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He hands me an espresso and grins. "Got it in one, how did you know?"
"Well, Kylian, I've met. I poked him with a candy cane."
"She did," Kylian confirms with a wink. "Got me in trouble with the missus."
"And he''—I point to the stupidly handsome Baxter brother who's leaning against the kitchen bench, arms folded, watching me like a hawk—"looks like if I poked him with a candy cane, he’d have me arrested for it. So that's Damien. So that leaves you. The one I shouldn't leave my drink unattended around."
The ones I identified as Matthias and Kylian roar with laughter, and even Damien breaks out into a grin.
"Moonshine, I think you're going to fit in just fine around here," Matthias chuckles.
"Stop calling her that, her name is Luna," Kingsley growls, coming into the kitchen behind me, fresh from our shower, in a pair of black pants and a blue polo that makes it seem like his eyes are portholes into a different dimension. To be fair, it feels like if I look at any of the Baxter men for too long, I might be transported to far away land.
"Butyoucalled her Moonshine," Kylian grumbles.
"That's none of your business. Do you call My-Linh'Kitten?'"
"Not where Damien can hear me." Kylian flicks his eyes to Damien who stares back with a look that wouldn't have looked out of place on an assassin. "Er, just kidding. Really. Please don't kill me. Kiara would replace me in a matter of hours and I don't want some other guy wearing my suits. Oh, speaking of which…"
We all turn to the kitchen entrance just as three women walk in, talking and laughing amongst themselves. I recognize them from the jubilee committee meetings, but I've only ever seen them on a computer screen. In person, I can't help but feel intimidated by them. They're all incredibly well spoken, intelligent and creative. Beside them, it's hard not to feel a little inferior.
"Luna!" the woman I recognize as My-Linh calls out, striding through the kitchen to me and, without taking a beat, pulls me into her arms in a tight hug. "It is so lovely to meet you! Wow, your hair is so gorgeous, you'll have to show me how you get it tostay in that bun all day." She turns back to the other two women who are watching us. "Keeks, come here. Look how shiny her hair is!"
Kiara, Kylian's fiancée, strolls over, a little more cautiously. But when she reaches us she gives me a big smile. "I'm Kiara. My-Linh calls me Keeks because she has a death wish, but also a guardian angel who will allow no harm to come to her." She leans in and whispers. "The guardian angel is Damien. But we call him the angel of death behind his back."
Damien speaks for the first time. "Kylian, would you tell your girlfriend that I can hear her please?"
Kingsley's youngest brother yells across the kitchen to his fiancée, "Kiki, Damien told me to tell you he can hear you. Maybe you should ask him for a new car while you're talking."
Kiara turns to My-Linh and basically shouts. "Sis, my birthday is coming up in ten months..."
My-Linh dissolves into adorable giggles and gives me a wink. "Kiara actually is a billionaire in her own right. Don't let her try to convince you that she's some downtrodden woman or else she’ll never pay for drinks."
"Hey! Don't tell people that!"
"Right. I'm the poor one, remember," Clarissa finally comes over, joining us, giving me a wink.
She's so beautiful it almost takes my breath away, like a Grecian goddess with long copper curls, and green eyes. She'd be intimidating if I met her anywhere else, but for some reason, I feel safe with everyone here.
"Please. She's a Masters. Of Masters Auto," Kiara scoffs.
Clarissa makes a face. "No, Iwasa Masters of Masters Auto. I have since been disowned. It's a whole thing. Luckily the Baxters took pity on me."
Matthias comes up to hug her from behind. "That's right. She's my personal housekeeper now. Keeps my house free of other pesky women looking for my time and attention."
She rolls her eyes and grabs his face between her hands, squishing his cheeks together. "He actually does that on his own with his ugly face."
Damien comes over, gently tugging on My-Linh's arm. She beams up at him, gives him a kiss on his cheek and whispers something to him that makes him smile. He buries his face in her hair for a moment, whispering something back before he returns to his perch in the back of the kitchen, watching over the scene.
"Kylian is good with scaring women away, too, but he's handsome," Kiara says. "It's his abhorrent personality and personal hygiene that keeps them away."
"Witch."
"See? He can't even remember my name," she jokes.
I can't stop laughing the whole time.
Even when Kingsley comes up behind me to drop three heaping spoonsful of sugar into my coffee and press a soft kiss to my forehead. Everyone stops talking for a second, watching us, eyes as wide as eyes will widen.
