by Marie Harte
“Gee, Mike. When you put it that way…” She pushed him again, and this time he gave her some space. “Dinner at my place Saturday night. Bring Colin.” She gave him a mean grin. “My dad, brother, and Rena will be there. So don’t think you’re getting out of hanging with my family.”
“Ouch. But hey, fine. On Sunday, you come to my mom and dad’s for a family meal. And it’ll be a big one.”
“It’s a picnic, I thought. I was already invited.”
“Yep. But as my friend. This time you’ll come as my date.”
She tried to look nonchalant. Mike knew she dreaded the gathering as much as he dreaded her family night. But at least most of his family accepted her. She liked his brothers and the girls, and his dad was usually okay about Mike’s dates—not that Mike had brought anyone home in, well, years. His mother would be the tough nut to crack.
Her family, on the other hand… Rena he wanted to meet. Her brother and father he could do without, though Liam wasn’t too bad a guy. Colin would be in heaven around the gruff Websters.
Mike sighed. “Any way you look at this, everyone is going to be on our cases to make a formal statement or something. Might as well get our status out of the way.”
“Our status?”
He shrugged, trying to keep it light. The few attempts he’d made to try to see if anyone else could come close to his wife had failed. Dismally. Hence his decision to fuck and fly. But Del…
“Our status,” he repeated, reinforcing the notion of “our.”
“That we’re fucking, you mean?” Del asked.
He slapped a hand over her mouth. “Shh. Colin.”
When he let go, she punched him in the gut.
“Ow.”
“Don’t muffle me like that. Next time I’ll lick your hand.”
“Which reminds me of you licking my dick. Now that was hot.”
“You just came twice. Don’t tell me you’re still horny?”
He smiled. “Only for you, sweetness.”
She groaned. “Quit calling me that.”
“I will if you agree to be my girlfriend.” Saying the word after being unattached for so long gave him hives…and a primitive satisfaction that she would belong to him, if only temporarily.
“Hmm. Girlfriend, huh?” She tapped a finger against her lips as she thought, and Mike wondered how she’d react if he grabbed her, dragged her down with him to the bed, and just kept her with him all night. Sleeping together.
“Yes or no? I don’t have all night, Delilah. I have to work tomorrow,” he mocked.
“Fine. You can be my boyfriend—and I use that term loosely. I figure we get some mutual kick-ass sex out of the deal.” She paused. “And I can help you with your shitty truck.”
“Hey.”
“Don’t kill the messenger. The thing needs an overhaul, and you know it.”
“Fine. You save my truck, I’ll help you with those pathetic flower boxes and the minor damage in your town house. Like the bookcases and some of the wainscoting. Even if you’re renting, it needs to be fixed.”
“I bought the place, jackass.” She planted her hands on her hips and leaned toward him, his aggressive girlfriend at her finest. “I’m not poor, you know.”
“Ah, what are you talking about?”
She sniffed. “Just because you live large on the hill and I don’t doesn’t mean I’m without means.”
“O-kay, Ms. Sensitive.” He shook his head. “I don’t even want to know how I’m insulting you without trying. The girls next door are renting. I don’t see that as making them poor.”
“Yeah, but…”
“But what?”
“That house is nice.”
“So’s yours.” He meant it. “It’s got an eclectic charm. And yeah, I know exactly what that means because my mother makes me watch the stupid home garden network with her, and my aunt is a big-time real estate agent and always going on and on about house shit.”
“Oh.” She nodded. “Good then.”
“Fine.”
A long pause settled between them before she said, “So I’ll see you at my house, Saturday night. And bring some beer.”
“I will, so long as you serve something healthy and green. And I don’t mean pistachio ice cream.”
She grinned. “You’re so cute when you try to be healthy. Pushy, but cute.”
“Del…”
“Whatever. I’ll make something you and the kid will enjoy. Okay?”
“One more thing. No swearing at the table. My son will not be ‘passing the fucking potatoes’ again.”
She laughed and opened the bedroom door, being very quiet as she walked down the hall while Mike followed her. She grabbed her keys from the console table in the living room, then went to the front door.
