Chapter Twenty-Three
“So, now all you do is click commit and your code will merge into the main branch,” Katy said, her attitude as blasé as if she’d asked Darya to pass the salt instead of potentially hosing the core code from Knox’s top ten selling app.
Darya slid the cursor to the bold green save button and hesitated.
Beside her, Katy chuckled. “Really, it’s not that big of a deal. If you don’t think His Royal Highness doesn’t have at least ten backups stored in at least that many different places, you’re nuts.” She waved her hand toward the screen. “Go on. Click it.”
Well, she had a point. She’d heard the expression a belt and suspenders guy before, but never had she met a man who fit the description better than Knox. Before she could overthink it, she clicked the button and waited. When the confirmation message popped up on the screen she barely bit back a self-satisfied whoop and ridiculous fist pump.
“See?” Katy said. “I told you it’d be no big deal. The code was solid and we both tested the heck out of it. Now it’ll go out with the rest of this week’s updates over the weekend.” She sat back in her chair and snagged her ever-present Starbucks to-go cup. “So? How’s it feel to be a bona fide developer?”
Darya rolled her eyes, closed out of the application and opened her email. “It was a bug fix. Hardly worthy of calling me a developer.”
“Hey, everyone’s got to start somewhere, and the best way to dive in is fixing what’s broken.” She sipped her drink and studied Darya over the rim. “So, I suck at dancing around topics. Though, I’d like to point out I made it two and a half work days before I brought it up.”
Darya kept her eyes trained on her screen and tried to keep her face passive. Not an easy task since she had a pretty good idea where Katy was headed. “Brought what up?”
“That you’re seeing Knox.”
Like it always did when she was reminded of her new blossoming relationship, her body resonated with a subtle tuning fork buzz and any semblance of coherent thought fluttered right out the window. She rolled her lips inward and forced herself to face Katy.
“Oh my God!” Katy laughed and planted her drink back on the desk with enough force Darya was a little surprised nothing sloshed out the top. “You can’t seriously think we didn’t know. I mean, it’s not like he’s made it a secret.”
“He told you?”
“With words? No. But everyone here has worked with Knox for two or more years, and he’s never so much as touched a woman in front of us except to shake hands.”
Okay, the touching had been excessive the last few days. Crazy possessive excessive. Especially around Vance, who barely managed to make eye contact with her anymore. It was such an about-face from the way they had been, that the claiming yet gentle touches still caught her a little off guard.
Katy propped one elbow on Darya’s desk, leaned in and waggled her eyebrows. “So?”
“So?”
“How’d it happen? What’s he like? Is he as bossy one-on-one as he is at work?”
Knox spoke from the doorway. “When you weren’t looking and none of your damned business on the other two counts.”
Darya jolted taller in her chair and Katy’s eyes bugged out.
Before Darya could summon up an explanation or at least derail Knox’s focus to something other than Katy’s questions, he prowled up beside her, leaned in and pressed a lingering soft kiss to her lips. “You get your fix in?”
Her fix?
Oh. Right. Her job. As in the thing that she and Katy were supposed to be working on instead of gabbing about their boss and her...well...whatever he was. She nodded, fingers curling reflexively in his soft T-shirt. Today’s was soft gray with the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man smooshed between two graham crackers and a slab of chocolate. She nodded and fought the urge to answer with another kiss instead of words. No small feat with his handsome face still inches from her own. “Yes, just now.”
“Good.” He straightened, grabbed her hand and pulled her up as well. “’Cause you’ve got about two minutes to brace yourself and that’s only if Katy does a bang-up job of running interference.” He shifted his attention to Katy. “Front desk. Now. The horde is on the way in.”
Katy shot to her feet and tagged her coffee. “All of them?”
“The whole lot. And since they’re in one of our Escalades, my guess is Beckett helped ’em plan the attack.”
Katy saluted and scurried out the door. “I’m on it.”
“On what?” Darya urged Knox to face her with a firm grip on his shoulder. “What kind of attack?”
Despite the conversation eluding otherwise, Knox grinned in a way that said he was more tickled than worried. “You’re about to meet my moms.”
