His hair had grown a lot over the past weeks and, with his beard, made him look more than a little sexy. “You look . . . great.” She didn’t mean for her voice to sound seductive, but hell, she couldn’t seem to stop it.
He chuckled. “Thank you. I’ll go and make sure Noah hasn’t fallen into a Spider-Man movie coma and help get him ready.”
An hour later they walked into 5 Napkin Burger and were directed toward a circular booth, where there were already four people sitting. Lexie was instantly struck by how good-looking everyone was and instantly regretted not putting in her bigger earrings and more sparkly septum ring. Riley’s hand found her lower back and he rubbed gently, seemingly sensing her reticence. Noah, on the other hand, was all smiles and eager to meet all the new people. The fact that he was cute as a damned button helped him fit in just fine.
“Hey, people,” Riley said with a wide smile. Four pairs of eyes looked at him before sliding over to Lexie and then to the little boy at their side. “This is Lexie and this is Noah.”
Lexie smiled. “Hi.”
“Hello,” Noah uttered.
Riley then pointed to each person in turn. “Guys, this is Max, my business partner, and his girlfriend, Grace, and this is Carter and his wife, Kat.”
“Nice to finally meet you, Lexie,” Kat said with a wide smile. Her hair was deep auburn and shone perfectly under the lights of the restaurant. “And Noah, aren’t you just the most handsome boy I’ve ever seen.”
Lexie watched in amazement as Noah blushed and dropped his face to his forearms on the table edge. Kat giggled and looked toward her husband, whose blue eyes creased as he chuckled with her. Kat was curvaceous and sexy, and her skin was as unblemished as Lexie imagined skin could be.
Her porcelain skin was the complete opposite of Grace’s, whose own was an exquisite caramel color. She smiled widely at Lexie, showing beautiful, straight white teeth, and pushed her long, curly ebony hair over her shoulder. “Riley’s told us so much about you both.”
“We’ve been desperate for a variation in conversation,” Max teased. He was a little rough around the edges, all wild hair and unshaven scruff, but his dark eyes were playful.
“Shut up,” Riley commented with a smile. “Take a seat.” He gestured for Lexie and Noah to sit down, and Carter and Kat shuffled around the booth to make room.
“I love your ink,” Grace said, her gaze on Lexie’s arms. “The colors are amazing. It’s so beautiful.”
Lexie felt her cheeks warm. “Thank you.”
“Have you ever had them photographed?”
Max snickered at her side. “Gracie, leave the poor girl alone.”
Grace smirked at him. “What? They’d look fantastic as a part of my show.”
Lexie cocked an eyebrow. “Show?”
“I’m a photographer. I have a show here in New York in six weeks.”
“Sounds fantastic.”
“You should come.”
Lexie glanced at Riley, who shrugged good-naturedly. “I’d like that.”
Max placed his arm around Grace’s shoulder, the pride clear on his face.
“Mommy, can I has a burger?”
Lexie smiled at Noah, who was looking intently at the menu as though he could actually read it. “Have whatever you want, baby.”
“He’s super cute,” Kat uttered quietly, leaning toward Riley. “Like a mini-you.”
Riley grinned. “Lucky kid, right?”
Lexie rolled her eyes affably, and the tension that had resided in her shoulders since she’d woken that morning slowly ebbed as conversation moved around the table. Riley’s hand continually found a part of her to covertly touch and squeeze, calming her further, even though his friends were more than a little welcoming; the way Grace and Kat cooed over Noah was too sweet.
Noah appeared more than a little taken with Kat, chatting his heart out to her about his adventures in New York, which Kat listened to attentively. Lexie wondered if she and Carter had children or even plans to have them; Kat seemed to be a little broody. “Can we borrow him?” Kat asked, all large green eyes and fisting hands.
Carter shook his head with a smile. “Peaches, he’s not a DVD. He’s a kid.”
Kat shoved his arm playfully. “You know what I mean.” She looked between Riley and Lexie. “We could babysit if you two want some time alone together.”
Lexie could feel her cheeks heat, and she avoided Riley’s stare despite feeling it burning into her. “Sounds good,” Carter said, cocking an eyebrow at her. “But they leave tomorrow.”
