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Hannah came and pressed a kiss to his lips, which he wasn’t sure was the greatest idea. No guy wanted to see his sister being kissed. But he understood and appreciated why she did it.
Xander understood, too. “Seriously, Hannah? I get it. You’re with him. It’s serious. I’d better not say anything about it, and I’d better be good to him, right?”
She laughed. “Yep!”
“Message received. And you didn’t need to suck on his face to get the message across.”
Hannah just laughed again. “Shut up. And go and meet Scooter.”
They walked back through the house to the kitchen in silence. When they got there, Xander stopped.
“Do you have something to say?” Grady asked.
“Yeah. Just … I don’t want to be an asshole about it, but I just hope you’re the person Hannah and Jacob think you are. If it were just Hannah, I’d be giving you a hard time till I figured you out. But you’ve won Jacob and Slade over, so I reckon you must be okay.” He smiled. “They’re both usually as bad as I am when it comes to the guys who Hannah dates.”
He didn’t think Xander put it that way to have a dig at him, but either way, Grady needed to set him straight. “She told me she doesn’t have a great history with men, but …” He met Xander’s gaze, realizing for the first time that he was built like a brick wall. Oh, well, if he wanted to swing for him, Grady would just have to take it, but he had to say this. “I’m not just another guy she’s dating. I love your sister, and she loves me. We’re serious about each other. If I wasn’t serious, I wouldn’t be with her. I don’t have a great track record myself, but that was before I had Ava.”
Xander held his gaze for a long moment, and Grady held his breath, wondering what was coming. Eventually, Xander smiled. “Damn. I didn’t expect you to lay it out like that, but thanks. You don’t owe me any explanations. It’s up to the two of you what you do. Like I said, I didn’t want to be an asshole about it …” He laughed. “And now I don’t think I’ll need to be. Come on, let’s go get this dog of yours.”
~ ~ ~
“I can’t believe that he’s so good with her,” said Chelsea.
Hannah grinned. “I know. I wouldn’t have believed it myself if I hadn’t seen it.”
Becca raised her eyebrows. “Do I have him all wrong then? Ava’s told me all about her wonderful Uncle Jacob, and what I’ve seen only confirms her rosy view.”
Hannah put her hand on Becca’s arm. It seemed to her that Jacob was taken with Becca. She didn’t want to spoil his chances before he even had one, but she liked Becca and she didn’t want her being blindsided either.
“He’s a good guy. I know I’m biased; he’s my brother. But he is a good guy. It’s just that he hasn’t been around children before. Until recently, I would have told you that he was only interested in the business, and he didn’t have time for much of anything else. But these last few months, he’s changed. He’s mellowed, and I’d say that he’s started to remember – or perhaps to understand, the importance of family.”
Becca nodded and looked back at him and Ava. Beside her, Chelsea jerked her head toward the door. Hannah didn’t want to leave Becca by herself, though. “I’m going to pop to the kitchen, Becca. Do you know Mary Ellen?”
Once she was confident that Becca and Mary Ellen were getting along, she headed for the door, knowing that Chelsea would be hot on her heels. When they reached the kitchen, Chelsea gave her a stern look.
“Do you think that’s wise?”
“What?”
“Becca seems like a sweetheart, but Jacob’s … well, he’s Jacob! I love him to pieces, you know I do. But he’d eat her for breakfast.”
Hannah couldn’t help laughing. “Umm, not a visual I want in my head, thank you!”
Chelsea laughed with her. “You know what I mean. He’s … Jacob! He works hard, he plays hard. He takes no prisoners. They seem to like each other, but she seems so sweet.”
“I know what you mean, but Chels, he really does seem to be mellowing out. And he’s different with her. Watch and you’ll see what I mean. He’s gentler, he’s attentive. I’m not sure I can even describe it properly. Usually, you only ever see him with women dangling off his arm. As though he has them along like some kind of status symbol. The few of his dates that I’ve ever met have either been beautiful airheads, or equally beautiful cold, manipulative types. I didn’t even worry for him, because I knew they couldn’t hurt him, and he wasn’t interested in them for their personality anyway.”
The door opened behind her, and Grady and Xander came in. Grady had Scooter on his leash.
“Did the party end up in the kitchen?” Xander grinned at Chelsea. “Or are you causing trouble?”
Chelsea laughed and flipped him off. “There’s no party without you. And I’m trying to prevent trouble.”
“What kind of trouble?”
Hannah blew out a sigh. “Chelsea’s worried about Becca.”
“Why?” Grady asked.
