Chapter Twenty-Seven

July 4th

Phoenix

I stand on the porch, where Gage is leaning against one of the log pillars, a piece of wheat hanging out of his mouth, watching me pace and smiling.

I stop and put my hands on my hips. “How can you be so...so...?”

“Calm?” he asks, pushing himself off the pillar and walking toward me.

The way he looks at me...God, the way he looks at me, the way he walks toward me, the way he is...him, sets me on fire immediately.

He wraps his arms around my waist and lifts me until we are eye to eye.

“I’m looking at you, I’m surrounded by people who mean something to me, in a place I love; how can I not be?”

“They’re coming,” I remind him.

He nods and starts to walk down the steps of the porch.

“Where are you taking us?”

“Somewhere we can be alone,” he says, pressing his lips upon mine.

“No way.” I raise a brow, wordlessly telling him I’m serious, and he laughs.

I look behind me and see dust kicking up. “Someone’s here.”

I wiggle out of his arms, which is so messed up because it’s exactly where I want to be, but can’t because...people.

He laughs and pulls me against him, arm wrapped tightly around me.

“Who is it?” I ask.

“My brothers from a much nicer mother,” he says with a smile in his voice.

My stomach knots up, and I hold my hand against it.

He gives me a squeeze. “You okay?”

“What if they hate me?” As soon as the words leave my mouth, I groan and cover my face.

“They’ll love you. But answer me this question.” His brows furrow as he looks at me.

“What?”

“Why do you give a damn?”

“They’re your friends,” I answer.

“So trust me that they’ll love you.”

“You are such a guy,” I groan.

“Yeah.” He grins. “Your guy, so chill, squirt.”

I take a deep breath and watch as five large, black SUVs pull down the dirt road, one after the other. They follow the circular drive in front of the house, the first stopping in front of us. Then the driver’s side door opens and a man, tall, dark, handsome, tattooed, and wearing a straw cowboy hat, hops out.

“Giddy-fucking-up.” He rounds the vehicle, smiling from ear-to-ear and opens the door, holding out his hand. “Come on, kitten; we’re here.”

Gage leans in and whispers, “Zandor and his wife Bekah.”

I see her belly before I see her. She’s stunning and pregnant. Very, very pregnant.

The next vehicle’s driver side door opens, and I swear they all look alike, except this one has on a backward Yankee’s baseball hat.

He opens the passenger door, saying, “Irish, see that lake over there?”

“Yep,” she says, hopping out with one hand over her red baseball hat.

“That’s where the Red Sox hats are gonna end up.” He smacks her ass then opens the back door. “Come on, Patrick.”

I look up at Gage.

“Xavier, Taelyn, and their boy,” he fills me in.

Xavier turns around and stands with his back to the open door as a little boy gets out. He’s wearing a Yankees hat and a Red Sox tee-shirt with little khaki shorts and chucks on his feet.

At the next car, a man with a short crewcut, covered in ink, and dark aviators on walks around and opens the passenger door.

“Cyrus and Tara,” Gage whispers.

He helps her out, smiling down at her, and then kisses the top of her head before opening the back door. When he steps back, he has a child in each arm.

“Their kids, Truth and Justice.” He points to the next door opening. “Jase, Carly, Little Bell, and Kiki.”

I notice she’s pregnant as well. “And her belly.”

He gives a quick nod. “Yeah.”

The driver’s side door opens on the next vehicle in line.

“Do you think you could let me open your damn door, Kat?” the most heavily tattooed man complains as he walks around the vehicle.

Kat holds up her hands. “Last I checked, I have two hands. I’m perfectly capable.”

He shakes his head and starts to open the back door, but she beats him to it.

“Quicker than you, too.”

A little girl jumps out with a unicorn stuffed animal almost as big as her in her arms, and then she runs toward the oldest girl, who I think is Little Bell.

I look back to see Kat is over Ricco’s shoulder, kicking wildly, and he’s laughing as he swats her ass. At that, she stops kicking. I can’t see her face, but his is full of amusement and mischief.

Brand and Mags come out of the house just in time. Brand stands right next to me, looking up at me. “I don’t remember all of these kids.”

