Alex liked to keep up a running monologue as he rolled around the nursery floor with the twins.

“That’s why we give Mommy lots of hugs and kisses and why we get to have our special Daddy time. So Mommy can do her thing.”

When Zeus was a puppy, he taught her how to crawl commando style on her belly. What seems ridiculous now was a form of therapy then. Not for the dog. For him. He didn’t like to think about it, but there was a time when crawling was Alex’s only mode of getting from point A to point B without help.

Zeus, the show-off, became suddenly adept at all sorts of circus tricks once the babies were born. Stevie thought Zeus motoring on her belly was hilariously funny. Her baby giggle came close to melting his heart. His lad, Aiden, turned bright red when the giggles seized hold of him, so the damn dog went out of her way to keep the good times rolling along.

Exhausted from laughing, Stevie put her head on the carpet and smiled at him. She was already a beauty—just like her mama. In just a short time, the kids would be four months old. He found their developing personalities fascinating. Both of them were endlessly verbal. Baby gurgling and cooing was the new soundtrack in the Marquez household. Stevie’s funny squeaks and Aiden’s knock-your-socks-off Tarzan yell was a preview of the years ahead.

“Oh, one of the other things about Mommy time is we never ask what she plans to do, okay? Mommy speaks a second language when Daddy says stupid things or asks really dumb questions. When she gets going, Uncle Finn is a good translator. Some of her words are from Boston but a lot are Irish. You guys don’t know it yet but learning a second and maybe a third language is definitely happening.”

Aiden chuckled. He also dropped his head to the carpet, stuck his thumb in his mouth, and grinned at Alex. So being a good daddy, Alex joined their carpet pose.

Zeus nosed through the stash of filched baby things that she kept in a nest beneath Aiden’s crib. She dragged a receiving blanket over, crawled close, and copied her humans by lowering her head onto her paws.

The quiet lasted about a ninety seconds and then Aiden rolled and scooched around until he and Stevie looked like they were wrestling.

He sat up, rescued Stevie from her sometimes-annoying brother, and set her little butt on his thigh. It only took seconds for the commando duo, Aiden and Zeus, to creep closer and closer.

Stevie watched and then cracked up laughing.

His mom made him watch a bunch of YouTube videos on child development that introduced him to bouncing rhymes. The rhythmic beats and movements appealed to his drumming instincts. He bounced Stevie and singsonged, “This is the way the lady rides,” to both kids’ amusement.

Zeus, the attention hog, rolled onto her back and made soft woofs while Alex chanted.

After his thigh died from the effort, he dragged himself off the floor and went through the routine of checking diapers and cleaning everyone up.

“Daddy has a favor to ask. MomMom and Papa Cris want us to come over once a week for family night. Sounds good, right?”

Aiden cooed and laughed. Stevie squeaked.

“Aunt Sophie and Teo will be there too. It’ll be fun, but there’s just one thing.”

Zeus looked at him expectantly as if she was following the conversation.

“The logistics of taking you guys out of the house has a difficulty rating of ten and rivals anything Major Daddy did. As a matter of fact, I think moving a platoon of men was hella’ easy compared to all of us getting out of the house at the same time in more than our underwear.”

Alex understood why his mom pressed the issue. It took him a while, but eventually, he put it together. Handling twins made it too easy to expect everything to happen at the Villa. But life wasn’t easy, and they couldn’t point to convenience for every little thing. The kids had to learn how to adapt and go with the flow. This meant acquiring proper car seat behavior and learning to be a good guest.

“So, here’s the deal—you cut Mommy and Daddy a break. We need best behavior, okay?”

He moved Stevie’s hand for a fist bump and did the same with Aiden.

Checking his watch, he noted the passage of time. Meghan should be back by now. She bolted for her yoga studio less than fifteen minutes after he returned from Drae’s, leaving him no time to get into it with her about some concerning behavior her brother was exhibiting. He was curious what her reaction would be when he shared the latest.

* * *

“So listen, hon.”

Alex’s tone got her attention. Meghan looked up from the article she was engrossed in.

“I think your brother might have a problem.”

She closed the magazine and tossed it next to her on the sofa. One of her brothers having a problem was an all too familiar theme in the O’Brien household. For shits and grins, she casually inquired which brother and what sort of problem even though she knew he referred to Finn.