“Ahem.” Mike crossed his arms.
She paused with her hand on the doorknob and turned to face him. “What now?”
He bit back a grin. “A kiss before you leave, girlfriend.”
She rolled her eyes. “I can tell you’re going to be a demanding kind of guy. My pain-in-the-ass boyfriend.” She sneered. Yet she gave him a kiss all the same, one that sent fireworks through his system, despite coming twice in the span of an hour. “Later, McCauley.”
“Sweetness.” At her scowl, he corrected, “Sorry. Delilah.”
She groaned. “Better, but not by much. So Saturday, don’t be late.”
“I won’t. Oh, and I won’t be hanging out with Grace anymore, either. Wouldn’t want to make you too jealous.”
She glared at him. “Don’t be more of a dick than you usually are.” Then her scowl cleared, and a smile broke out over her face, a rainbow of devious joy brightening her expression. “Although, maybe while you’re showing Grace around, I can call my new friend Mitch, the one who asked me out to coffee today. I’m sure he and I could get along just fine while you’re chilling with the neighbor.”
“Mitch? Who the fuck is Mitch?” He instinctively stepped forward, needing to stake his claim again, to remind the woman she belonged to him.
“See ya, sucker.” She left before he could demand answers.
Annoyed because he had a feeling she hadn’t made Mitch up, he at least felt a measure of peace that he’d come to an internal resolution about her. They’d date, officially. Boyfriend and girlfriend. And that would be enough.
Because it had to be.
Chapter 16
J.T. watched his sister with the giant all evening. She laughed, smiled, and seemed to enjoy herself more than he could remember her ever acting with a date. He tried to catch his cousin’s gaze, curious that Rena couldn’t seem to stop staring at McCauley. He sure the hell hoped she wasn’t developing some crush, because Del had finally found a guy he liked for her. Drama and family jealousy wouldn’t help anyone.
He cleared his throat, loudly, and finally caught Rena’s attention.
“What’s up?” She sidled next to him. “You keep giving me a look.”
Seeing his sister, her new boyfriend, Colin, and his dad occupied at the table, he nodded for Rena to come with him.
She frowned but turned to Del and said, “Be right back.”
Del barely acknowledged her, still bragging about how she’d landed them some big account with some gearheads he’d never heard of.
Rena met him out on the front porch. “What’s up?”
“What’s with you and Mike? Why all the looks, Rena?”
She seemed confused. “What are you talking about?”
“You’ve been eyeing Del’s new boyfriend all night. You realize Del hasn’t been this excited about a guy since she found Lou to be her new paint man at the shop.”
“Sad, I know.” Rena grinned. “Oh relax, J.T. If I’m staring at Mike, it’s because he looks so familiar. I can’t place him, and it’s killing me, because I know I’ve seen him before.”
Relieved she wasn’t trying to take Del’s man away—and Lord help them all, but when Rena set her sights on a guy, look out world�
��he pulled her in a for a hug and squeezed the breath out of her. “Good.”
“You’re…killing…me.”
He laughed and let her go. “So what do you think?” He nodded to the house. “They look solid together, right? Colin too.” It had surprised him, though it shouldn’t have, how happy his sister seemed when Colin was around. Colin clearly adored Del, and he thought J.T. was cool too, which made J.T. feel good.
He liked Mike more than he’d thought he would. The guys his sister had brought home in the past had been users or losers. One or two decent but boring guys had made it past an introduction before she’d dumped them for being too dull. McCauley had to have some mean buried beneath that nice-guy front, though, to hold Del’s interest. He’d been threatening enough that one day in the shop a few weeks ago.
“What do I think?” Rena asked and peered through the window next to the door. “I think he sits really close to her because he likes her. A lot. He’s not just fronting. Mike smiles when she’s near. He seems to laugh at her dry humor, even encourages her to be rude to her favorite cousin.” She sniffed, then smiled. “I can see how much he loves his son, and he’d never do anything to hurt Colin. So he must really like Del if he’s calling her his girlfriend in front of him. Did you see how she blushes when Mike calls her that, by the way? It’s beyond cute.”
