“Isn’t Bella still in school?” Meghan’s question. Of course—the teacher’s mind.
“And then there’s that,” Heather agreed. “Plus, Kelly has some sort of internet business. Stephanie is going to let her use the craft studio while she’s here. The boy is used to spending his days with her, but I think we should give him an adventure, and let Kelly do her thing. After all, we don’t know her, but she’s bound to be as anxious as we all are. She needs to catch a break too.”
Sophie, who’d been silent until now, spoke up with a surprising suggestion. “Hook him up with Jace. He’s great with kids, right, Stephanie? I mean, he loves Danny and has a ball teaching Bella about the horses. Matty can tag along with him while Bella’s at school.”
Her sister seemed to have a strong opinion about a man she could hardly know.
Meghan snicker-laughed. “Or we can toss Matty back and forth between Jace and Finn. One can teach him the cowboy way and the other how to make a mean grilled cheese sandwich.”
The room tittered with laughter.
Heather nodded approvingly. “Now see, that’s what I wanted to hear. Brainstorming and laughter. This is what we do. For however long Kelly and Matty are here, we’ll treat them right.”
Angie thought of a question and asked, “Why isn’t my mother or Wendy Sullivan here? Shouldn’t they be included”?
“Good question, Angie. Stephanie? Want to take this?”
“This isn’t their first rodeo,” Stephanie stated with a shrug. “Calder explained to me that Ash and Wendy are their own support system. They’ve already been through years of these situations.”
“That’s true,” Sophie assured everyone. “Even when we were in Spain, those two burned up the phone lines and the Sullivans visited for several weeks every year.”
The meeting broke up soon after. Lacey was still on strict bed rest, and Tori was anxious to pick up the boys. Everyone took their leave, including her and Meghan.
She drove the UTV back to the house, taking it slow and easy for Meghan’s comfort. “I have a question,” she muttered out of the blue.
“Pfft. Join the club.”
“Did you know there was a girl in Justice?”
“Not until now,” Meghan growled. “And let me correct you straight off. Whoever this woman is, the term girl has never once been said or implied.”
“Should we be concerned?”
Meghan looked at her. They locked eyes, and she stopped the UTV.
Red dropped her head on the seat rest. “I’m trying really hard not to flip out every five minutes.”
Angie nodded. Man, there was an understatement.
“When Alex told me about Domineau, I detected nothing but respect.”
“That’s saying a lot.”
“And to be completely honest, Angie—I’ve got so much on my plate that I can’t deal with anything else. Eliminating every female who’s ever had carnal knowledge of my husband is hardly feasible.”
“But I bet you’ve considered it,” she muttered.
“Haven’t you? Neither of our men is what we’d term a choir boy. Well”—Meghan scoffed—“maybe if Stifler’s mom led the choir, but that’s a different story.”
She started up the vehicle, and they drove on in silence. There wasn’t much more to say.
23
Three men huddled close together at the breakfast table on the far side of the open kitchen. The open plantation shutters allowed the sunlight to fill the space. A cool early spring breeze wafted through the windows and open slider to the patio.
To a casual observer, the men looked like everyday guys, standing around talking about stuff. Jobs, wives, kids—stuff.
But Heather knew better. The conversation Brody and Parker were having with a man named Roman Bishop was anything but everyday.
She glanced at Angie and gave a slight grimace. Angie returned the unsettled look and gestured her head slightly to indicate the young woman who accompanied the new guy.
Kelly James. Roman Bishop’s fiancée.
Heather sighed. She could feel her tension but didn’t have a clue what to say. This was new territory for her. Angie too.
The sounds of Bella laughing and Georgie barking were normal things—but at the moment, nothing was normal. A second child’s voice carried over the air. Kelly swiveled in her seat, turning toward the sounds.
She might not know what the hell to say about what the men were up to, but she could hold her own when it came to this mom stuff.
“He’s fine,” she assured Kelly. “Bella will take good care of him. Don’t worry.”