For a second, Darya’s brain wouldn’t compute. Just sat there, more unresponsive than the first time she’d tried to compile code with the wrong executable. “Your mothers are here?”
“Well, technically they’re Jace’s and Axel’s moms—Ninette and Sylvie—but I claim ’em as mine and they seem all right with it, so yeah...my moms.”
Panic set in, her arms trembling even more than the frigid office temperature called for and her palms growing clammy. She glanced down at her jeans and T-shirt. Of all the rotten times for her to finally cave and dress like everyone else at the office, she had to pick the day she’d make a first impression on the two women he cared about enough to call mother. Heck, the only thing decent she had on were the cute Jimmy Choo sandals she’d picked up secondhand on eBay. “Knox, I can’t meet them like this. I look terrible.”
He guided her face to his with soft fingers beneath her chin. “They’ll love you. Promise.” He smirked and wrapped her up with both arms around her waist. “And trust me when I tell you they’re not your stereotypical mothers.”
The thick metal door at the far end of the hallway chunked open and a cloud of feminine voices billowed right behind it.
Her face must’ve blanched or reflected the sheer terror coursing through her, because he swooped in fast and sealed his lips against hers in a chaste, but lingering kiss. “Relax,” he murmured softly as he lifted his head. “You met Viv, Gabe and Nat already. They’ll be with you, too.”
“With me for what?”
The voices drifted closer, Katy clearly leading the way while she chattered about something Darya’s mind was too numb to track.
Knox kissed her nose and whispered. “It’s Wednesday afternoon. That can only mean one thing.”
Before he could actually share what that was, Katy strode through the door with two gorgeous older women on her heels and the other three ladies Darya had met weeks ago behind them. “Hey, Knox. You’ve got company.”
“Och, we dinna come for him, lass.” The sassier looking of the two women she’d yet to meet intervened and sashayed toward Knox. While her shoulder-length auburn hair wasn’t a color anyone would ever classify as natural, the spunk behind it matched her thick Scottish accent and the playfulness in her vivid green eyes. “We came ta meet our boy’s new lovely.”
Katy snickered, shook her head and quietly made her way out of the room.
As if he’d long grown accustomed to the routine, Knox faced Sylvie and opened his arms in welcome. “Hey, Momma.”
She patted one side of Knox’s face and kissed the other. “Ye’ve been keeping secrets.”
“No, he’s been hoarding,” said the other woman as she moved in for her own welcome. Where the redheaded woman was all fire and boldness, this one moved with refined elegance. Her hair was a platinum gray every woman prayed they’d develop with age, but rarely obtained without help from a rock star hair dresser. But even more impressive was the shrewd awareness that burned in her blue gaze as it moved across Darya and landed on Knox.
The elegant woman lovingly batted her friend out of the way and kissed Knox’s cheek. “You know how the boys get when a woman fires up their possessive streak.” She glanced back at Vivienne and winked. “The only reason we knew Viv existed those first few weeks is because Jace kept her under lock and key at Haven.”
“Well, in fairness,” Vivienne said, “I had a bullet hole in me, or that wouldn’t have been the case.”
Darya snapped her attention to Knox, her spine hopping from mere first-impression discomfort to full-alert and ready to bolt. “A bullet hole?”
“Long story,” Knox muttered close to her ear then wrapped his arm around her waist. To the beautiful gray-haired woman he said, “You think maybe it might be smart to let her get comfortable with the lot of you before you air our dirty laundry?”
The woman grinned and her eyes sparked with pure mirth. “Don’t you worry about us. We’ll get her very comfortable and make sure we spill all your dirty laundry before we dive into anyone else’s.” She cocked one eyebrow. “Assuming you ever get around to introducing us.”
Knox ducked his head and ran his fingers through his already tousled hair, but from Darya’s angle beside him there was no missing the chagrined expression on his face. “Yeah. Right.” He lifted his head and pulled her partially in front of him. He motioned to the one closest to him. “Darya, this is Jace’s mom, Ninette. Behind her is Axel’s mom, Sylvie.”