Gage nods. “You will, little man.”

He blows out a breath then sees Mags holding out a basket toward him.

“You want to give them their keys?” she asks.

“Not really,” he says quietly, but takes it from her, anyway.

“This fucking—” Zandor starts, and his wife nudges him. “This place is tits,” he amends.

She rolls her eyes and sticks out her hand to me. “I’m Bekah Steel. You must be Phoenix.”

I shake her hand and nod. “Nice to meet you.”

“Nice, man,” Zandor says, giving Gage a bro hug.

“I know,” Gage says with a nod. Then he looks over at me, and I roll my eyes.

When Ricco drops Kat to her feet in front of us, she shakes her head and mutters, “Dick.”

“You like it,” he says.

She shrugs. “So?”

“Hi, I’m Phoenix,” I say, sticking out my hand.

She looks at it, and Ricco nudges her. “Kat,” she introduces herself. “Is there wine somewhere?”

I laugh and nod. “Long trip?”

She shakes her head. “I’m in the country. If I’m going to survive this, I’m going to need wine.”

“Mags,” Gage begins, “Kat needs some wine. Not sure we have any. Maybe you could give her some shine?”

“Shine?” Kat asks.

“Proceed with caution.” I laugh as Mags grabs her hand.

I look over to see Brand is handing out keys to the men. The little girl, Kiki, is following him around. I watch him glance at the one Gage called Little Bell, and his face reddens when she smiles at him. I then look at Gage, who is talking to Zandor about Falcon’s Landing.

Gage

“This place is fucking amazing, man,” Zandor says, looking around.

“Thanks,” I return, looking toward my brothers in the distant field, building that damn fence.

“Gray and Garrett?” he asks, following my gaze.

I nod.

“How’s that all going?” He nods toward them.

“Better than expected,” I say honestly.

“And the little man? When will you—”

“Already knows. Walked in on an adult conversation, asked an adult question, and I couldn’t lie to him.”

Zandor nods toward Brand. “Looks like he’s doing good.”

“Hell of a lot better than I expected,” I say, looking in the same direction.

“And you?”

“Yeah, I’m good,” I answer, watching Phoenix as she talks to the Steel women while handing out drinks, glancing back at me every once in a while.

“She’s a hot, little—”

“Watch it.” I shoot him a look.

He laughs. “You do know I’m married? Got a kid on the way?”

Feeling a little like a dick, I nod.

“I get it. You’ve claimed it, and now you gotta protect it.”

“Protect it? I wanna either lock it up or knock it up. Sometimes both.”

He squeezes my shoulder. “Welcome to the club, man.”

I look at him. We grew up together. He and I fucking partied together, swapped ass, and gave little to no shits about anything else but family, baseball, and the next fucking challenge.

“What the hell happened to us?” I almost laugh.

“They did.” He nods toward where Bekah and Phoenix are standing and talking.

“They sure as fuck did.” I shake my head. “Let’s get you all settled, and then you can all feel free to explore. Around six, let’s all meet for dinner down by the lake.”

Phoenix

When they are all settled and Brand is off in the field with who I now know is Bella, Jase and Carly’s daughter, showing her where someday soon he will have a horse, Gage and I walk down the road toward the house.

“You good?”

I nod. “They’re all nice.”

“Did you think I’d want a bunch of dicks around you?” he asks, which makes me silently chuckle. “What the hell does that mean?” he asks, referring to my laughter.

“Well, the men far exceed the female—”

He grabs me up, one arm under my knees, the other behind my back. I link my hands behind his neck and kiss him.

Against his lips, I whisper, “My man.”

“My woman.” He smiles against my lips.

“Mmmm...” I pull back and look into those eyes, those not so mysterious eyes that are even more breathtaking now that I know what most of his looks mean. They mean everything.

I hear a car in the distance and look back over his shoulder as I rub my thumb on the anchor tattoo on his neck

“I got you, too,” he whispers.

“Well, good, because I don’t know anyone else in the world who can hold me down, anchor me, and lift me up at the same time.”

His eyes narrow. “I’ll always do that, squirt.”

“I know.” I kiss the tattoo. “Now my parents are here. You wanna set me down?”