Waif-like and stunningly beautiful, this new female was not what she seemed. Heather had to smile thinking about any poor fool who measured Kelly’s worth in inches and feet. Took less than five minutes when they were introduced to ascertain that Ms. James was cut from a hunk of take-no-shit cloth, stitched together with fuck-you thread, and finished off with some I-am-woman-hear-me-roar embellishments.
In other words, the perfect counterpart to yet another swaggering badass alpha.
Good lord, she thought. Is there a magnet or something that draws these guys to the Arizona desert?
“It’s not him I worry about.” Kelly chuckled.
Her voice had a husky, mellow quality—again so totally not in keeping with her diminutive physical presence. Tori was gonna friggin’ love another female in the mix who was somehow amazingly shorter than her.
“It’s Matty.” She snickered. “He’s got a bad case of the Discovery Channel going on inside his head. I hope your daughter is ready to have her ear talked off.”
Heather beamed when Kelly referred to Bella as her daughter. Fuck yeah, she was!
Angie chimed in with a laugh. “Oh, believe me. Bella can handle him. She’s had tons of practice.” She sat forward and spoke quietly as if her words were of the utmost importance. Kelly was immediately sucked in to Desert Angel’s natural theatrics. Heather rolled her eyes.
“Here’s the four-one-one on Miss Bella Mia Jensen. All the men? These badass Justice dipshits along with every male in the county still pinging a pulse? Yeah.” She snickered. “They’re all toast. Bella is the undisputed queen. We’ve learned to take a back seat to our littlest rebel.”
“For real,” Heather murmured. “The biggest, baddest alpha of them all? The one who rules them all? Alex. Frequently referred to by his rank—the Major. Well, he’s nicknamed her lil’ captain. She bowled him over and put his big bad ass on his knees so fast, they’ll write songs about it someday.”
Kelly cracked up laughing, and Angie brought up the rear with her hilariously irreverent amen chorus. True to form, once the newlywed had their undivided attention, she went for it. Patting Kelly’s knee, she kept her voice conspiratorially low and boldly asked, “So. Roman Bishop, huh? What hot guy revue did you pick him from? And seriously, girlfriend, how long did it take to break him down?”
All three of them swiveled their heads at the same time and took in the sight of their men.
Parker, of course, was just big. The guy did not blend into the woodwork—ever.
Brody was hotly yummerific as usual. She’d taken the lead this morning and simply fucked his brains out when a rather insistent case of morning wood dared her not to.
And then the newb. Roman. Holy Batman. He was big, possibly made of steel judging by an impressively bulky musculature that was easily traced under the skintight Henley he wore. Way more clean-cut and conservative than the gang of Justice scruff riders she’d gotten used to, he exuded a commanding intensity that reminded her of Alex.
How the hell had this little thing she was sure was not much more than a girl taken down such a man? She eyed Kelly with profound respect. Didn’t matter to her what the story was because the result was plain to see.
Kelly made a hoarse groan. “It’s quite a tale, but something tells me you guys’ll get it in a flash.”
“Truth,” Angie assured her. “Wait till you hear our stories. Oh, my god, K
elly. Seriously. Nothing you say will raise an eyebrow.”
Heather snickered and agreed. “Word.”
An amused chuckle shook Kelly’s small frame. “Well, in that case, do you want the sanitized version or the X-rated one?”
They shrieked with laughter when Angie said something insanely dirty in response. The men turned and looked at them.
Parker gave his usual headshaking smirk. Brody shot her a look that melted her bones so she stuck her tongue out at him, and Roman? Oh, my, my. The incendiary way he looked at Kelly left no doubt just how X-rated their story was.
“We’d better behave,” Angie muttered. “I don’t need another spanking.”
For some reason, the offhand comment that normally wouldn’t get more than an eye roll put Kelly on the floor.
“Oh my god,” she wheezed through gasping laughs. “I think I’ve found my tribe.”
“Oh, sweetie, trust me,” Heather drily murmured. “You’ve come to the source for all things alpha. It’s in the damn water here.”