“Well, then maybe next time they visit,” Kat offered.
Lexie opened her mouth a couple of times before she found her voice. The momma bear in her reared a little; she’d only just met these people. Glancing at Riley, however, shook her of the feeling. She knew better. Riley would rather die than leave his son with someone he didn’t trust. “I—if Noah is okay with it.”
“What do you say, Noah?” Kat asked softly. “Wanna hang out with me and Carter sometime?”
Surprisingly, Noah’s hazel gaze didn’t go straight to Lexie’s and instead found Riley’s. “It’s okay if you don’t want to, buddy,” Riley assured him in that voice Lexie loved and knew he only ever saved for the little boy.
Noah shrugged a little, looking at Kat, then back at Riley. “Cans we stay at your house?”
“Sure, man, Kat and Carter come to my place loads.”
“You think about it,” Kat offered. Lexie watched as Carter leaned over and kissed her temple. It was such a tender gesture from a man who looked anything but. “We could bring some games.”
“We could?” Carter asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Yes.” Kat nudged him. “We could.”
Carter looked over at Noah and winked. “We could.”
As the conversation continued, Lexie allowed herself to think about what it would be like if she and Noah lived in the city with Riley, living in his gorgeous apartment, hanging out with his friends, and fitting into his life like pegs in round holes.
She knew Riley had been trying to organize moving back to Michigan, willing to change his life without even a second thought, explaining that it would be easier for him to move than her, but guilt teased at her all the same.
“How do you like New York, Lexie?” Carter asked after the waitress had taken their orders and collected their menus.
“I love it,” she offered truthfully. “So much more than I imagined.”
“Cans we stay forever, Mommy?”
Lexie ran a gentle hand over Noah’s head. “You want to stay here forever?”
He nodded solemnly. “Riley is all on his owns.”
Lexie heard a small aw from both Grace and Kat as Riley held out a fist for Noah to bump. “I’m okay, man,” Riley assured him, but Lexie wasn’t blind to the sadness in his eyes.
“We’ll look after him when you go home,” Carter offered, smiling at Noah. “Promise.”
Noah’s brows drew together as he considered this. “Okay.”
Once their food arrived and Lexie talked more with Riley’s friends, she began to understand why Riley liked them all so much. Each of them was so different and seemed to draw out various facets of his personality. With Max and Carter, Riley was louder, brasher, but with Kat, he was calmer, speaking to her with an underlying respect Lexie was sure she’d earned when she’d taught him at Arthur Kill.
With Grace, he was teasing, softer and sweet. It was truly wonderful seeing him so happy. He was the Riley of old, carefree and devastatingly attractive. It was becoming increasingly difficult to not allow her desire for him show. She wanted him, of that there was no doubt, but she was terrified of pushing too hard, too quickly. She’d been telling the truth when she’d told him that the ball was in his court. It was all on him and, despite her longing, she would wait as long as it took.
The food they ate was amazing. Why was everything edible in New York like nothing else on Earth? Noah was of the same mind, eating everything that
was placed in front of him before he shared a huge ice-cream sundae with Riley.
Before they left, Lexie swapped cell phone and Facebook details with Kat and Grace, promising that she’d let Grace photograph her tattoos the following day while assuring Kat she would send her a catalogue of her Love, You jewelry and design her a version of the necklace Lexie was wearing.
Later that evening, with Noah fast asleep, Lexie and Riley sat on the sofa, he at one end, she at the other, their legs tangled between them. “I had such a good time,” she said with a small smile.
“I’m glad. I think Noah has a little crush on Kat.”
“Right?” Lexie agreed. “I’ve never seen him like that before.”
“He’s gonna have to beat the ladies back with a stick when he’s older. Kid’s already too handsome for his own good,” Riley said with a knowing wink. “He looks like his old man, after all.”
Lexie laughed and trailed her finger down the side of her glass of juice. “Can I ask you a question? You don’t have to answer it if you don’t want to.”
