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His eyes look suspiciously watery as he rests his forehead against mine. “Always.” He kisses each of my eyelids before smiling and stepping back. “Let me get this out of the way then,
apart from checking a few things, I’m all yours.” After a quick kiss, Ryder pulls away and intertwines our fingers together.
At the opening into Kix, Ryder kisses me and goes off to meet with the supplier while I lean against the jamb.
My eyes search and find Reece who has his arms around his wife, while he whispers into her ear. I smile because the blush on Callie’s face says it all. They’re sitting with Jack, Thalia, Donovan, and Mara. I’ve been extremely lucky over the years to call them my friends, but not as lucky as having Ryder and the girls. They’re everything to me, and my new family have been a lot more accepting than I ever expected.
Cindy, Reece’s mother, was the most surprising out of everyone. After all, it had been her husband who had gotten my mother pregnant while they’d both been married to other people. She loves the girls calling her grandma and dotes on them as though a true grandma would. So yeah, I love my family.
Seeing Reece waving me over, I move in his direction and spot Jessie on the dance floor wrapped around an older guy. I frown because from where I’m standing it looks like Evan, the brother of Ryder’s first wife, who’d done nothing but blackmail Ryder and made his life hell before she died. I’d met Evan a long time ago and he’d seemed like a nice, but lonely, guy. I couldn’t help feel sorry for him because he’d lost the sister who had meant the world to him after a long illness. It’s strange watching him dance with my younger half-sister.
Ryder
For over an hour I’d listened to the rep bend my ear before I set him up with food and a drink at a corner table. I suppose it helps that I asked Sue to look after him in her female Santa costume that all the female staff have been asked to wear the week before Christmas. The male staff have been given the nutcracker costume—Dahlia’s idea—which I’ve received some grumbling about. The staff actually looks good and festive, but I think next year I’ll rethink the female costumes as they look suggestive, which I hadn’t intended.
Tonight is the first night they’ve worn them and more than one customer has had their eyes glued to Sue and Jaycee’s legs. So a new one for next year.
“Why the frown?” Jace asks.
I smile and tug him into my arms for a hug. I miss having my brother close and I’m enjoying having him and his family home for the holidays. I glance over his shoulder and see Savannah being shoved into a seat beside Dahlia.
Jace tracks my gaze and his lingers on his redheaded firecracker of a wife. He turns back to me so I ask, “Kids settled?”
He nods. “Jamie and Maize were flat out in bed when we left Mom and Dad’s. Charlie and Tammy were making Christmas Cookies for the concert with Mom.” Jace laughs. “The kitchen looked like a bag of flour had exploded.” Jace shakes his head. “Glad to be out of it.”
I laugh. “Liar. You love doing anything with the kids whether it’s messy or not.”
Jace sighs. “You’re right.” He turns and watches Savannah. “I never thought I’d have the life that I have now.”
Silence surrounds us while Jace is off somewhere in his head, and I look around my roadhouse. When I first started on this part of my life, Jace hadn’t been onboard and it had caused friction between us. At the end of the day though, he’s my brother and we’d do anything for each other.
But in truth, all this wouldn’t mean anything to me if I didn’t have Dahlia and the girls. They give me a reason to get up every morning, and with Dahlia by my side I always feel that I can do anything.
“Never thought,” Jace starts, “that I’d see the day when we’re wrapped around a woman’s little finger.” He chuckles. “Wouldn’t change it for anything.”
“Me either.” I wink at Dahlia before nodding toward the door. “What’s it like out there?”
“Snow’s deep and we wouldn’t have gotten through but for having a four wheel drive.” He shrugs. “There are only trucks in the lot so I’m guessing no one is going to be stuck out here. Although if it doesn’t let up any time soon that may change.”
“Those were my thoughts when we arrived. The girls are with Cindy for a sleepover, so at least we don’t have to worry about getting back to them tonight,” I admit.
“Savannah wanted to abandon tonight and stay with the kids, but Charlie was the one to persuade her that they were warm and safe.” Jace smiles. “He’s older than his years.”
Charlie, their adopted son, has a good head on his shoulders and I know exactly what Jace means. In the beginning, I think it was Charlie who held both Jace and Savannah together. I also think my brother’s family values have rubbed off on Charlie, and that’s a good thing because there isn’t anything he wouldn’t do for them.
I open my mouth to comment when Robin catches my eye and my heart drops to my feet. Dahlia is going to kill me when she sets her eyes on her half-sister, and Reece, well, I’m not even going to think about his reaction.
Jace, on taking a drink, glances at her before taking another look. He chokes on his drink. “What the fuck, Ryder.” He glares at me. “Reece will kill you having Robin in that.”
Groaning, I drop my head into my hands. “In my own defense, Robin wasn’t on staff when the dresses were ordered.”
Jace chuckles. “Well she certainly is now and the bartender is drooling into the beer he’s serving.”
That comment snaps my head around to see Jace is right. Leo has his eyes on Robin and his mouth hanging open.
I clamp my jaw together and glare at Jace when he laughs. “He’s her boyfriend,” I grind out.
“Ah, that explains the sultry looks she keeps throwing over her shoulder.”