Handing Aiden off to her, Alex took up the middle of the sofa in his usual man-spread with Stevie casually tucked in his arms.

Kissing her beautiful son, she snoodled him as he baby cooed.

Daddy and daughter looked on with matching smiles. Though their darling daughter resembled her mama, she was more like Alex in temperament. And Aiden, who looked like his father, displayed qualities of empathy and emotion similar to Meghan. It had to be the handiwork of universal jokesters!

“Have you see Finn’s Instagram lately?”

Settling Aiden comfortably on her shoulder, she patted his back until he found his comfort spot and melted into her. It never failed to astonish her how strong the mother love was that she felt for her babies. Not a day went by when she didn’t count her blessings. Sometimes hourly.

“Not a lot of time these days for trolling his dumb ass on social media,” she pointed out. “What horrible, stupid thing has he done now? Please tell me no dick pics are floating around.”

His droll reply, delivered with a mocking smile, deserved the laugh it got. “Dog selfies. Dozens of ’em. I’m worried he spends all his free time getting Lady Fifi ready for a close-up.”

Huh? Her brows bumped together, and she stared a hole through her husband’s head. “Say again?”

Alex let loose with a heavy sigh. He leaned down and kissed Stevie’s head before wiggling a bit to get at his phone. While jostling the baby, he tapped a few times, swiped, and then held his phone up to her face.

“This is Fourth of July FiFi decked out in patriotic red, white, and blue.”

“Um,” she mumbled.

“Hold on,” he drawled, “there’s more.”

After a few more swipes, he held up the phone again, and this time, she groaned out loud.

“Oh, my god,” she croaked. “Seriously? Has Ma seen this?”

Alex chuckled. “Who do you think showed me?”

“This is all because of Remy,” she said with a sigh.

Alex’s face told her he was debating his response. She knew him so well and wondered which loyalty thread was pulling at his conscience. A spot in a corner of her heart filled with peace. What did it matter that there was probably some form or fashion of fuckery going on that they would have to deal with? The thing that touched her the most was her great big bear of a man being so open and willing to share everything with her.

His response was firm yet tentative. “Ma doesn’t disagree.”

Aiden’s head popped up. His eyes searched everywhere until he found his little sister perched happily on Daddy’s lap. He jammed two fingers in his mouth and gurgled until Stevie answered with her usual squeak. Meghan suspected he was beginning to teethe because the drool was plentiful with this one.

“Honey,” she murmured. “What do you think I should do? Those two are killing me. I thought once Remy’s, um, issues were dealt with, they’d find their way.”

Alex winced. “Some issues are never fully dealt with.”

They stared at each other for a long minute. She was normally even-tempered but what Remington went through made Meghan see red. Even without hearing all the details, she knew enough to fill with righteous rage.

Poor Finn. He was hopelessly in love with the prickly female, and Meghan’s squad of Justice ladies had done everything but a blood sisterhood ceremony to help her feel part of the group.

She wanted to press for details but understood why she would be waiting a long time for an answer. Plain and simple, her husband knew what he did because of who he was. However, Domineau Rivera dealt whatever retribution Justice demanded. The details belonged to her and Remy—if Remy even knew.

“Ma told me something you might find interesting. Actually, the word your mother used was intriguing. It involves your dad.”

Meghan’s brows shot up. What was her da up to now? “Oh gawd, what?”

Alex smirked. “According to Maggie, Paddy chats on the regular with Remy.”

A reflex squint of confusion landed on her face. “Er, uh … what?”

“Yeah. Like once a week. He thinks she’s the tits and the balls.”

“Did my mother use that tacky expression or is it a Major embellishment?”

“I tried it out on her, and she laughed.”

“Well, shit, Alex. What does that mean? Da has a weekly convo with Finn’s live-in, sometimes girlfriend? What do they talk about? Sports? Recipes?”

“Ma says they have a mutual admiration thing going on.”

She grunted. Aiden gurgled and slapped his gooey, wet hand on her face.

“My god. Men! Would you learn how to tell a story? You are losing me. What the hell does my father talking to Remy have to do with FiFi’s selfie moments?”

