“I LIKE THE CRIB SET,” Stephanie mumbled absently as she folded a basket full of freshly laundered blankets and onesies while Tori sat on the floor putting together an activity gym for the baby.
“This thing is cool as shit,” she declared once all the pieces were hung properly. “Mom, come here and check this out.”
Tori and Draegyn had chosen a combination of lavender hues with lots of cream, pale yellows and muted greens thrown in for the baby’s nursery. The overall effect was light and airy, cheerful and bright without being overwhelming. Stephanie found the suite charming.
But nothing, not even her daughter’s ebullient mood or the calming ambiance of the baby’s room, could lighten the melancholy in Stephanie’s mind.
Inspecting the adorable Baby Einstein gear, she told Tori, “My goodness but baby equipment has certainly changed since you were in a nursery. Your room was a mish-mosh of Muppet babies, Disney characters and Winnie-Pooh-Pooh, of course.”
Tori giggled and rubbed her tummy. “Oh, my God. Winnie-Pooh-Pooh! I remember how convinced I was that that was his name. Even Daddy called him Pooh-Pooh and would make farting noises to make me laugh.”
Shoving the new onesies into a drawer, she asked, “Did your husband call last night? You didn’t say.”
“Help me up, would you?” Tori said as she rolled onto her knees and lifted by using a chair for leverage. Stephanie noted that her daughter seemed different somehow and wondered about her state of mind.
Pulling her up and helping her steady, she asked, “Is everything alright, shugah?”
Tori was standing now with her hands pressed low on her back as her big belly stood out in stark relief. “I’m fine, Mom. Just restless. Is this what they refer to as the nesting phase? My mind is all over the place. Do we have enough blankets? Is the baby’s car seat the right one? Stuff like that.”
Stephanie couldn’t help but notice that she hadn’t answered the question about Drae. Hmmmm. Time for a distraction. For both of them. Maybe that would help.
“Why don’t we wander up to the big house and see what Meghan’s up to. Last night she told me she was up to her eyeballs in Thanksgiving decorations. Maybe she needs help.”
Tori laughed. “Oh Christ, Mom. Believe me, Irish has got that under control. The woman’s a natural where all that’s concerned. You should have seen Halloween around here! She lost her shit completely and did this crazy haunted house thing out on the terrace. It was amazing.”
Okay then. Scratch going up to the house. Probably just as well. The chances of accidentally running into Calder made hanging out there a shitty idea anyway.
Damn. Why does practically every thought lead back to him? She’d been right to put the kibosh on whatever was happening between them. After all, her real life was in Atlanta and his in Aspen. Pretty much the only thing they had in common was that the towns they lived in started with the letter A.
He’d seemed genuinely upset when Stephanie had spelled out all the times he’d been less than gracious—something she felt was necessary. They might have some explosive sexual chemistry going on, but at the end of it all was the glaringly obvious fact that the man didn’t like her all that much. Not as a person, so what was the point?
Trouble was, she liked him regardless and found the admission unsettling. How exactly did you like someone who treated you like…well, like she didn’t know what. And that was the problem. She couldn’t understand what it was about her that set him off. He was a lot like Alex, had the same manners and treated everyone with respect. Everyone that was, except her.
“Mom,” Tori murmured, breaking the troubled waters of her thoughts. “I’m worried that Draegyn thinks we shouldn’t try for any more kids. After this one, of course.”
Good Lord. This was news—and not the good kind.
“What makes you think that? Did he say something?”
Tori wandered to the crib and smoothed the comforter for probably the thousandth time, sighing as she did. “It’s everything. Me. The shitty pregnancy. That kid he’s rescuing. His fucked-up family.” She shrugged and bit her lip in a most uncharacteristic way. Stephanie recognized an emotional roller coaster brought on by a difficult pregnancy when she saw one.
Going to her daughter’s side, she put an arm about her shoulders and hugged tight. “He’s just worried about you, honey. Everything will calm down once you have that baby in your arms. Remember—Draegyn loves you. He’s a man who needs to control his world, and right now, he’s helpless. I can see that it’s killing him to be so powerless. If I could give you both just one piece of motherly advice, it would be this—just calm the hell down. Really. Slow down. Enjoy the journey and don’t get so wrapped up in stuff that you miss what a special time this is.”
