Page 41 of Protecting What's Mine
She returned his grin. Like recognizing like.
Linc held up his hands. “I’m just laying it out there for you, Dreamy. We’re two of a kind. Peas in a pod. We can practically read each other’s minds. Why wouldn’t we want to settle down and show the rest of this town what happily ever after looks like?”
The fire chief was an expert level flirt.
Mack sighed theatrically. “I guess I’m going to need a new pair of shoes.”
“Okaaaay. Maybe I’m not reading your mind all the time yet.”
She stepped in a little closer, testing the proximity.
“I just keep trampling hearts and getting heart juice all over my shoes. Looks like you’re lining yourself up to be my next victim.”
Linc’s laugh was a loud, appreciative rumble.
“What are you two talking about over there?” Claire wondered.
“Pizza,” they said together.
“Peas in a pod, Dreamy,” Linc said under his breath. “Peas in a pod.”
THE KIDS WERE FEDand then sent off to a corner of the yard with a blow-up projector screen and a movie, leaving the adults to eat and chat. Meals were plated, drinks poured, seats taken.
In what Mack thought of as an interesting twist of fate, a latecomer arrived: Joni, Luke’s first wife’s mother. And with her, her long-time boyfriend Frank, a grizzled foreman with Luke’s construction company.
Linc was one of the first to greet Joni, and Mack was surprised by the tight hug they’d exchanged. They had no link that she could identify. In fact, the woman had no real link to the family either. Her daughter, Karen, had died years ago. Yet here she was, chit-chatting with Ina Moretta and Claire while the kids called her Aunt Joni.
The only negative undercurrent Mack could pick up on was Luke’s dislike of Linc. And even that felt more like habit.
“What’s with the salad fest, Garrison?” Linc asked from where he crowded Mack on her left. Broad shoulders, beefy thighs.
The host was staring morosely at his plate of vegetables. “Lost a bet,” he groused.
“Five years ago,” Harper interjected at his side. “He’s been putting off the consequences until this week. But he officially used up his last free pass, and now he must pay.” A dimple winked to life in her cheek.
“I’m wasting away, Harp,” Luke complained, but his hand was gentle as it threaded through his wife’s hair.
“You’re probably dropping your cholesterol by twenty points,” she teased, cuddling into his side.
“I can’t believe you’re making me do the whole week,” he said, staring longingly at the chicken on his mother’s plate.
Claire made a show of savoring her forkful. “Aldo, this chicken isfabulous,” she said with a wicked smile. “I’ve never tasted anything so delicious.”
“Mean, Mom. Mean,” Luke complained.
“Mom! Dad called Gram mean,” Robbie, the oldest, teased as he strolled by to refill his plate. He was sixteen, and the adults had been razzing him about a girlfriend and his learner’s permit.
“I heard,” Harper said, reaching a hand out for her son.
“He’s so grounded,” Henry piped up, trailing his big brother to the food.
“Are the kids behaving?” Harper whispered to Robbie.
“Yeah, they’re fine. But Lucia bribed Henry to bring her another brownie.”
“Make it a very small one, please.” Gloria sighed and rolled her eyes.
“You know, if you weren’t such an amazing baker, Lu and I wouldn’t be sugar monsters,” Aldo added.