Riley smirked. “Sound ominous.” Lexie’s eyes moved toward the ceiling, then the wall, then back to Riley’s face. “Wow. Now I’m intrigued,” he said on a chuckle.
“How many . . . have there been many women?”
Riley’s eyes widened for a second before he appeared to regain his composure. Well. That wasn’t a good sign. He fidgeted and cleared his throat.
“That many, huh?” she asked wryly, knowing that she had absolutely zero right to feel jealous or hurt, despite the pinch in her heart.
“Lex,” he began with a long sigh.
“I’m sorry,” she murmured. “It’s really none of my business. Forget I asked.”
He sat forward and placed a hand on her shin. “When we . . . finished after your dad died, I didn’t know what to do. I missed you—you know that.” Yes, she did know that, and not only because they’d talked and shouted about it over the years, but because she’d lived it, too. “I slept with women to try and forget, Lex. I tried to lose myself in them so that I’d lose the love I had for you.”
Pain and regret lanced through Lexie, taking her breath away. “I was . . . so horrible.”
“No,” he whispered. “You were lost. You weren’t the Lexie I knew, my best friend, the girl I loved. It hurt, but I survived it. And we’re here now because deep down, no matter how many women there’ve been between then and now, I always believed we’d find our way back to each other.”
The tear that fell down Lexie’s cheek was one of apology and gratitude. The faith that he’d always had in her, in them, had always astounded her. When he reminded her of it, she was reminded of how easy it had been to fall in love with him and then to love him every day following.
“I’m not ready for you both to leave yet,” he said, watching his hand as it moved up and down her leg.
“Me either.” Every time they separated, it tugged on the fear she harbored that she’d lose someone she loved again. It was selfish and admittedly ironic considering her and Riley’s history, but there it was. “When will you be back in Michigan?”
His grimace was small but noticeable. “A couple of weeks. Maybe three?”
“Are you asking?” she said with a smirk. “Because you know you’re welcome whenever you want, and Noah just . . . he loves you very much.”
“I love him, too.” Riley exhaled through his nose. “So listen, I thought that . . . maybe on my next visit or the one after, we could sit down and talk to him about who I am. I think it’s time. Don’t you?”
Lexie bit her lip on a smile. “I think that’d be perfect.”
15
Joan Moore was known for three things: her unending patience, her ability to defuse any situation (especially among four brothers), and her ability to throw awesome birthday parties. The last was certainly true on the day of Seb’s (two-weeks-early) twenty-seventh birthday. It was the first time all four brothers had been in the same state together, let alone the same room, in far too long, and Riley had been looking forward to it for weeks.
There were balloons stuck to the front door—as their mother had commented, no one is ever too old for balloons—the kitchen table had been extended as it always was when there was a family gathering, and it was set up with a buffet of all the foods Riley and his brothers loved: sandwiches, chips, dip, chicken wings, and ribs, as well as a huge chocolate cake and Jell-O for dessert.
“She does know I’m closer to thirty than three, right?” Seb asked as he handed Riley a set of plates to place on the table and regarded the spread.
“Physically maybe,” Riley retorted with a grin.
“Lex and Noah still coming?”
“Yeah, they should be here in an hour or so. Christine’s coming, too.”
“Wow,” Seb said, covertly lifting a chip and throwing it into his mouth. “Just like old times, huh?”
Riley shrugged. “Mom invited them.”
Seb nodded. “And you’re happy about it?”
“Of course.” He glanced at his younger brother. “Why the twenty questions?”
“I’m just making sure you’re okay, man.”
Riley pinched a chip, too. “I’m good. Really good. Things are perfect at the moment.”
“But?”
Riley exhaled a wry laugh. His brother never missed anything. “But I have no idea what I want.”
“With Lex?” Seb surmised, crossing his arms over his chest.
Riley lifted his eyebrows in reply. “We’re close again, but . . . I don’t know. I’m guarded.”
“That’s understandable, Riley.”
He rubbed a hand down his face before reaching for another chip. “I just don’t want us to mess everything up. There’s too much at stake this time. I don’t want Noah caught in the middle of a war if things go tits up.”
Seb licked his lips. “And how does she feel?”