As Kelly began her story, Heather caught sight of Bella’s little legs scurrying around in the upstairs loft, followed by giggling. The little boy who arrived with Roman and Kelly was adorable, and Bella instantly gravitated to him. She was dying to know what the deal was because the boy didn’t call her mom, yet to the casual eye, she and Roman were clearly his parents.
Oh goody, she mused. This oughta be good.
“That’s cool,” Matty gushed with awe when Bella showed him the letter Santa sent. “And he flew here? With the reindeer?”
“Right out there,” Bella told him with a wave of her hand. “Come here, look.” She pointed out the window to the tract of empty desert behind the house. “Over there by the little hills.”
“Wow,” Matty murmured.
“Yeah,” she told him enthusiastically as her ponytail bounced and shook with every movement. “We saw him. For real. Me and my Heather.”
“Is she your mommy?”
Bella looked perplexed for a moment. Her shrug summed it all up. “She’s marrying me and my daddy.”
They looked at each other. Bella plopped onto the sectional sofa and crossed her legs. Matty scrambled into the spot next to her and leaned into a pillow.
“My other mom, she’s dead.” Using the blunt language of kids, she said the words as a statement of fact. Without emotion.
Matty nodded. “Me too. My other mom. I don’t remember her. She’s dead too.”
This time, it was Bella who murmured, “Wow.”
“Yeah,” he said after a minute. “Kiki, she’s my real mom, and Roman’s gonna be my dad. They’re getting married too.”
“I’ve been in two weddings.”
“Really?” Matty asked. “I have a big brother, and he asked me to be in his wedding.”
“Weddings are cool,” Bella insisted. “I was a flower girl and a junior bridesmaid.”
Matty made a noise and a face. “Liam—he’s my brother—called it a word I don’t know. But I have to wear a suit.”
“Where do you live?” she asked.
“Well,” Matty said. “We used to live in Ok-a-homa, but now we live with Roman in New York City. Kiki doesn’t like the city, so when we get married, we’re moving to a big house where she can have a garden.”
“Major Alex has a garden. A big one.”
“Who’s he?”
Bella brightened. “Alex? He’s, um, the Major. You know.”
“You mean like he’s the boss?”
“Yeah!”
“Do you like dinosaurs?” he asked in a complete conversation one-eighty.
“I have a pony,” she hooted. “Snowflake. Me and my cousin Danny ride her. I have a saddle, but Danny’s still a baby so he has a booster seat.”
“Is she here? Can I see her?”
Bella shook her head, and the ponytail gathered at her crown swung back and forth. “No. She lives in a barn. Major Alex’s barn.”
Georgie climbed on the sofa, scooted around in a circle, and lay down.
“He’s not allowed on the sofa.” Bella giggled.
“Aren’t you gonna tell him to get down?”
“No.” She snickered.
“I’m getting a dog,” Matty announced. “When we get our new house. Gigi says I can.”
“Who’s Gigi?”
“Oh, um,” Matty answered as he cocked his head like he was thinking. “I think she’s my grandmom. She lives with Sam. He taught me how to fish. Hey, can you play chess? I can.”
“Chess? No,” Bella grumbled. “Can you teach me how?”
“’Kay. But we have to wait till the grown-ups are done talking. Roman has my chess set.”
Georgie perked up. His head lifted off his paws, and he sniffed the air. A second later, he jumped up looked toward the front of the loft where a railing overlooked the downstairs foyer. He gave a muffled woof and then ran for the stairs. At the landing before the final stairs, he stopped and took a protective posture.
Bella watched all this with raised brows. She got off the sofa and scurried to a corner of the railing. Motioning to Matty, she whispered, “Come here.”
He quickly joined her and knelt at her side. “Shh. Be quiet. We can see from here.”
A great commotion followed, and one of the wide front doors swung open. Georgie growled when an unfamiliar voice barked, “Suck it,” followed by a husky laugh.
Bella sat forward with anticipation.
Georgie stayed put when Major Alex came through the door. Right behind him was a tall woman dressed in head-to-toe black.
“Alex,” Heather called out warmly. “Is Meghan with you?”
“No,” he gruffly replied.
“That’s Major Alex,” Bella told Matty in a hushed whisper. “But I don’t know the lady.”