His answer was to laugh at her. “Baby, at no time did I say I knew what the fuck your mother was getting at. I’m just the middleman, okay?”

“And why couldn’t my mom tell me any of this? How is it that you two are so chatty?”

Alex scoffed. “Frankly, Mrs. M, I’ve been talking to Paddy weekly ever since we got engaged. The only time I didn’t touch base with him was on our honeymoon.”

“Oh”—she snickered—“I see. Got pushed out of the nest by Remy, did you?”

“Bingo. Ma answered one time when I called and made a couple of jokes about Paddy spending his free time with Remy. We’ve been talking ever since.”

What should she do? Hmm. She mulled this new information. Aiden rubbed his wet face on her shirt. Alex swung Stevie around like a yo-yo. Zeus trotted by, ignoring them, and headed for the breezeway to Carmen’s quarters.

A whoosh of intuition told her to get in the car and find Finn. She would know what to do once she got a feel for his situation.

“I’m going out for a bit. Think you can handle these two, Daddy? Carmen is grocery shopping, so you’ll be on your own.”

“Are you going to meddle? You are, aren’t you?” Alex teased. “Woman, you are just as big a matchmaking shit as I am.”

She stuck her tongue out and wrinkled her nose. “It’s my brother, smarty pants. Different thing.”

Her big ole grizzly bear husband playfully gasped. Then he tsk’d three times. “Did you just stick your tongue out at me?”

Her answer was a dry smirk, heavy with intended shade. “I did. What are you going to do about it?”

His reply was nothing less than award-winning Major Marquez reasoning.

“Pets do stupid things when they’re bored. Kids get into trouble when there isn’t enough to keep them busy. Tell me, love. Are you bored or merely looking for trouble because I know a way to occupy your tongue.”

It wouldn’t take much for her to reconsider going to Finn’s until later. Much later. Maybe after they enjoyed a short siesta.

Alex’s sexy chuckle let Meghan know her quandary was evident in her expression. “Quid pro quo only, babe. All quickies are now assigned a ‘six-nine’ call sign.”

Stevie giggled and rubbed the back of her head on Daddy’s chest. Did she know how naughty her father’s edict actually was?

Meghan made a face. “Did you just sixty-nine me?”

“I did.” Her husband laughed.

She played with him because laughing with Alex was one of life’s purest joys. “You do know I hope that sometimes a girl just needs a little dick.”

His mocking grin made her flood with embarrassing desire. “Well, since I don’t have a little dick—”

She cut him off with a tart shriek. “Alex! The children!”

“What?” He laughed. “You think they won’t figure out the caliber of gun that fired them? Have you seen the size of my shoes? It’s kind of obvious.”

“Your ego is impossibly big.”

“Ego. Dick. Same thing.”

“What the hell am I going to do with you?” She could not help the giggles or her fast as lightning visual assessment of the area around his zipper. It was hard to argue his point. Many men thought they had some swagger in their pants. In her husband’s case, the swagger came with spectacular stats. The shoe size joke hit the mark!

He gently tickled Stevie until she baby-giggled. Aiden’s little head swung toward the sound incredibly fast—another reminder for her to study up on twin attachment issues. They always looked for each other. Everyone thought it was so sweet, but she and Alex sensed some problems going forward. They weren’t going to be able to sleep in the same room much longer but neither wanted to separate the two.

“I’ll put Aiden in his seat and then I’m out for a bit. Bottles are in the fridge. Give Ria a shout if you get frantic.”

Fifteen minutes later, the kids were secure and she’d been thoroughly kissed before grabbing her purse to head out the door.

* * *

“Twenty-seven, twenty-eight, twenty-nine, thirty.”

Finn stopped counting and flipped around to go back the other way. The modular office he dropped behind Pete’s was a boring, wide rectangle. It was a fuck ton nicer and way more professional than the behind-the-bar shithole that he and Barry inherited when they bought the bar, and right now, it was where he was hiding out and killing time.

He checked his fancy wrist tech to be sure the step counter was working. According to his mental calculations, that meant a round trip was sixty steps. If he banged out fifty brisk round trips, it would equal roughly three thousand steps.

