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Ayesha beamed.
Lilly turned to Joel. “Hello, Mr. Lattimore. Good to see you as well. Theo tells me he loved the book you read together.”
“So did I,” Joel said.
Ayesha noticed Trevor didn’t offer to shake Joel’s hand, too busy studying her as if he recognized her from somewhere. The man was about as big as Gage, with blond hair, dark brown eyes, and low-cut facial hair that wavered between golden and auburn.
“How has Theo’s sleep been?” Lilly continued. “Good, I hope.”
“Great,” she said. “No issues.”
“Well, you still have the number if you need it.”
She and Joel nodded.
“Sweetheart, you’re crowding them.” Trevor tugged on his wife’s arm. “You two enjoy the rest of your time here. Mr. Lattimore, Mrs. Savea, it was nice to meet you.”
The couple waved and weaved their way back through the crowd.
“Hey, boys?” Joel tipped his head to let Theo and Josiah know he wanted them closer. “Eesh, he called youMrs.Savea. NotMs.Savea or even Mrs. Lattimore.”
“Maybe Lilly told him I’m a widow?” she suggested, but even she’d felt the odd chill the man left behind. “And why would they call me Mrs. Lattimore?”
He lowered his brows. “You’d have a problem with that? You’d have a problem being Mrs. Lattimore? When my heart bleeds for you?”
“Then get a glass. I’m thirsty.”
“Vampire.” He leaned down and gave her a quick kiss. “Stay here with the boys. Right here. I’ll be right back.”
Before she could ask him where he was going, he was off.
“Ma, did something happen?” Josiah asked. “Because there was a man watching us.”
“What man?”
“He’s gone now.”
“Where was he watching you from?”
Josiah pointed. “Right where Joel’s headed.”
* * *
“You want to tell me why you keep popping up in places where my woman is?”
The man turned around.
“It’s Adrían, right?” Joel asked. “You show up at the restaurant, call her phone, and now you’re here. I’m going to need you to explain how that works.”
He’d spotted Adrían shortly after Lilly and her husband walked up, Adrían trying to blend in with the sea of people around them. It probably would have worked had the man been six inches shorter and watching someone else’s woman and children.
Adrían extended a hand. “We finally meet.”
Joel shook it, and they simultaneously drew back before they ended up with permanently set jaws, bent fingers, and fractured wrists.
“To answer your question, I’m not following Ayesha,” Adrían said. “I’m following Theo.”
“And why the fuck are you following my son?” Even though they were in a more secluded part of the museum, he knew the staff wouldn’t appreciate having to clean up human remains. So, he forced himself to think about Ayesha, Theo, and Josiah needing him in their lives to stop him from choking the life out of the man in front of him.
