Page 116 of Bearly Hanging On

“None left to speak of.” Mack pulled me back against him, holding me close. “But you can be sure we’ll keep Harper safe going forward.”

“That’s all I wanted.” Mum seemed to master herself. “I’ll expect that invitation to meet Kieran’s parents next week, shall I?”

My mother, ladies and gentleman. For someone who’d put up with a lot of crap from the dudes in her life, she sure seemed good at asserting herself with me.

“We’ll see,” I said. “Now, Nanna, did you need help with the rest of the cleaning up?”

“I’ve got it,” she said. “And anyway, those two idiots in there still have two hands and a heartbeat, if not a brain cell between the two of them. Inappropriate questions? That’s a sign of dementia, right?”

“Love you.”

I hugged her close, pressing a kiss to her forehead, before pulling away.

In the car, Tor turned to the rest of us. “So, about that cream pie…?” He wiggled his eyebrows outrageously.

“For siccing your whole family on mine without prior notice?” I spluttered. “The only cream pie you’re getting is to the face.”

“You want me to eat you out after I’ve blown my load in you?” he asked, stroking his face. “Kinky…”

“You kiss your mother with that mouth?” Kieran asked.

“The pet stores are still open, right?” Mack consulted his watch. “We can grab a muzzle or something.”

“How about we just head home,” I said. “Somehow surviving dinner with the fam was scarier than dealing with your brother, Mack.”

His eyes met mine in the rear vision mirror and he nodded slowly.

“Home, a rest and then…” I knew what was coming.

“Cream pie!” Tor shouted, pumping his fist in the air.

Chapter 49

Kieran

If I thought that was the end of intense family meetings, I was wrong. I was lying in bed, Harper’s head on my stomach as she read one of the many, many smut books she had on her Kindle app, when a call came through for me. I picked up my phone, glanced at the screen, and then went to toss it down on the bed.

“Your dads again?” she asked, looking up from a scene where a shadow daddy (what the hell was one of them?) was turning his girl into a puddle of goo. I may or may not have been getting some pointers. “You’re gonna have to talk to them at some point.”

“Nuh uh.”

She snorted at my immature response.

“You might have to go to work at some point.” Her eyes rolled up to meet mine. “I mean, if you’re independently wealthy, now’s a good time to let me know.”

“We’ve got enough.” I sucked in a breath, letting it out slowly. “But me and the guys have been talking.”

“Oh, yeah?” I knew I was in trouble when her phone was set down and she rolled over to face me. “About what?”

“So…” Why was this so hard to say? “We were thinking that we might quit working for my dads.” Her brows creased slightly. “And start our own business.” They jerked up as she stared at me in surprise.

“Yeah.” I didn’t know how much I needed to hear her say that until I did. Harper sat up. “I mean, it makes sense. But you’ve been working for your dads the whole time.”

“I have, but…” I remembered my mum’s words clearly. “I think it’s time we branched out, did our own thing. We’re not kids anymore.”

“No.” She ran a hand down my bare chest, waggling her eyebrows at me as it dropped lower. “You’re not.”

“And to be honest, if I have to listen to my dads read me the riot act one more time, we might not be a family anymore.”

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