Riley raised a shoulder. “She’s just waiting for me to make a move.”
“Do you want to make a move?”
“Shit, yes,” Riley answered quickly, though Seb didn’t look surprised. “Wanting her that way was never a problem.”
Seb smirked. “Then go for it, man. If it’s what you both want, why not?” He took a step closer to Riley. “You’ll never know otherwise.”
Riley dipped his chin. “I know.”
Seb clapped a hand to his arm and squeezed. “If it doesn’t work out, you still have Noah together. She’ll always be in your life, no matter what.” He picked up a chicken leg. “Shit, I’m hungry.”
“You two best not be picking at that food.” Their mother’s disembodied voice came from the living room.
“ ’Course not, Ma,” Seb called through a mouthful of chicken.
Riley snorted and shook his head as Dex’s voice rang through the house. “Anybody home?” His question was followed by the sound of their mother fussing over him and Park telling her to give the poor boy some room, woman.
Seb and Riley moved through the house to find Dex at the front door being smothered in kisses and hugs, with Tate at his side, bags in hand.
“It’s so good to see you,” Joan said as she held Dex’s face in her hands and kissed his cheek.
“Good to see you, too, Mom.”
He stood to his full height, shook Park’s hand, and grinned at Riley and Seb, who approached and hugged him in turn. Riley hadn’t seen his eldest brother for a long time and, seeing him now, still in a rumpled Tom Ford suit from his flight back from Thailand, he realized he’d missed him. His dark hair was longer, pushed back and curling behind his ears, and he’d grown a goatee that, despite looking more than a little badass, Riley would be mocking before the day was out. His glasses were new, Prada from the looks of it, and the suitcase that Tate had placed by the door was Louis Vuitton. Dex had never been one to shy away from spending money.
“How’re you doing?” Riley asked as the six of them moved toward the living room.
“Tired,” Dex an
swered, shrugging out of his suit jacket and placing it on the back of the sofa. “Flight was okay, though.” He dropped down onto the seat and looked toward the kitchen. “Is that cake I smell?”
“Chocolate,” Joan answered.
“My favorite.”
“Even though it’s my birthday,” Seb groused playfully from his place by the door, while sucking the chicken bits off his fingers.
Joan frowned at him. “Have you been eating—?”
“My birthday,” Seb interrupted with a grin.
“You’re looking well, man,” Riley told Dex as he sat down.
“Yeah, but I’m not smelling too hot,” Dex said with a grimace. “Do I have time to shower before everyone starts arriving?”
“Sure, honey,” Joan said, her face all smiles at having her boys home. “I’d better go and throw the vol-au-vents into the oven.” She smacked Seb’s arm as she passed him. “And stop picking.”
Tate dropped down into a chair with a groan.
“You okay?” Park asked.
“Yeah, just my leg acting up.”
“Thanks for picking me up, Tate,” Dex said as he supressed a yawn. “I appreciate it.”
Tate waved him off and rubbed at his knee.
“So what’s Thailand like?” Seb asked, perching on the edge of the coffee table as he always had done since he was little.
Dex dropped his head back and closed his eyes. “Amazing. Like a totally different world. The food, the vibe.”
“The women?” Riley needled with a finger jab in Dex’s side.
Dex scoffed. “If there were, I didn’t have time to enjoy them. Work is crazy.”
“There’s always time for women, man,” Riley countered.
Dex looked over at him and narrowed his eyes. “Is there? And how does Lexie feel about that?”
Riley barked a laugh while Seb and Tate snorted. “Touché, my good man,” Riley conceded.
Dex clapped a hand to Riley’s shoulder. “Okay, let me go get cleaned up,” he said as he stood. “Before I fall asleep. Then we can catch up.”
He disappeared up the stairs with his suitcase and Riley took a moment to appreciate how nice it was to be in his parents’ house with all of his brothers, and the smells of his childhood emanating from the kitchen. It was more than a little comforting. He and Seb set about helping their mom get the rest of the table ready, folding napkins and making sure she wasn’t lifting or reaching for anything, while Park and Tate stayed glued to the TV.
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