Chapter Fifteen
This was what a Thanksgiving get-together was supposed to be like. Lots of people, loads of laughter and endless food. Not the over-planned and rigid affairs Wyatt had hosted the eight years they were married. Curled up close to Trevor on an outdoor chaise with a fleece blanket tucked around her shoulders, she watched the flames dance in the outdoor fireplace and savored the snap and pop of the burning wood. Trevor and his family might refer to the palatial estate in one of Dallas’s most elite and established neighborhoods as the compound, but the rest of the world would have called it gorgeous. It couldn’t have been more than ten years old, but the Italian Villa design and homey décor created a warm and welcoming presence with a historic feel.
Trevor set his beer bottle on the slate-covered end table beside him, tugged her tighter to him and kissed her forehead. “Told you you’d have a good time.”
She had. The best holiday since before she’d met Wyatt. Leaning forward enough to peek around Trevor’s chest through the kitchen window, she spied her mom still chatting Frank’s ear off at the dinette. Like always, her mom had made herself right at home and made fast friends with everyone, Ninette and Sylvie in particular. But she and Frank had hit things off on an entirely different level. Like two people born into similar worlds and comfortable with each other’s language.
And Levi? Well, he’d stolen the show from the minute he’d stepped foot through the front door—or at least he had until Ivan had shown up with his little girl, Mary. After that, the two of them had been inseparable buddies, running around the house and getting into everyone’s business like they played here every day.
And Trevor’s family had welcomed every bit of it with open arms.
“Okay, I admit it. You were right.” She eased back into the cushions and rested her head against Trevor’s chest. She’d fought him on the idea of mingling their families for the holiday, for fear of setting Levi up for too big of a fall once things dimmed between her and Trevor, but like always, he’d brought an entirely different perspective to the table.
“I’m not a random hookup, Nat. I’m the man who’s spending considerable time with Levi’s mom. You ever consider that you showing Levi what a healthy dating life looks like might be a valuable lesson for him to draw from in the future?”
The viewpoint had knocked her for an unexpected loop. Yes, it was her job to protect Levi from the ugliness of life, but Trevor had been nothing but a positive influence on her son. No matter how things ended between her and Trevor, she had every confidence Trevor would handle it with the utmost honor and compassion. And wouldn’t that be a powerful lesson to teach her son?
She smoothed her hand against his chest, loving the mix of his cologne, the night and the wood smoke from the fire. She doubted she’d ever get enough of touching him. Exploring him. For nearly a week and a half now they’d had more than ample intimate time together, including a few late-night rendezvous when she’d snuck him in the apartment after everyone else had gone to bed. Both of them had laughed themselves silly at how it made them feel like a couple of undersexed teenagers—right up until Trevor had found a few inventive ways to make sure she didn’t get too loud.
“Your brothers are pretty colorful characters.” She drew back enough to see his face and cocked her head. “You never did tell me how you met them.”
Trevor stared into the fire, his fingers idly working through her unbound hair the same way he always did before they fell asleep tangled in each other. “I was in a rough patch. They found me and helped me out of it.”
“Ah...” She grinned at him and waggled her eyebrows. “The wild oats you mentioned sowing.”
He chuckled, anchored his elbow on the chaise’s arm and propped his head on his hand. “Sowing my wild oats might have put too pretty of a gloss on it. More like an eruption of male testosterone. I was eighteen and thought I needed to prove myself to the world. I set out for Dallas and proceeded to fuck things up right and left. Flunked out of my first year of college. Made a living doing things you’d never believe if I told you today. Drank three times my weight on a regular basis.”
“And this is different from most young men how?”
The lightheartedness in his expression dimmed. “I fought a lot.”
Something in his tone snagged her attention. Before thinking better of it, she shifted from her place beside him and straddled his lap. “What do you mean?”
Trevor shrugged, and for the first time since they’d pulled into the compound’s circular drive, he seemed unsettled. Distant and a little edgy.
“It couldn’t have been that bad.” She smoothed her hand against his cheek and waited until he met her eyes. “Everyone gets mad. Men in their late teens and early twenties have a lot of biological stuff going on.”
“Not like me.” He frowned and for a minute she thought he’d clam up completely. Instead, he cupped her hips and pulled her closer. “Being with Frank growing up was exactly what I’d needed. I was angry. Lost. Frank taught me how to restrain my anger and find other outlets for it, but without him there to balance me after I left, I lost it. I didn’t go around picking fights, but I sure didn’t walk away from them either.”
“And?”
He stared up at her, thoughtful. “The night I met Axel, I almost killed a man.”
She waited, her senses so zeroed in on the steady thump of his pulse beneath her palm where it rested above his sternum, her own heart matched its rhythm.
“There was a woman I was friends with,” he said. “I knew her from the year I’d gone to school. She came over to the apartment I was sharing with a friend, tears streaming down her face, and said her boyfriend had hit her. I didn’t think. Just went after the bastard.” He huffed out an ironic laugh and shook his head. “I was so bent out of shape, so heated to make a point, I attacked the guy just outside a bar.” He shifted and met her stare. “Axel’s the one who pulled me off him. I’m lucky the guy lived.”
“Surely you don’t think anyone would think less of you for what you did. I mean, yes, you almost went too far, but Axel was there, and you acted because you cared about your friend. Not because you set out to hurt someone.”
