Page 55 of Bad Boys After Dark - Brett
Chapter Twelve
AFTER NOT NEARLY enough toe-curling kisses, Sophie and Brett forced themselves to stop making out and went to join the party. Sophie had a feeling she’d spend the next twenty-four hours hot, bothered, and flustered—and she wouldn’t mind it one bit!
As they stepped outside, Brett said, “Wow,” under his breath.
Even though it was daytime, lights were strewn above the patio, which was lined with buffet tables that were covered with dishes overflowing with food and decorated with gold and white streamers and balloons. The rectangular wooden tables her father and grandfather had built were lined up, creating a U shape around the middle of the expansive yard, above which more lights were strung from tree to tree, meeting in the middle, where the grass was mowed extra low to serve as a dance floor.
“Is that Axsel, the lead guitarist for Inferno?” Brett motioned toward Sable’s brother, playing his guitar beneath the big oak tree where a swing had hung when she was young.
“Yes. He’s Grace’s younger brother. He’s really nice. You’ll like him.” Axsel wore one of the knit caps that had become his signature style when he was a kid. Though he was gay, the girls in town swooned every time he visited. He was surrounded by a number of them now. Blankets were spread around the yard, and on them, couples cuddled, children played, and friends mingled. Lindsay was chatting with two of Grace’s sisters and a handful of other people down by one of the weeping willows that anchored the property by the creek’s edge. All the pieces inside Sophie felt as though they exhaled at the familiar, comforting scene, and when Brett put his hand on her lower back, she realized he didn’t seem nervous at all. That made her feel even happier.
“Your family throws a party like this every year for their anniversary?”
“Yes. Isn’t it fabulous?” She took his hand and led him across the patio to a table where a large chalkboard announced, LEAVE A FOND MEMORY OR AN ENCOURAGING WORD FOR NINA (NANA) AND PETE (POPPI). Beside the chalkboard was a red velvet journal, like the one her mother got for her grandparents every year. Photographs of her grandparents hung from clothespins on a line that ran the width of the patio.
“Everyone who attends writes something to Nana and Poppi.” She flipped open the journal and wrote, Nana and Poppi, I hope this is your happiest year yet and that I’m lucky enough to find love as pure and immense as yours. I love you, Sophie. She handed the pen to Brett. “Would you like to write something?”
“I’d love to.” He put pen to paper and hesitated, glancing up at her with a strange mix of emotions she couldn’t read, and then his pen moved swiftly over the page.
She was dying to see what he wrote, but her father’s voice boomed through the yard, catching them both by surprise.
“There’s my city girl.” Her father was a dead ringer for Dennis Quaid, soft around the edges, unless you messed with his family. Then hell hath no fury like Del Roberts.
“Hi, Daddy.”
He drew her into a hug, then held her by the shoulders and took a good hard look at her, as he always did. “Sugarplum, whatever this Brett guy’s got going on looks good on you.” He winked at Brett and said, “Don’t make me regret saying that, ya hear? Because if you hurt my baby girl, I’ll take you down like a hurricane.”
Brett stood up a little straighter and said, “Yes, sir. Understood.” He held a hand out in greeting. “Brett Bad. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“Del Roberts, and right back at ya, son.” He swatted his hand away and pulled Brett into a manly embrace. “You a football fan, Brett?” he asked as they parted.
“Yes, sir.” Brett’s arm swept around Sophie’s waist. “For as long as I can remember.”
“Well, good, because my girl loves football, and she can’t be with a sissy city boy.” Her father ran a scrutinizing gaze down Brett’s body.
“Dad!” Sophie glared at him. “Brett is manlier than any farm boy out here.”
“Thanks, baby,” Brett said. “Del, I might be a city boy, but I’m into sports, working out, driving my Harley, and most importantly, your daughter. What else would you like to know?”