Tori sniffled and gave her a watery half smile. “Can you say that to Draegyn too, Mom? I think he needs to hear it. Sometimes I just want to go to his parents and smack the shit out of them for the way they treat their kids. Desi acts like it’s no big whupp that she and her brother are emotional orphans, but I know that’s bullshit. It has to hurt, and Lord knows, I can attest firsthand how fucked they made my husband.”
Stephanie had to hand it to her daughter. Girl had sharp senses and a way with words that always made her smile.
“You know, sweetie. I understand a little about why Draegyn is struggling. He’s an awful lot like your father was.”
“Really?”
“Mmmm hmmm.” She wrapped Tori’s pregnant body with a big motherly hug. “We were pregnant during a tough time, too. Daddy’s parents were in rapid decline, we were moving, his career was taking off, Gramps and Gran had both passed on by then, and I didn’t know shit about being pregnant or babies or any of that stuff. Growing up the way I did, I never really had a lot of girlfriends. And after college, the ones I had by then were either as clueless as I was or popping out babies like candies from a Pez dispenser.”
“Wow.”
“Daddy thought he had to be Superman or something. He was worried about his folks, freaking out about fitting in at a new law firm, plus dealing with a young wife who cried all the damn time.”
“Mom!” Tori giggled. “You were a crier? That’s hard to believe.”
“Oh sweetie,” she chuckled. “I cried over every little thing. If it was sunny out, I wept. If it rained, I sobbed. When I made dinner, I boo-hooed over scorched peas. Your dad became a lunatic trying to stay on top of my moods. He liked to tease me that I’d cry at a Kmart opening—and he was right.”
She led Tori to the overstuffed loveseat that gave them a glorious view of the mountains in the distance and sat her down. Grasping her hands, she kissed each one and said, “But shugah, once we had you all that nonsense just faded into the background. Was like it never even happened. Sometimes we would hover over your crib and just stare at you for hours. There was an awful lot of love bouncing off the walls in our little apartment.”
“I think I get it, Mom.”
“Good. I’m glad. Now answer the question you dodged earlier. Did you hear from that hunky hubby of yours last night and when the hell is he coming home?”
Tori shot her a halfie—half grin and half shrug. “He texted. They were on the plane heading back to Chicago. Found the kid and were working on returning him to college. That’s all I know. I asked Lacey earlier if she had any details, but she didn’t give much up. Hate it when everyone thinks I need kid glove handling. There’s more, I’m sure of it, but until Draegyn actually calls, I’m fucked.”
CALDER WAS IN HELL. OR in close proximity. The agency had downshifted into easy mode due to the approaching holiday. They still had a training exercise wrapping up out in the desert, but aside from that, there wasn’t a whole hell of a lot going on.
He’d spent part of the morning vetting applicants for a couple of openings and projects coming up after the first of the year. It hadn’t come as all that much of a surprise to learn that the three Justice Brothers were opening up the agency to a new generation of people who would take over much of the nitty gritty stuff. Now that they’d made a name for themselves and secured a spotless reputation as a top-notch organization, it made sense for Alex, Cameron, and Draegyn to start stepping back. Let some younger, hungrier folks do the work. They’d earned it. Hell, they’d more than earned it.
Shuffling a stack of papers around his desk for no reason, he eventually gave up with a huff and stopped trying so hard to find busywork so he didn’t have to think. Didn’t have to remember the uncomfortable confrontation from yesterday with Stephanie and the way she’d told him in no uncertain terms to fuck off and that she’d had enough of his shit.
The itchy awareness that he’d earned her irritation didn’t help. What in the hell was wrong with him? From the very start, he’d been pissing and moaning about his perceived notions that Stephanie Bennett was a high-maintenance control freak with the substance and backbone of a dress up doll. Barbie she was not and yet still, he’d managed to taunt and belittle her at every turn.