He shakes his head no. “But I will.”

I kiss him quickly again before he lowers my legs, my hands still linked behind his neck. I don’t want to let go.

He winks

“You nervous?”

He shrugs. “Might be if I wasn’t sure this was what we both wanted.”

I step away, taking his hand in mine as the car gets closer. He squeezes it then walks toward the now parked car and opens the passenger door.

My mom looks up, her eyes widening when she sees him.

“Mom, this is Gage, my...” I pause, and he squeezes my hand, giving me encouragement. “My boyfriend.”

Before she has even stepped out, my father is out of the car and next to me. “This place is yours?”

Gage takes my mom’s hand and helps her out as he nods to my dad. “Yes, sir.”

“And you live here?”

“When I’m not here, I’m at my place in New York City,” he answers. “Nice to meet you. I’m Gage Falcon.”

“What do you do in the city?” my father continues his line of questioning.

Gage is shaking dad’s hand, and my mom is still clutching his other, so I interrupt, “Gage, my father, Arun, and my mother, Bopha.”

“Welcome to Falcon’s Landing,” he says as I hug my mom, and she finally releases his hand.

“So, you live in the city and here?” my father continues, not missing a beat.

“Dad,” I start, hoping to remind him he doesn’t have to rush. We have two days for him to question Gage.

Gage winks at me. “Why don’t you take your mom and show her where they will stay, while I give Arun a tour.”

I realize I haven’t even come close to preparing him for the fact that my parents are so used to finding out as much information about the people they come into contact with in a short amount of time in hopes to build what they consider a relationship based on a thirty-minute treatment. That this...this may feel like a CIA interrogation.

Gage

Arun asks a lot of fucking questions, mostly about my line of work and Falcon’s Landing. I get the feeling he thinks I’m undecided about what it is I want to do when I “grow up.” I’m not used to men firing question after question at me. If he was anyone else, I would have ended it really fucking quick. But since Phoenix is his daughter, I allow it.

Within twenty minutes, he knows I own a construction company that was started by my mother and adoptive father, he knows I have been running it from here for the past month, he’s met Mags, and thankfully, Mags gave him a few sips of shine so he’s not so fucking uptight.

Sitting on the back deck, we watch the Steel families all playing in the lake, and I decide that since he’s a little bit more chill, there’s no time like the present.

“Arun, I would like you to know that I have every intention of asking Phoenix to be my—”

“You wanna marry her.” He nods and looks around. “She’s a hard worker. She can help—”

“I’m marrying her, not hiring her,” I tell him.

He looks at me. “Marriage will last if you work side by side. You are never more important than she, and she never more important than you. Partners in everything.”

I nod. I get what he’s putting down, and from what little Phoenix has told me, it makes perfect sense.

“She wants to work, she can. She wants to stay home and have a dozen kids—”

“No.” He shakes his head. “Phoenix must work.”

The man is pissing me off a tad. I want to tell him it doesn’t matter if she does or doesn’t, but then he leans in.

“Phoenix must work, just like her mother. If she doesn’t work, she’ll feel less valuable. She doesn’t feel of value to you, then you don’t marry her. My daughter was raised to work and not expect or take a hand out. My grandchildren will be raised the same.”

I nod. “Agree.” I hold out my hand to shake his. It feels kind of like a business arrangement, but I will take it.

He leans in. “October is best for us for a wedding. Big wedding.”

I see Phoenix and her mother coming out of the house and look at my watch.

Thirty fucking minutes, that’s it?

I look up, and Phoenix shrugs.

I give her a holy shit look, and she laughs.

“Beautiful place, Gage Falcon.” Bopha smiles and gives a slight bow.

“Thank you.”

She takes my hands and looks at them, and then looks back at Phoenix. “He’s a hard worker.”

Phoenix smiles. “Yes, he is.”

“Marry him,” she says, pinching her cheek.

“Oh, my God, Mom,” Phoenix gasps, but in her beautiful, almost black eyes, I see happiness, excitement, and acceptance.

“October, big wedding, already discussed with Gage,” Arun tells his wife.

“What?” Phoenix gasps.

I laugh, and when she looks at me, I tell her, “It’s already been discussed.”