“It’s alarming.”
“No romance in you, is there?”
“I’m just saying I think she’s falling for this guy, and if he fucks her over, she’s going to be really hurt. Not like Brad and Jonesy, those assholes. They dicked her over, she was pissed, maybe hurt, she moved on. But she digs Mike a lot. I can tell.”
“Yeah, there is that.” Rena chewed her lower lip. “But it’s so sweet how she is around him. I mean, she softens. I live with her. I know Del-the-hard-ass, Del-the-stacker—you did see all the neat piles of crap around the house, didn’t you?—Del-the-mechanic and office jockey. Del-the-woman wants someone to love, though she’ll never in a million years admit it. Mike’s not a bad guy, you know. Abby and I talk, and we’ve discussed getting them together.” Her tone implied she hadn’t said all of it.
“But…?”
She sighed. “But he’s still not quite over his dead wife, and that could be a problem. Especially because she’s been gone for six years.”
“Yeah. That’s a problem.” J.T. didn’t like it, but he understood that kind of devotion. His father had never gotten over J.T.’s mom, her cancer a sudden thing that had taken her too soon. Del’s mom had been a rebound chick, and a huge mistake—with the exception of Del.
On the one hand, J.T. admired that kind of loyalty. On the other, it worried him, because his old man had been burned once and still hadn’t found a woman to spend his nights with. Well, one who didn’t use a pole as a method of income.
“I’ll keep an eye on her,” Rena said. “And him.” At his glare, she corrected with a scowl, “Not for the reason you’re thinking. I am dying to know where I’ve seen him before, that’s all. Now let’s get in there before they know we’re talking about them.”
J.T. followed her inside and smiled when Colin patted the empty seat next to him.
“Sit with me, J.T.”
He sat and frowned at the empty dessert plate in front of him. “Where is it?”
“Where’s what?” Del asked from the kitchen.
“My dessert.”
“I don’t know. What did you bring?”
He frowned, especially because Mike smirked at him. “What are you looking at?” he asked the guy.
Mike shrugged. “An idiot who doesn’t know how to say please, I’m thinking.”
He opened his mouth to retort when he caught Colin’s big eyes watching. J.T. swallowed the nasty rejoinder he’d been about to make, and saw his father and cousin grinning big as well. Del, he noted, wore a smirk identical to Mike’s. “Hel—ah, heck. Can I please have that amazing pie you wouldn’t let me touch earlier? You know, because I’m your favorite brother and all?”
Colin beamed at him. “You’re so polite, J.T. Did you get gold stars in school?”
His father choked.
J.T. turned his back on the traitor. “You know, I think maybe in kindergarten I did.”
“Or was that juvie?” Del muttered, to which Mike didn’t bother to hide a laugh.
Rena just had to chime in. “Actually, Colin, J.T. used to get in a lot of trouble for not listening to his teacher and goofing off. But if you asked him now, he’d tell you how important it is to do well in school.” Del was right. Their cousin did like to over-share.
Mike gave her a wide smile, and Rena gaped.
Mike’s smile faded. “What’s wrong?”
“Don’t move.” Rena darted from the table.
Mike and Del exchanged glances.
“What is that girl’s problem?” Liam asked. He shook his head. “Anyway, Del, honey, you were bringing in the dessert?”
“Now I see where you get your sweet tooth,” Mike said to her.
She stuck her tongue out at him, then turned to grab the pie plate sitting in the kitchen. She returned at the same time Rena did, clutching a book.
“It’s you,” she said dreamily and handed the book to Mike.
J.T. wanted to laugh her off. Rena and her freaky romance books. The girl had stacks of them in bookcases in her room. Thus her fascination with Del’s new friend Abby.
Del glanced from the book cover to Mike, equally fascinated. “Oh my God. That’s you!”
“You saying he’s on the cover?” J.T. snorted. “Yeah, right.” Yet the flush on Mike’s face said otherwise. “You’re shitting me.”
“J.T.,” Liam warned, nodding to Colin.
But the boy paid him no mind, looking curiously at the book Mike tried to pull away from Del, who’d reached for it. “Dad?”