FiFi watched him from her fancy doggie bed. Finn did a double take when he thought she shook her head at him with pity.

“Are you calling me a loser?” He griped.

Out came her tongue while she sat there and doggie panted. Was his dog giving him shade?

The restroom door flung open as Remy flicked off the light and stepped into the office seating area. They looked at each other across the wide room. She regarded him as if he was a squished bug on the bottom of her bare foot. He considered coaxing her into a better mood with his tongue down her throat but knew the change would be short-lived.

“What?” she barked.

“Nothing.” He shrugged and fiddled with his watch. Stretched too damn tight, she was easy to get a rise out of, plus he was not in the mood to argue so taking the low and silent road seemed like a smart move.

From the corner of his eye, he saw her shuffle around awkwardly. She was chewing her lip and kept tightening the elastic holding her hair until her face pulled taut.

Dammit. It took effort to hold in his sigh, but he did because … because why?

He knew the answer. Had known the answer for some time. He didn’t just love Remy. He loved her and knew she needed him not to make any of this about him. That was a big part of her shitty behavior. The more she tried to test him by pushing or pulling away, the more he dug in. The measure of his limit with her was bottomless whereas keeping up the surly act would break her.

Technically speaking, it was her day off. She was the type who went to work anyway, but Jace was not having it and had played dirty pool by getting Alex involved. With him and her cousin making it a point never to leave her alone, that meant she either hung close or ignored him and found a thousand other things to do.

Every night, he prayed for an epiphany, so he would know what to do, but so far, God, fate, and the universe had not answered.

Their situation remained complex. On the one hand, she was totally dependent on him. He was her safe harbor. The role could be filled by anyone. Or anything. That was how PTSD worked. In this case, it just happened to be him who was nearest when she fell apart.

However, the other hand was a two-faced fucker. Remy hated herself for needing him. She feared her response was a weakness, and as a result, she fought their undeniable attraction tooth and nail.

The conflict rolling off her in crashing waves always made him soften. To prove he was the one, Finn had to take whatever she dished out and piss on it.

Her tone when she spoke was strangely tentative. “I, uh, I’m going to meet Ingrid and Heather at the Double M. Last-minute variety show stuff.”

He managed to control the sigh but the raised brows from her announcement? Not so much. He did some fast thinking and eased some levity into the tense situation.

“Heather?” he said with a chuckle. “Cool. Listen,” he continued after she nodded. “See if you can find out what she and Jensen are doing for the show. The fucker is practicing in private! Can you believe that shit? Him and his glee club wahoos.”

She gobbled his well-placed bait and smirked. “Not glee club, Beantown. Worse than that! Stage crew jocks and theater nerds.” Her mock shudder was adorable.

“Hey! Don’t be hatin’ on the stage crews. I was crew in high school. It’s where I first learned to cook for groups. We had the cotton mouth munchies a lot.”

“Oh, my god! I bet Paddy loved you getting fucked up with your theater pals!”

She was sufficiently loose that he chanced some closeness. Sitting on the cool leather sofa he got off Craigslist, Finn motioned for her to sit. Remy was quick to engage if his father was involved.

“He knew. How could he not know? Dev was a hell-raiser years before I was, and Mike was no angel. I think with Da, he let us figure it the fuck out. It was what parents did. Teach their kids to make good decisions and then hope the lessons sank in.”

“My parents were great, as well. Because we spent so much time in Europe, they would tease that being a sommelier was a good career choice because of all the wine I was exposed to. Jace and I were caught being stupid twice. Once when we were twelve and stole a cool looking bottle of peppermint schnapps from the liquor cabinet and another time when smoking was the culprit.”

“Did you drink the schnapps?”

She groaned. “Yes and then threw it all up. That’s how we got caught. Puking our guts up.”

“Bobby O’Malley bet he could drink more crème de menthe than me. We were such idiots that we holed up in a treehouse and alternated ice cold shots of Coke with the heavy liqueur. Ugh.”

“A treehouse? Uh-oh!”

“Uh-oh is right! He ended up vomiting over the railing, and I fell off the ladder and gashed my head. Look,” he said. Brushing hair back from his forehead, he felt around his temple until he found the crescent-shaped ridge of scar tissue. “Five stitches and a furious Maggie O’Brien”

When she laughed, he smiled.

