“He was half an hour late, so I was worried for a minute there, but yeah. He has them.”
“So you’re there, in the house, entirely alone? This seems like such a wasted opportunity. Are you sure I can’t come over later tonight, check in the closets, maybe under a few beds for you?”
She smiled, enjoying the thrill his words brought. “Tempting, but if you’re not getting here until well past ten, and knowing exactly what you might really have in mind for tonight, it would make it impossible for me to drag my butt out of bed at the sorry hour of four a.m.”
“That’s right. I forgot you were going back to work tomorrow,” he said, the disappointment clear. “I was hoping to make a day of it with you and Lily, poolside.”
“I’ll be off by two, so we’ll still have plenty of time to swim and bask in the sun.”
“You know, what with starting your own business, you’re going to eventually have to quit your job.” His tone was hopeful again. “Are you sure I can’t convince you to put yourself out of your misery a little sooner than you planned?”
As much as she would love to turn in her apron and keys and remove herself from the growing toxicity at work, she still had bills to pay. “Unfortunately, there’s a little something called rent. Water and power bills. Not to mention groceries and gas for that new car. And since I have no idea how long it will be before the money from the bank loan actually hits my account and I can get the bakery on its feet, I’m going to need income for the next little while.”
“I would—”
“Before you offer to float me a small loan to tide me over, or come up with some other way of coercing me into taking your money, remember what you just agreed to. I’m going to do this my way, okay?” But she had to admit it was nice that he wanted to help. She softened her tone. “I appreciate what you want to do for me, Jack. And I promise, after work, I’m yours.”
She could practically hear him grinning through the line. “I like the sound of that. Okay. I probably should get back to work. And you—you should get back to whatever new recipe you’re cooking up.”
Daisy was fairly certain she hadn’t mentioned what she was up to, but it was another example of how well he seemed to know her—at least on issues not involving her accepting overgenerous gifts.
“Oh, I forgot to mention. Benny called me earlier today to warn us. Apparently, she’s taken it upon herself to let the entire family know that our fake engagement might not be so fake after all.”
“Why would that need a warning?”
“Well…” Daisy remembered her brothers’ reactions to every other guy she’d brought home. There’d been a little blood, a few bruises. One dislocated shoulder. At least with age and both of their recent marriages, Cruz and Dominic had mellowed.
A little.
After all, when Benny brought her fiancé, Henry, home last summer, he’d only suffered mild bruising after an elbow to the head during an overly competitive game of scrimmage. It wasn’t the brothers’ fault that the injury only compounded another one that same day when Benny had accidentally swung a golf club at his head. In the end, it had only taken a year, but her brothers were finally taking it easy on the guy.
Maybe Jack would get off relatively unharmed. But just in case, she should give him some warning.
“Keep in mind, Cruz and Dominic tend to get a tad protective where their sisters are concerned. So despite what they might suggest on Sunday, I would avoid playing any high contact sports for the first visit.”
He laughed. “I’m sure it won’t be as bad as that.”
She hoped. “Of course not.”
“All right. I’ll be on guard. Anyhow, Stuart is shooting daggers in my direction so I should go. I’ll see you tomorrow?”
“Yep. I’ll be the one driving the sporty new minivan.” She paused, the words she wanted to say on the tip of her tongue. But…it was hard. And she wasn’t ready yet to make herself so vulnerable. “Night, Jack.”
“Night, Daisy.”
…
“Nice shot, baby,” Payton Vaughn Sorensen shouted to her husband, Cruz, when he skillfully hit the volleyball over the net—and at an alarming speed—at his brother, who barely dived to avoid it before it went out of bound.
Despite the brotherly warfare going on out on the grass, Jack was happy to see Payton finally matched with the right guy. Jack had known her previous fiancé and had always thought she could do better, a sentiment proved correct when she’d caught him cheating just before she boarded a flight to Mexico for Dominic and Kate’s wedding. Whether it was too much tequila or just fate, their marriage, real or not, had been the best thing that could happen to her. Payton’s smile was lighter, her face brighter, and her figure noticeably wider from being seven months pregnant. Not that she let that slow her down as she hopped nimbly from foot to foot on the grass.
Daisy’s other brother Dominic was up next, and from the glint in his blue eyes as he stared down his brother, it was clear he was going to be exacting a little payback. His wife
, Kate, a beautiful redhead with striking gray eyes stood next to him.
“Just remember that the loser gets stuck doing the dishes!” Kate called out as a reminder to everyone. “Did I mention that I was helping make dinner tonight?”
This earned a groan from the youngest sibling, Benny, who—teamed up with Cruz, Payton, and her own fiancé, Henry—apparently knew Kate’s assistance signified something dire.