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Shelby gave a tiny shake of her head. “I’m too busy right now to think about dating.”
The answer softened Rox’s expression, and by then they’d reached the patio. Five minutes later, Mae had gone through another round of introductions with the aunt and uncle, cousin Phoenix, and Grandpa Ira and Grandma Irene. She smiled across the way at Merit’s other sister, Celia, and her husband Robert, and then in the chaos of getting everyone situated with extra family members who weren’t usually there, she found herself seated at the huge outdoor table with Janine Diamond to her left and Merit on her right.
Across from them were his aunt and uncle and grandparents, and his dad sat kitty-corner to Janine at the head of the table. Mae had a split second of Holy, shit, I’m sitting two chairs away from the senator who’s going to be my baby’s grandfather! She’d met the man a few times, and he’d been super nice, but it was still surreal.
She shot Honor a forlorn glance at the opposite end, and her friend offered an I’m sorry grimace as food plates started to pass. Mae smiled back and squared her shoulders. It wasn’t like she was a little kid who needed her hand held. She was a grown, capable woman—a single mother to boot—who ran her own damn construction company. She could handle brunch with Merit’s family, Senator and all.
She put a few pieces of fruit on her plate, then added a lone slice of bacon and small scoop of scrambled eggs. Merit took the eggs, spooned some onto his own plate, then passed the dish on. A second later, his hand landed on her knee under the table and squeezed. She jerked her gaze to his as she automatically reached to cover his hand. He flipped to thread his fingers with hers, and her pulse sped up at the warmth in his brown eyes.
Okay, so maybe someone to hold her hand wasn’t a bad thing.
“You good?” he asked under his breath.
A hint of tension in his tone had her tightening her grip for a moment. “Of course.”
“Mae?” Janine asked from her left. “Juice?”
She jerked her hand free of Merit’s, her face heating as she turned to his mom to accept a carafe of orange juice. “Thank you.”
After that, she mostly listened to the surrounding conversation as she picked at the food on her plate. Beside her, Merit was equally quiet as he ate his food as if he hadn’t had four pancakes at her house only a couple of hours earlier.
Her mind wandered further back to the moment she’d opened her eyes that morning. After more than seven years sleeping alone, it had been a very weird sensation waking up with a man in her bed. A mostly naked one at that. She vaguely recalled him spooning close when he first slipped beneath the covers, but when she woke, he was sprawled over three quarters of the mattress, as if he was used to having the bed all to himself.
She wasn’t sure if that made her feel better or worse. Better because he didn’t share a bed with anyone, worse because did that just mean his sex life was nothing but a string of encounters with no meaning?
But he’d said there’d been no one since Honor’s bakery opening. No one since he’d found out she was single and available. After all she’d heard about him, could she really believe he’d been pining for her for months before the wedding? And maybe after?
Maybe pining was too strong a word. Hoping? Wanting? Because, lord knew she’d thought of him often enough since their first meeting in November at the night of his father’s election into the Senate. And every time he’d asked her out after the bakery opening, it had been harder and harder to brush him off, until she’d gone all in the night of the wedding.
With all those crazy thoughts running through her head as she watched him sleep, she’d then run her gaze over his sleep-softened features, the fan of his dark lashes against his cheeks, the scruff on his jaw, and down across the broad expanse of his shoulders. His waist narrowed to trim hips, tight ass under his briefs, and muscled thighs.
And she’d smiled to herself. Yes, it had been weird waking with him in her bed, but she sure as hell wouldn’t complain about the nice view. And the night before…well that had been a hell of a lot better than nice. From the moment she’d turned around and found him taking up all the space in her bathroom doorway, resisting the pull between them had been impossible. Only this time, Thank God, she didn’t have the fog of alcohol to dull her memory.
Vivid images of their time in the shower and on the couch had her body heating up, and her breath shortened the tiniest bit.
“Can I get you something else, Mae?”
Janine’s question jerked her back to the present. Mortified at where her thoughts had been, not to mention her physical reaction, she dropped her gaze to her plate. “Oh, no, thank you. I, ah, I’m not very hungry this morning.”
“Everything okay?”
“Yes, of course. Everything’s fine.”
Other than the fact I’m thinking about my night of sex with your youngest son while sitting next to you, his mother.
And, oh, God, as she was thinking about that, his mother had said something else, and she was too freaked out to listen. “I’m sorry, what was that?”
Janine extended her knife toward the butter dish, but didn’t actually take any. “Exciting news about the baby. I’m really looking forward to being a grandma.”
Mae stiffened at the words. Her body flashed hot, then cold as she stared at Janine. “I-I thought he didn’t tell you yet.” She twisted the other direction to furiously whisper at Merit. “You said you didn’t tell them yet.”
His gaze darted to his mom, his dad, and back to her. “I didn’t,” he bit out as he leaned closer. “She was talking about Honor.”
Oh.
Shit.
“Yeah,” he agreed, and she realized she’d cursed out loud. “See, I had figured we’d tell them after brunch. In private.”