Except for when they kissed. That had been pure desire and emotion. He wasn’t one of those men who woke up in the morning and thought, I want to fuck, and then did. His marriage might have been a bust, but he still preferred at least a quasi-relationship to a datebook full of random hook-ups and one night romps.
So what in the hell had made him act like a cocky asshole around the first woman who had tempted him without trying in God only knows how long—maybe even never. She hadn’t asked for his self-righteous nonsense. Hadn’t sought him out. Nope. That was all him and look where it got them. Nowhere.
Coming to Arizona had been a good move. He adored Alex and was more than happy to help. It was family and nothing came before that in his book. The last fucking thing he expected from his time here was to encounter a woman his age who got his blood pumping.
He had to set things right between them, but before that was possible, he really needed to get his head straight. There was no moving forward until he understood why he’d acted so out-of-character. For now, at least, it was best just to leave things as they were—he didn’t want to make it any worse.
The sexy, blond beauty queen who sat a horse like an Olympian and had the amazing good sense not to put up with his condescending prick behavior was under his skin—there was no getting away from that. But before he could actively pursue her—which was what he really wanted to do—Calder had to do a bit of soul searching to better understand his part in what had turned into a holy mess.
THE DAY HAD GONE FROM crap to shit the minute Cam’s eyes opened. After flying into Chicago the night before, he’d had more on his plate than a starving man at an all-you-can-eat buffet.
A couple of stitches in his forehead turned out to be the least of his worries. Drae’s cracked and bruised ribs plus what the EMTs insisted was a concussion only made his partner an even bigger surly motherfucker than usual. They were both furious at Majid and madder than fucking hell that they’d walked into a muscled-up beat down all because the stupid kid had gone off the rails.
For security reasons, they’d refused to allow the college students to return to their dorm, and arranged separate rooms for the kid and his girlfriend at the hotel with Drae pithily pointing out to a sulking Majid that once his royal father appeared, all hell would certainly break lose if he found his son openly sleeping with an American coed. The fucker was in enough trouble without adding insult to injury.
Then, while his head was thumping, he’d had his hands full convincing Drae not to phone Tori last night telling him to text instead. She’d freak the hell out the second she learned her husband had been injured. No use in adding to her stress level. By cutting him off from his wife, all that had done was make Draegyn a complete cocksucker.
On the one hand, it made Cam breathe a sigh of relief at the blatant reminder that his brother really couldn’t live without his feisty firecracker of a mate. On the other hand, it also meant he had to deal with the man’s snarling, pathetic, whiney ass.
Lacey had been calm when they talked, but he knew she wasn’t pleased. He hated being away from her and Dylan. She needed him, even though she tried to pretend everything was fine and dandy. Imagining her at home alone, in the big bed they shared, had kept him awake most of the night. His Ponytail was a strong woman. Turned out he was the pussy. Being away from his wife and son was proving to be an obstacle he couldn’t master.
After a restless, uncomfortable night, Sharif and his entourage had arrived this morning at the ass crack of dawn and then the fun really got underway. Not one to be told to wait, the King immediately laid down a parental bitch slap on his son while Drae attempted rather lamely to act as an intermediary.
In the end, the father inside the King had caved, probably from relief that his youngest offspring wasn’t permanently harmed, and agreed to allow him to complete his sophomore year in Chicago. But concern that his identity had been jeopardized and possible retribution from the bookies meant a full, round-the-clock security detail had to be assigned to protect him.
As for what happened with the girlfriend, Cam didn’t give a shit. He just wanted to pack up, grab Drae, and get the fuck back home. And then the other shoe dropped. Sawyer called to let him know that a weather situation bearing down on Chi-Town was going to prevent them from being airborne for at least twenty-four hours. They were stuck and absolutely nothing could be done about it.
There was also something Sawyer wasn’t telling him, which only made Cam’s mood darker. He still hadn’t told Drae they were staying put for another night. After meeting with Sharif, Cam had forced his brother to rest and ice up his ribs, leaving Cam alone to pace his room waiting for Sawyer to arrive and tell him what was really going on. If there was trouble with the plane, Cam knew he’d probably lose his shit.