Sounded like Mike said, “Fuck me.”
Though he’d sworn under his breath, J.T. heard it all the same. “Now that’s just embarrassing.”
“That’s not me. Some other guy who looks like me.”
Del snorted. “Uh-huh. Who just happens to have the same jaw line, neck, chest, abs, and thighs.”
When everyone looked at her, she shrugged. “I mean, I imagine they’re the same.”
Rena chuckled. “Yeah, right.” To Mike, she pushed the book and a pen. “Look, just sign it. I won’t tell anyone.”
“I will,” J.T. said with delight. “He was a romance cover model. Jesus, you can’t make this shi—stuff up.” His laughter made Mike’s frown deepen.
Colin bounced with excitement. “Wow, Dad. That’s so neat. You could be the guy on Abby’s books.” Then he added with overdone innocence, “And Del could be the lady. They’re hugging, Dad. You two could hug. Maybe kiss.”
J.T. rolled his eyes. “Real subtle, Colin.”
Mike looked like he’d rather be anywhere but at the table with Rena shoving her pen at him. “Rena, I’m not confirming anything. But you know what? I’ll sign your book…if everyone at the table”—he glared at J.T.—“promises never to speak of this again. To anyone.”
Liam shrugged. “Fine with me. I’d rather my friends didn’t know my daughter is dating a model anyway. Ruins the street cred, you know?”
“Dad.” Del couldn’t seem to take her gaze from the cover, comparing it to Mike, then staring at it again. “Man, you fill out a kilt pretty well, McCauley.”
Mike groaned. “You have to promise. All of you.”
“Not even Uncle Flynn, Ubie, or Uncle Cam?” Colin asked. His eyes took on a mercenary gleam. “How much, Dad?”
“Ten bucks. Take it or leave it.”
Colin whooped. “Yeah!”
Rena gave J.T. The Look. Her big brown eyes grew impossibly large, sweeter than honey, and mesmerizing.
“Damn, girl. Fine. I swear. I won’t tell anyone Del’s new squeeze is a cover model. For love books,” he added in a sneer.
She leaned over to whap him in the head. “Hey. Those boo
ks are mine. I love them. Watch your mouth.”
“Whatever.”
Del managed to wrestle the book away, then opened the front cover, and Mike reluctantly signed it.
“You have no idea how much this is worth.” Rena danced with glee. “No one ever knew who Mr. Sexy was ten years ago. They still don’t know. My friends online talk about you—him,” she corrected for Mike’s benefit, “to this day. And I have his signature. You have to sign the other ones too.”
Mike dropped his head to the table and groaned.
“There are more?” Del asked.
“Yes,” he mumbled.
J.T. started laughing and couldn’t stop. His sister and the model. Classic.
Mike lifted his head and fixed on J.T. “You ever tell anyone about this, I will rip your head off and use it as my own personal bowling ball.”
Colin nodded. “Dad’s a great bowler.”
“Then I’ll bury your body in cement under a building. They’ll never find the body,” Mike continued. “Don’t test me, J.T. I can do it. I know people.”
Liam cut in before J.T. could answer. “Don’t worry, Mike. J.T. has his own secrets.”
Now things best kept buried weren’t so funny. “Dad…”
“Oh?” Mike perked up.
“Sad to say, back in the day, I was partial to music’s influence. Well, that and some funny little pills.”
“What color were they?” Colin asked.
Liam hurriedly continued, “J.T. was born back when I had just gotten into really good classic rock. ‘Aqualung’ was my favorite song, so…”
Mike gaped at J.T.
“Dad. That’s not right,” J.T. grumbled.
“Wait. J.T. Jethro Tull?” Mike started laughing. “So your name is really Jethro. God, that’s just…”
“I know,” J.T. said glumly.
His father slapped him on the back. “Aw, come on, son. J.T. has a ring to it. And I haven’t called you Jethro since you turned eight, now have I?”
“Yeah, Jethro. It’s not such a bad name,” Mike teased. “Keep your mouth shut about me, I’m quiet about you. Jethro.”
“Okay, okay. Cut it out.”