Page 13 of Danger and Dominance
But as much as part of him wanted to see his parents again, wanted their approval again, there was one more sticking point.
“Good to know, but if we’re doing the holidays, they’re going to have to see Grandma, too, because I’m not leaving her out.”Their only living grandparent wasn’t actually blood-related to them.She was their mom’s stepmother.She’d married their grandfather when David was two, so neither he nor Audrey remembered life without her, and she’d always been a good grandparent to them.His mom didn’t feel the same ties, and when her father had died and her stepmother had gotten sick, her attitude had been ‘let her family take care of her’.
As far as David was concerned, she was his family.So, taking care of his grandmother was exactly what he’d done.Just another disappointment for his parents to add to the list of ways in which he’d disappointed them.
They’d disappointed him first.
“Well, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” Audrey said, that forced cheerfulness back in her voice.She couldn’t help but try to play peacemaker, which put her in an awkward position.One that David tried not to exacerbate.It was hard being the only person who talked to everyone.“I’m looking forward to living closer to Grandma so I can see her more often.”
“She’ll be thrilled to see you,” he said honestly.“And I’ll do whatever I can to help you with the bakery and the move.”
“What bakery?”Jensen asked as he came into the kitchen, dropping his beer bottle into the recycling bin and going to the cupboard to get a glass.David watched approvingly as he switched over to water.
“Audrey’s.She’s opening one in Pittsburgh.”All of his team knew of Audrey, and a few of them had met her, though it had been years since they’d actually gotten to see her.Jensen was one of the ones who had not had the pleasure yet.
“Hey, Audrey!”Jensen said loudly.“Congratulations on the bakery!”
“Bakery?”Mason popped through the kitchen door as if he’d been summoned, which wasn’t too surprising.He had a carb addiction and a sweet tooth a mile long, which was why he worked out more than any of them.He had to counteract all the sugar and carbs he put into his body if he wanted to maintain his physique—and he did want to maintain his physique.“What bakery?”
“Audrey is opening a bakery in Pittsburgh.On our street.”
Mason’s eyes lit up with interest.He was another one of the ones who hadn’t met Audrey before since he’d had his own family things going on when she’d been in town to see David.
“Do you think she’d be open to making baklava?”
On the other end of the phone, David could hear Audrey laughing.
“Tell whoever that is that I’m happy to make baklava and whatever other requests they want to put in,” she said.
“It was Mason,” he replied.He looked at Mason.“Audrey says she’s happy to make baklava.”He did not pass on the rest of her message because he had no doubt that Mason would take her up on it, and Audrey was too nice to say no, even if the requests got overwhelming.And Mason would have a lot of requests if he knew he could be indulged.
Cassidy
Only being able to hear snippets of what was going on in the kitchen was slightly maddening.She’d noticed the moment David had left the room, even though she’d been in the middle of talking to Drew and Naomi about the women’s shelter where Naomi worked.Although Peggy’s House technically took in whoever needed help, the majority of their clients were women.
Cassidy had donated some of the clothing, shoes, and jewelry she didn’t expect to wear.Part of her had wanted to donate everything to them and go shopping for a brand-new start, but she couldn’t afford that, and she wasn’t allowed to use her credit cards or apply for new ones.It left too much of a trail for right now.
Hopefully, once she got a job, she could get rid of more and go shopping for new things.Jennifer had reassured her that everyone on the list could be contacted by Black Fox and the situation would be explained to them so that they could figure out how to pay her.It was not a long list, but at least it was something.
“Who’s Audrey?”she asked.Whoever she was, David had wanted to talk to her so badly, he’d left the room, despite the fact he’d been hovering literally the entire evening until now.If he had a girlfriend, maybe she’d been completely misreading the zings of attraction she’d thought she felt between them.Maybe it was all one-sided.
Jennifer shrugged and shook her head—she didn’t know.
“Audrey?”Drew lifted his head from where he’d been looking at something on his phone.“That’s David’s sister.Why?”
“Audrey is opening a bakery,” Mason said, coming back into the room to join them.“She’s moving to Pittsburgh and opening a bakery on the same street as the firm.”He ran his hand over his stomach, smoothing the fabric of his shirt down, but the gleam in his eye said he wasn’t thinking about his six-pack but about the baked goods he was going to fill it with.
Claudia clapped her hands together.
“Great!I love Audrey!Maybe she’ll want to come to game night, too.”
Sister.Audrey was his sister.
The relief she felt made Cassidy want to kick herself.Just because she was attracted to him did not mean he was attracted to her, so being relieved he was talking to his sister and not a girlfriend didn’t matter.Especially since he’d been the least welcoming of the entire group.
Yes, he’d been watching her.Yes, he’d been civil.But he hadn’t exactly been encouraging or trying to make friends with her the way the others had.She wasn’t taking it too personally, though; he seemed to hold himself apart from everyone.Maybe because he was the team leader and not just part of the team.
Everyone seemed excited about the prospect of the bakery and of getting to see Audrey again—well, those who already knew her.Jennifer, Naomi, and Drew were delighted they were finally going to get to meet David’s sister.Mason was looking forward to both, although more the bakery than meeting David’s sister.The four of them had apparently only seen her in pictures so far.
