Page 78 of Anything for You
“Glad you’re here, Stone. If you need a break, I’m sure Will and Jude will be your excuse whenever,” Jess said, winking at me as she glanced back to see Jude tucking Will into a baby carrier strapped to his chest. The giant of a man ducked his head and pressed a kiss to his son’s wispy-haired head. As she turned back to us, her eyes widened and she whispered, “Boom. Pregnant again.”
I cackled at that, as did Kenny, Liz, Elise, and Luc. Glancing up at Dorian, I found his eyes already on me, a look I couldn’t decipher on his face. My heart flipped, and I cupped my free hand around our joined ones.
“You okay?” I asked as he shut the truck door and locked it, then began our walk across the street to the store.
He nodded, raised our hands to kiss the back of mine, and tugged me along.
I hadn’t thought about the fact that this would be the first time my friends, his friends, and anyone else in the community would see us out together. In some ways, we’d been in a wonderful little bubble on his farm. But stepping out hand in hand on the way to support my friend and doing ittogetherinstead of telling him about it later… it honestly felt a little like a dream come true.
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
Dove
Jo signed my book, then stood to hug me again.
“Thank you so much for coming, Dove. Truly. And I’m so happy Stone came, too.” She notched her chin up in a very Saint Security dude move and I knew she must be acknowledging my date.
“Me, too,” I beamed. “And thanks for writing another book I can devour this weekend.”
“You should’ve seen them when we pulled into the parking lot. Absolute fire.” Elise widened her eyes, and Liz nodded from where she sat behind Jo, assisting.
A blush consumed my entire head and neck as Jess chuckled from behind me and Catherine, Winnie, and Nikki grinned at my other side, having gone through the signing line before me.
“Okay, I need to hear more about this stat,” Jo said, signing Jess’s book and giving her a giant hug. “And I alsoneed to snuggle Willy-baby, if your husband will give me a turn later.”
We all turned to see a grinning, proud Jude bending slightly, a portion of the carrier folded down to reveal sweet Will’s head, and six giant, muscular, badass men absolutely heart-eyed and cooing at the tiny one. The baby held Bruce’s index finger in one hand and Kenny’s in his other. Adam was saying something to him, Tristan was brushing one of his wisps of hair from his brow, and Luc and Dorian were simply beaming.
My heart lurched and tears sprang to my eyes. I turned to surreptitiously wipe them away, but found my friends sniffling right along with me.
“Okay, this is ridiculous. Why are weallcrying?”
Liz shrugged one shoulder. “I’m not crying. But my husband is, so that probably still counts.” She cast a loving gaze in Kenny’s direction and I couldn’t help but follow it to see Kenny dip his head to the side to smudge a tear into his shirt.
“I think it’s the way they love each other and love that baby. They’re not acting like it has nothing to do with them or like they’re ambivalent. It’s how we feel about Will, too, because he’s Jess’s, and we love her. But you just don’t see men behave this way as often, and I have to say there’s nothing more magnetically masculine and appealing than a man being gentle and loving to a baby or small child.”
Leave it to Nikki to bring logic and clarity to the situation.
“Well said. It’s incredibly attractive,” Winnie said. “Like, kind of on a primal level, I’m pretty sure it makes me want to reproduce.”
“Relatable,” I quipped, right as Elise said, “Okay, I’mglad you said it because I literally just thought, ‘And I’m ovulating.’”
We all laughed at that, and the person standing behind Jess cleared her throat. Thankfully, Bel Morris was no stranger to the whole “gorgeous man being a sweet dad” situation based on what I’d seen of her and her rock star husband around town.
Liz stayed to assist Jo and the rest of us scooted away, each taking a flute of champagne and enjoying the small bites being passed. It was a super-classy setup and I wished Nan had come, but she’d had other plans on her social calendar.
Radio silence from Hawk had been a blessing, but when I wasn’t in my normal routine of work or seeing Nan, I did find myself worrying he might show up and make a scene. Granted, if he had any kind of brain, he’d know showing up here with that group of guys just inside the door was the height of stupidity. Even if he had no idea who the rest of the Saint guys were, he wouldn’t be able to miss Dorian’s towering form.
I got caught up in chatting with friends for longer than I’d meant to, and when I looked around for Dorian, my heart squeezed when I spotted him. I’d checked on him here and there and he’d seemed to be engaged in whatever conversation at the time, but now, it’d shifted.
He stood with a rigid set to his shoulders slightly farther out of his group of friends. The bookstore had filled now that the formal portion of the signing had begun, and it was pretty packed.
As I watched, Dorian’s jaw flexed and his eyes shut while his chest rose on a slow inhale.
“Hey, guys, I’m going to head out. I’ll see you for bookclub, right?” I accepted hugs and blew a kiss to Jo before beelining to Dorian. “Hey, ready to go?”
“What? We don’t have to go.” Even his voice held strain.
I wanted to wrap him up and cradle him, he was being so preciously stubborn. “I’m ready.”