Darya extended her hand to Ninette, hoping her palms weren’t as shaky or clammy as they felt. “I’m Darya Volkova. It’s very nice to meet you.”
“Darya to family,” Knox interjected with a quick glance at the hallway. “For everyone else it’s JJ Simpson, so watch yourself.”
“Oh!” Sylvie brightened and tapped Ninette’s arm, shooing her out of her way. “Will ya listen to the lass’s voice?” She opened her arms, pulled Darya in for a huge hug and whispered conspiratorially. “Take my advice. Wield that accent every chance you get. When they’re in a snit, it’ll unwind their tantrums every time.” She pulled away and winked.
“You get I’m right here and heard every word,” Knox said, a smile in his voice.
Sylvie shrugged like she couldn’t care less. “And as sure as I’m standin’ here, it’ll work every time.”
Still standing by the doorway with Vivienne and Gabe, Trevor’s wife, Natalie, cleared her throat. “Um, not to cut short the one-upmanship brewing between the two of you, but if we’re going to make our appointments we need to load Darya up and get a move on.”
“What appointments?” Darya said.
Gabe smiled with a mix of shared orneriness and sympathy. “Wednesdays are mani/pedi days. Otherwise known as mandatory Haven-gal gossip days.”
“We do more than gossip,” Sylvie fired back.
Ninette chuckled. “Right, but I’m not sure there’s a way to categorize picking through the latest plot details from Game of Thrones and Vikings.” Her gaze shifted to Darya. “We try to pay attention. Really, we do. But between all the accents, hot men and blatant sex it’s hard not to get sidetracked.”
“She’s right,” Sylvie added. “Sons of Anarchy was much easier ta keep up with.”
Darya was lost. Unequivocally and helplessly lost. She twisted and peered up to Knox, rooted firmly behind her.
His hands rested easy on her hips and his low, soft laugher surrounded her on a comforting embrace. His voice rumbled at her ear. “Just go with it. You’ll catch up. Eventually.”
“But what about work?” She turned enough to meet his eyes head on. “You gave me all those new defects to research.”
“Bugger that,” Sylvie said. “What’s the point o’ havin’ a man like our Knox if he can’t handle the fort while we take some time ta play?” She motioned toward Darya’s desk. “Grab yer purse, lass. Time ta get pampered and let us get ta know ye.”
She hesitated and cast a questioning look at Knox.
He widened his eyes and held out his hands in a classic pose of male surrender. “If you think I’m gonna argue with ’em you’re crazy. Sylvie makes a mean care package, and I’m not risking my leftovers.”
“Men,” Ninette said from behind her. “Everyone claims they think with their little head, but nine times out of ten, their stomach rules the roost.” She splayed a hand on Darya’s shoulder. “Get your things, sweetheart. Any girl who can snag this stubborn knucklehead deserves some pampering. Besides, I wanna see if I can drag out of you why you’ve got a secret alias.”
Pampering sounded divine. When she’d lived in Russia, trips to the spa were an expected part of her routine. A perk Yefim insisted on as part of her food and clothing allowance. The only time someone other than herself had tended to her hands and feet since landing in the US had been a trip to a local spa with JJ two months before she’d died. “You really don’t mind?” she asked Knox.
He stepped in close and cupped both sides of her face. His voice was quiet, but rich with the same sincerity he’d melted her with the night he’d invited her home. “I don’t know where this is headed, but I know it’s important. That means me opening up not just where I live, but sharing you with the people I love, too. So, yeah. If you’re game for giggles and whatever conversation causes the laughter, then I’m absolutely on board.”
The shock of what he’d shared—not just with her, but in front of witnesses—must have registered on her face, because he chuckled, kissed her forehead and pulled her into a hug, bracing her cheek against his chest. “Put everything on the joint account,” he said to the women behind her. “If you’re good enough to take my girl into the fold, the least I can do is spring for the trip.”
“Now we’re talking,” Ninette said. She urged Darya out of Knox’s arms, held up the purse Darya had stashed beside her desk and winked. “Suddenly I feel the need for deluxe everything.”