.
I loved singing, but I had yet to sing in front of Dante. To say I was a little nervous would have been an understatement. I hoped he liked what he heard. “Sure. Do you have your guitar with you?”
“Can I borrow yours?” Gabi asked, already getting up to retrieve it. She knew I didn’t mind if she played my guitar. Why would I mind if a worl
d-famous musician wanted to play and sing with me?
The kids cheered and clapped as Gabi disappeared inside for a few moments. “Come on, Ms. Lily.” Ben tried to pull me up with his little body and strength.
Looking back at Dante, he had a sexy grin on his face. I bit my bottom lip until Gabi stood next to me.
“Stop being nervous. You’re a better singer than me.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. We all knew that wasn’t true, but it was nice of her to say.
“Dante you’re new to the group so I’ll tell you the story. I met Luke and Alex while on the set of Night Shadows when I was doing a guest spot. We hit it off, and I soon found out they danced each day to whatever song inspired them. I thought it was so sweet, so when they were getting married and Luke asked if I’d sing at their wedding, I instantly said yes. I sang at Alex’s bachelorette party and the reception.”
“What a bachelorette party it was,” Taylor yelled happily.
Gabi, Alex, and Taylor, along with Luke all chuckled remembering something we were not privy to.
“Anyway, Alex loves this one song. Iris by The Goo Goo Dolls. She told Luke when they first started dating, she wanted to get married to it so, of course, Luke made sure it came to fruition.” Turning to me with a serene look on her face, Gabi, smiled. “Are you ready?”
“Ready.”
I think Gabi missed singing, and I’d do anything to help her. Even if it was singing in front of all my friends. Gabi strummed the guitar, and the boys danced around as their parents stood and held each other. They slow danced and looked into each other’s eyes. I thought it was sweet they did this every day and funny to watch with their height difference. No matter it was easy to see how in love they were.
As the song ended, Luke bent down to kiss Alex in a kiss that wasn’t appropriate for public, but we were all used to it. My eyes locked on Dante’s finding them hooded with lust.
Everyone broke up and started to pack up, I loved my friends, but I wanted to be alone with my new boyfriend. The moment they were out the door, Dante whipped me around pinning me to the door with his hot mouth on mine.