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The next night, she left all the food in the kitchen. No one said anything to her as they grabbed some food. She wasn’t in the mood to eat. But as she headed towards the smaller living room, she came to a sudden stop as she heard noise coming from the dining room.
With no small sense of amazement, she stepped inside. They were all in there except for Alec and West. And they were loud. They were talking over one another. And they were snatching from each other’s plates. But not one of them wore a pair of boots. Or a hat. And they were eating in the dining room.
Jaret turned to her. “About time you got here.” He pointed at the head of the table where there was an empty plate and cutlery. “Sit. Eat.”
She sat. “So,” she asked when there was a lull in the yelling. She had to admit she was getting used to the way they roared every word. At least it was lively, unlike dinner at her aunt and uncle’s place which had been somber enough that someone could be forgiven for thinking they lived in a funeral parlor. “What’s your favorite dessert?”
They all looked at each other. “You bake?” Maddox whispered.
She blinked, surprised by the reaction. “Well, yes. I figured tomorrow night I’d make dessert. What would you like?”
They all yelled out their favorite treats, none of which were the same, of course. She held up her hand with a laugh. “All right, one a night. Tomorrow night we’ll start with lemon meringue pie.” Which had been the one Jaret had called out.
He winked at her. “You’ve done it now, babe. They’ll never want to let you go.”
She found herself wishing that were true. Even if the two oldest Malones didn’t like her, this was the closest she’d had to a home in years.
And wasn’t that just sad.
4
“What are you doing?”
Mia let out a screech and dropped the tray of brownies she’d been transferring from the oven to the counter. The tray landed on the floor, thankfully, missing her toes and the brownies flew everywhere.
Shit. Shit.
She turned to stare at Alec, her heart racing, her breath coming in pants. She tried to calm herself, but she could feel herself trembling. Nausea bubbled.
Calm.
“Fuck. Mia, you okay?”
Suddenly, he was looming over her and it did nothing for the panic swirling through her stomach. She took a step back, flinching.
Immediately, he froze, and a look of awareness crossed his face.
“Baby, easy. I’m not going to hurt you.”
It was the gentlest he’d ever been with her. And she could feel herself starting to calm as he simply stood there. Not moving, not threatening, no hint of cold disdain on his face.
“Easy, now. Just breathe with me. In, then hold for two then out for two. That’s it. Good girl. That’s a good girl, Mia.”
Oh, God, those words. They sent a wave of warmth through her blood.
“S-sorry,” she said. “You just g-gave me a fright.”
His gaze narrowed and he opened his mouth to say something, so she slipped to her knees to avoid the questions looming. She didn’t want to talk about the panic attacks that had plagued her since she’d come across the dead bodies of her coworkers. The fact that not a night went by where she didn’t wake up shaking and sweating from a nightmare.
She hadn’t had a good night’s sleep in months. And couldn’t see that changing anytime soon.
But even worse than all that would be talking to Alec Malone about it. What was he even doing up? He’d managed to avoid her for nearly two weeks now, why couldn’t he have kept doing that?
She started gathering up pieces of brownie and placing them on the tray. Well, that batch was ruined.
She felt him kneel across from her but ignored him.
“Mia.”