Trevor shook his head. “The girl lied to me. I didn’t pause and think about it. I just acted. Turns out the guy had ended things with her and she just wanted revenge.” He huffed out an ironic laugh. “Hell of a way she went about it.”
Before she could say anything or try to offer any comfort, Levi’s voice rang out across the backyard. “Mom!” He hurried around the pool, both hands gripping thick paper plates and his boots ringing on the concrete. Gabe, Zeke, and Axel trailed him, each with plates of their own in hand.
She pried herself off Trevor’s lap just as Levi scampered up beside the chaise, out of breath and smiling ear to ear. He handed her a plate of chocolate silk pie. “Miss Sylvie and Miss Ninette said it’s time for second dessert.”
“You hang around Ma long enough, lad, and you’ll learn it’s always time for dessert.” Axel handed off a fresh beer to Trevor along with a slice of pie, then settled onto the big chair next to him. “You two lovebirds missed the big announcement, so we brought the news to you.”
“What announcement?” Natalie said.
Gabe and Zeke snuggled into the love seat closest to the fire, but it was Zeke who spoke. “Gabe finally found the dress she wants and decided she wants to fly to Tahoe for the wedding. We’re thinking the week before Christmas if you can swing it,” he said to Trevor.
Trevor grinned huge and lifted his beer in salute. “Now that’s the kind of wedding I’m talking about.” He leaned toward Levi perched on the edge of the chaise and shoveling back his pie, and nudged his shoulder. “You hear that, bud? We’re going on a trip.”
Natalie perked up, a fresh wave of panic surging to full bright. “Trevor!”
“What?”
“You can’t just invite us to their wedding.”
He paused, looked at Zeke and Gabe, then over to Axel who shrugged like he didn’t have a clue what she was talking about, then rounded back to her. “Pretty sure I just did.”
“But it’s their wedding.”
Gabe giggled and hugged her fiancé a little tighter. “Relax. You’ll get used to it.”
Natalie studied Gabe and Zeke’s amused faces then redirected to Axel. “Used to what?”
Axel winked and grinned at Trevor. “Sounds like you’ve got more approving votes. The rate you’re goin’, you’ll be the last one to the party.”
Pushing upright, Natalie twisted for a better angle on Trevor’s face. “What’s he talking about?”
Trevor scowled at Axel, shook his head and tucked her tight against his side. “Just ignore them. They like to meddle.” He glanced at Levi, who’d nearly polished off his whole slice, oblivious to the banter going on around him. “But you’re still going. I promised Levi a ride on the plane. Right, bud?”
“Yep,” Levi said around a mouthful of pie.
Axel forked a bite of dessert that even Levi would’ve struggled to finish. “Wait’ll you see Trevor’s Gulfstreams, lad. They’re a thing of beauty.”
“I already got to see some last week, but not close-up.” Levi twisted and aimed his commentary to Trevor. “They were huge, just like a commercial jetliner. One of ’em even had one of those bird pictures on the back tail like your models in the house. Cool, huh?”
Trevor’s body got tight and his gaze shifted to Axel. “Just like the ones inside? The same logo?”
Levi bobbed his head, oblivious to the rapt attention aimed his direction.
Axel set his plate aside, but beneath his careful movement was a tightly coiled tension.
Something wasn’t right. Levi had been a lot of places and done a lot of things, but he’d never flown anywhere, let alone hung around an airport. Especially not the private one Trevor flew out of. “What were you doing looking at planes?”
Levi scooped up the last of his pie, stuffed it in his mouth, and shrugged. “I dunno. Dad just said he had to run an errand and drove around an airport.”
“He didn’t stop?” Trevor asked. “Just drove around.”
“Yep.” Levi looked up from his plate and focused on Trevor. “When I see yours, will I get to sit in the cockpit?”
Trevor nodded, but his voice came out a little distracted. “Absolutely.”
Zeke stood and tapped Levi on the arm. “You know Miss Sylvie gives extras when you bring your plates back to the kitchen, and I saw about three different kinds of cookies hidden in the pantry.”
“Really?”
Gabe gathered up Axel’s plate and Trevor’s empty beer bottle. “Snickerdoodles and sugar cookies for sure. Not sure what the other dozen were.”
Levi twisted back to Natalie. “Can I get more?”
Geez, he was going to be wired on sugar for hours. Though after learning her ex had been tooling around Trevor’s business with no apparent purpose for being there, she probably would be, too. Damn Wyatt and his meddling. He just couldn’t leave well enough alone. “Sure, why not? But tomorrow you have to eat good all day.”
“Cool!” Levi gathered up his plate and hurried off as fast as he’d arrived, Gabe and Zeke ambling slowly behind him.
She swallowed and looked up at Trevor. “You don’t think Wyatt’s out to cause problems for you, do you?”
Just like the night she’d cried in his arms, he cupped one side of her face and gave her a smile that said the world could end tomorrow and he wouldn’t care so long as he had right now. His vivid blue eyes burned with promise, the same unshakable fortitude she’d seen in him from day one. “Doesn’t matter what he tries, darlin’. Wyatt can throw what he wants at me all day long.” He lifted his head toward Axel and his expression shifted, the careful protector he’d shown her slipping just enough to show the warrior underneath. “Me and my brothers don’t go down easy.”