“So, Ms. Bisset, what were you and that bad influence cousin of yours smoking?”

She pretended to zip her mouth and toss the key. He laid a guilty truth at her feet that only one other person was aware of. What he knew about her past was far more personal, but he hoped his uncomfortable confession leveled the field a little.

“Wanna know why Parker hates me?”

“Just Parker?” She sniggered. “You were such a dick in the beginning that I was surprised the Justice boys didn’t drop-kick your ass right back to Boston.”

There was a double helping of truth in her assumption. He had been a spectacular fuckup in the beginning.

“Got popped. Speeding. Possession.”

Her jaw dropped open. “What?”

“Yeah. Total dickhead moment. They clocked me at one ten. As if that wasn’t going to be one hell of an expensive ticket, they found a teeny tiny end of a joint in the ashtray.”

“Was it yours?”

“No, but that’s not an excuse. Got sucked in by a couple of the canine crew who were one step over the wildness line. Mike, remember him? It’s a wonder Brody didn’t boot his stupid ass to the unemployment curb. And Richie. I knew better but didn’t stop it. Momentary lack of judgment. The only thing that saved me was the sobriety test I passed with high honors. My dad is a cop. I know how to be respectful and not be a moron. Was smart enough to ask if I could call my attorney and then threw Parker’s name around. They heard Sullivan Legal and could not get rid of me fast enough. Parker got a full dismissal of the possession, and they let me skate with a reduced speeding ticket.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

He shrugged. “Wanted you to know. After that, the guys treated me like a bad kid. Looking back, I honestly can’t blame them. When I bought Pete’s and had Sullivan Legal represent me, Parker read me a memorable riot act. Smacked me upside the head too. Told me what an epic dumbass I was and how if he hadn’t saved my bacon, a possession charge would have prevented me from getting a liquor license.”

“Does Alex know?”

He hoped not. “If he does, he hasn’t said anything.”

FiFi’s little head poked above the side of her dog bed. A second later, she hopped up and trotted to the door. His sidekick was the best early warning system available.

Remy followed the direction of his gaze and murmured, “Is someone coming?”

The adorable fluffy hairball yipped a few times while her tail wiggled like crazy—a sign that whoever came through the door had previously passed the Lady FiFi test.

“Barry said to barge right in,” his sister’s mocking voice called out.

Remy jumped up, self-consciously brushed a hand on her pants, and hurriedly fussed with her hair. He thought it was overkill, considering the unannounced visitor was his pain in the ass sister—but he understood that while he found Meghan’s position with Justice amusing, others snapped to attention.

He was also not at all surprised when Meghan produced a doggie treat out of thin air for FiFi. Only after she had greeted and fussed over the dog did she look up and acknowledge them.

She was good. Really, really, really good! Finn crossed his arms and gave her a smirk. She played that lady of the manor thing to the hilt.

“How did you get here?” he drawled. “Chauffeur? Town Car? Flying broom? Helicopter?” He made an exaggerated movement as if peering over her shoulder. “And where’s your bodyguard? Major Daddy let you wander off the reservation without full escort?”

“Fuck off,” she replied with a corresponding hand gesture. “And I drove myself, so there!”

Remy coughed over a chuckle and tried to disappear into the woodwork. He stopped her retreat by casually slinging an arm around her shoulders and then using her stiff body as a leaning post. She discreetly but painfully elbowed him in the ribs.

“To what do we owe the pleasure of this royal visit?”

Meghan mimicked an old school royal wave and smirked. It was great to finally enjoy their screwy sibling dynamic.

“I’m here to spy on you, of course!”

He scowled at her when Remy stiffened even more. Goddammit. Interfering siblings were a pain in the butt.

“She’s just kidding,” he murmured, but Remy’s face told him what she thought of his deflection.

“Am I?” Meghan mocked.

An imaginary clock made a loud ticking sound as they stood their ground and tried to stare each other down. He expected Meghan to occasionally stir the pot, but her timing was really shitty.

“Wow.” Remy chuckled. “Knowing you two years ago might have saved me a ton of dollars on therapy.”

He looked at her quizzically. “Huh?”