“Oh,” Matty murmured. “He’s big. Like Roman. That lady?” Matty sniggered. “That’s Domineau. She’s my bodyguard.”
“You have a bodyguard? What for?”
“Dunno,” he said with an unconcerned shrug. “She’s cool, though. Can you say Spanish words? She can.”
Bella stuck her face up against the railing to get a better view of the proceedings happening on the floor below.
Angie stood when her brother swept into the common room, but he gave her less than half a glance and only politely acknowledged Heather because it was her damn house.
Jesus. That wasn’t good. It wasn’t like Alex to be so tight. She showed Heather a worried frown when the other woman looked at her.
“That’s Alexander Valleja-Marquez,” Heather told Kelly. “The Major.”
“Oh, my,” Kelly murmured.
“Right?” Angie threw in with an overly pithy tone. “Asshole.”
Kelly gave her a curious look.
She grinned. “Sibling privilege. He’s an asshole. A complete asshole. But he’s also my brother.”
“Oh,” Kelly said. “Got it.”
“But no clue who the woman is,” Angie tersely announced.
Kelly blinked and then looked at her and Heather. “That’s Domineau Rivera.”
“Excuse me?” Heather said. “You know her?”
Angie studied Kelly with interest.
“Well, yeah. She’s my bodyguard. Or Matty’s. One of those is true.”
Angie’s head swung to look at Parker. Curious, she thought. He and this Justice woman had an air of familiarity that immediately set off warning bells. Her hackles went up, and her eyes narrowed.
Kelly, it turned out, knew more than she and Heather combined. They stared at her dumbfounded when she shared what she knew.
“I’m new to the Justice thing, so bear with me, okay? Still learning the cast of characters. But where Domineau is concerned, this is what I know. She’s a freelancer. Does security—and other things.”
Oh, Jesus. Other things? Really? Angie knew what that probably meant.
“She’s known Roman for a dog’s age. They were in the war together although I’m certain she wa
sn’t military.”
“Probably a merc,” Heather mumbled. “Or CIA.”
Kelly continued after a brief shrug. “She has one setting as far as I can tell.”
“What’s that?” Angie asked.
“Razor’s edge,” she answered. “It’s not that she doesn’t react. Or smile. She does. Sometimes. Mostly, she’s a single sharp edge and that’s that.”
Angie’s eyes narrowed more.
“And she hasn’t slept with Roman, which is why she isn’t taking a dirt nap.”
Heather snickered and did a fist bump with Kelly. Angie, on the other hand, scowled at the woman in black and sized her up. For a second, she wasn’t sure who would die first, either Domineau or Parker, if her suspicion was true that this woman had Biblical knowledge of her man.
Parker glanced at her. First openly and then with growing confusion. She softened her angry scowl, shot him a fake smile, and turned away before her imagination triggered a scene.
“Nope. Still not right.”
Tori watched Meghan pick up the rustic dish garden they’d put together earlier and walk it to the other side of the room. The vintage, reclaimed wood planter that her husband had meticulously restored was overflowing with aloe, panda plants, Burro’s tail, and Desert Rose succulents.
Taking over the breezeway between the main house and Carmen’s place, they’d made a huge mess with buckets of garden soil, flats of plants, and a slew of picture examples they’d printed from Pinterest.
“What do you think?” Red asked. She was inspecting the new placement and tapping a finger on her chin.
“I think we need a break,” she informed her sister-in-law. “How about some ice cream?”
Meghan flashed a partial scowl but nodded assent. They’d made a pact. Tori promised not to constantly take her temperature as long as Meghan agreed to eat whatever was put in front of her.
In the kitchen, Tori concocted an enormous banana split made with some of Meghan’s favorite homemade ice cream and a veritable trough of Carmen’s whipped cream. She didn’t bother convincing her friend that the banana made it healthy. They both knew it was all about calorie loading, and since Meghan’s appetite was a tricky bitch, the more caloric bang for the buck in the least amount of food was the way to go.
Everlasting (Family Justice Book 6) Page 35