She let loose with one of her patented smirks. “Only child anxiety.”

Meghan cackled with glee and winked at Remy. “As the only girl in a house full of Irish lads? The number of times I wished they would take their boy cooties and go away cannot be counted!”

Remy stepped away from his embrace and high-fived his meddling sister. Then they looked upon him with pity. He grinned like an idiot, pushed out his chest, and hiked up his pants.

“You know you want a piece of this! Admit it!”

“Jesus, Finn, I hope you’re talking to Remington and not me.”

FiFi yipped. Apparently, all the females had to weigh in.

“He thinks I like him,” his lady-in-denial muttered. It was the setup line to more jokes about their confusing relationship, but Meghan landed a good one before Remy could say anything else.

“My husband and I think he’s right.”

That deafening silent sound? Boom! Advantage, Meghan.

Though he hadn’t asked for their opinion, he was thrilled to hear Alex and his sister were on his side. He looked at Remy to gauge her reaction.

It was evident that she didn’t know what to say. Meghan offered a smile but didn’t back down. He was stunned into frozen silence when she added, “Finn will always do the right thing, Remington. He’s Justice whether he admits it or not.”

Wow. Maybe Meghan’s timing was perfect after all.

“I have to go,” Remy quickly grumbled. She was an expert at turning tail and skipping away. “Sorry,” she muttered in a no way believable tone. “Meeting Heather and Ingrid.”

“You’re headed to the Double M? Really? Awesome,” Meghan chirped. She smacked her hands together and rubbed them back and forth. “I’ve got some stuff in my Explorer for Ingrid. Do you mind saving me the trip?”

Meghan started moving for the door without waiting for a reply. Remy knew she was trapped. Finn caught her nearly imperceptible flinch.

“Thanks so much, sweetie. I have to get back to the Villa. Leaving the Major alone with the twins for too long always leads to trouble. The other day, I found them rolling around the play yard’s postage stamp size grassy area. All they had on was a diaper!”

It was the perfect thing to say because the obvious comeback was too fucking funny to ignore—and Remy went for it in fist bumping style. “They make diapers that fit the Major?”

They looked at each other and dissolved into hysterical laughter after a particularly hearty fist bump.

Meghan observed them from the doorway with a dry expression that only made him laugh harder.

“Zorro in a diaper!” He slapped his thigh and laughed some more. “That is so going in a text to Dev.”

“You two deserve each other,” she sniped, but Finn heard the affection in her voice.

“Sorry, sorry, sorry.” Remy snickered. He laughed while she tried to get it together. Cracking jokes at the expense of her employer and his wife was funny as shit, but even he had to admit it was an iffy proposition.

FiFi sensed her mommy was leaving and ran to Remy. Meghan smiled indulgently and gave him some sisterly arched brow. It dawned on him that her visit was sure to end up being more of a third-degree relationship interrogation than a casual drop by.

But, he thought, priorities. Remy first; Meghan second.

Stepping in, because that was what Da taught him a man does, Finn lightly stroked Remy’s back while she cuddled FiFi and accepted a face full of energetic doggie kisses. No matter how strange and quasi fucked up their arrangement was, Remy and FiFi were his girls. They were … a family, and at that moment, he truly did not care what Meghan thought.

He walked them to the door and was prepared to go all the way to Meghan’s car—whatever Remy needed—but she put a hand on his arm after handing FiFi to him. Finn searched her expression. It was a relief when she made no effort to hide her eyes. He gave her a swift kiss and waved them off with the dog cuddled against his chest.

“Mommy’s a badass,” he told FiFi after they made the turn toward the parking lot.

A tiny yip felt like the dog’s agreement.

“We just have to love her all that we can and then love her a little bit more. She will come around. You’ll see.”

* * *

Meghan openly grinned when Remy got a look at the ton of crap in the back of the Explorer.

Remy laughed and gestured to the haul of boxes and bags. “What the hell, Meghan!”

“I know,” she admitted with an indifferent shrug. “Got carried away, I guess.”

“You guess?”

“Ingrid said props. Then Charlie gave me a wish list for her art class. I went to The Basement Attic just to see what was available. I enjoy a good thrift shop, don’t you?”

“Are you kidding?” Remy joked. “Best pair of cowboy boots I ever wore came from a secondhand store. Got ’em when I was fifteen. Saved all the money I could from babysitting. My mom was so proud! She had to explain to my poor dad why he couldn’t just buy me an expensive new pair.”

“I knew there were more reasons why I liked you, Remington Bisset! Secondhand shoes are practically a rite of passage! I scored a pair of Jimmy Choos at a hospital run consignment shop. Still have them,” she proudly crowed.

Remy gestured to the many boxes and overflowing bags. “Did you leave anything?”

She shrugged off the question. The woman who ran The Basement Attic was trying to make her mark as an entrepreneur. Meghan admired her drive and tenacity. She also had two kids who signed up for a couple of Double M activities. So what started as a quick looky-loo trip turned into a major haul because it was the right thing to do. The struggling businesswoman got a bunch of sales, and Meghan intended to make sure she also got a complimentary ad in the variety show program.

They moved everything from her Explorer to the bed of Remy’s truck. Meghan walked a shoebox crammed with a billion paperclips to the cab and set it on the front seat.

“Give these straight to Charlie, please. One of her workshops is making stuff out of discarded items. There are enough clips there to build a fence!”

Remy climbed behind the wheel and chuckled. “In high school, me and some friends made a prom dress from duct tape. It weighed a ton but looked amazing!”

“My kids will learn how to make their own Halloween costumes! No store-bought crap.”

“Seriously? Hmph. Where those kids are concerned, it’s kind of hard to imagine Alex doing any less than bringing in a professional designer.”

She leaned against the open passenger door and quietly remarked, “Alex grew up in a regular neighborhood with Little League and Girl Scout cookies. His family was not silver spoon born despite the Valleja-Marquez name and the reality of the Villa. Everyone worked damn hard to get where they are. Cristián and Ashleigh gave up everything here to live in Spain and resurrect the family vineyard and label.”

Remy sighed. “I didn’t know any of that.”

Meghan saw an opening and dove in headfirst. “Appearances can be deceiving, but I suspect you know all about that.”

When Remy spoke, a confession, an admission, or a plea—Meghan was not sure which—came tumbling out.

“I don’t want Finn to get hurt, Meghan. I keep trying to make him see that he doesn’t want a piece of this, but he’s so damn stubborn and won’t listen.”

“Remy, he loves you. What’s the problem?”

She had to hand it to the feisty female when she did not shrink from the obvious.

“Look, I have no idea what you know, but since you and the Major are welded at the hip, I’m betting you have a basic picture.”

“Fair enough,” she admitted.

“I’m seriously fucked up, Meghan. Like, seriously,” she grunted in a long-drawn-out huff. “I’m not what he thinks I am.”

“Have you asked him what he thinks, or are you putting words he would never say in his mouth?”

Meghan wondered if the damn steering wheel would snap off when Remy gripped it and shook her head. “I did some fucked-up shit.”

“Did you kill anybody? Is your name on a wanted list anywhere?”

“No.”

“Remy, cut yourself a fucking break, would you. Stop paying the damn butcher for a bill you absolutely do not have to pay. Some things are just a reaction. I understand more than you think. You can see Alex’s scars but some traumas leave unseen wounds. You didn’t wheel a shopping cart up and ask to haul someone else’s shit. Whatever you did to survive is what got you to today. To here and now. Finn is a big boy, sweetie. He can handle anything you throw at him.”

“I hope you’re right,” Remy mumbled. “I don’t know how much more …”

She cut her off. “Trust him, Remy. Trust Finn. Embarrassment can be gotten over, and my brother is the perfect man to make you see that between two people who genuinely care about each other, there’s no room for regret.”

After Remy pulled away, she stormed back to Finn’s office and kicked open the door.

“Talk to Da, Finn. Today. Now. Pick up the phone and call him.”

“Why?”

“Did you know he chats with your girlfriend on the regular? Like once a week regular?”

“What?”

Meghan rolled her eyes and gave a brief headshake. “Well, thank god you didn’t know ’cause if you did, I was gearing up to deliver the grandmother of all noogies, little brother.”

He looked stunned. “Are you serious?”

“Yes. Now clear your schedule, pick up the damn phone, and call your father.”