Love in Game (De La Fuente Family 6)

Kasey answers and all I can hear is his agreement, and, “Send them up.”

He clicks the intercom off and turns to look at me, pausing for a moment before explaining, “Um, my brother’s on his way up?”

I blink in surprise and sit on the sofa with him facing me on the coffee table. “Diego has obviously told everyone about you.” He winces and then laughs. “I just didn’t think it would be Eric coming to see me.”

“It makes me nervous meeting your family, but it makes me happy that they want to meet me.”

“Eric and Sylvia are the ones who live in Lexington. He’s retired from the army and works security for McKenzie Holdings, a company owned and run by our cousins.” He smiles. “Sylvia gave him a run for his money when she worked there.”

“How long do we

have before they’re here? I mean his wife is coming as well, right?”

“We have a few minutes, and yes, they’re both coming. Eric doesn’t travel without Sylvia.”

I nod. “While we wait will you tell me about Emelia and Dante? You said their relationship was complicated.”

He chuckles. “Complicated doesn’t really cut it, but the short version is that Dante left for school when Dad remarried. He was pissed that Dad had remarried within weeks of Mom’s funeral. The others were as well, but they stayed at home. So when Emelia and Diego were born, Dante was hardly ever with us as a family. Then as Emelia grew up, she fell in love with Dante, like he did her.

“He ran to the church because of the feelings he had for someone he thought was his half sister. Not long ago it came out that Emelia and Diego didn’t just have a different mother than us, but a different father as well. There was a lot of heartache but it worked out for the best.” I grin. “She’s about to pop with a niece or nephew for us pretty soon, otherwise she’d have been here before Diego to meet you.”

Softly smiling, I admit, “Your family and how much they love you, fills my heart.”

“They’re your family now as well.” He cups the back of my head and smiles. “I now have everything with you in my life. By my side, I want for nothing.”

I meet him in the middle for a gentle kiss that says so much about his feelings for me…and then there’s a pounding on the door.

It makes me jump back and glance at the door before I turn back to Kasey as he curses and shaking his head, gets to his feet. “I’ll let him in before he breaks the door down.”

Sighing, I watch Kasey as he jogs to the door. He makes me weak in the knees. His strong thighs lead to a firm bottom and a slim waist. The muscles rippling under his shirt as he opens the door quickens my pulse.

He catches my eyes as he steps aside so that his brother and wife can enter the apartment. Smiling but feeling nervous, I move toward them and find myself pulled into Sylvia’s arms.

“It’s so good to meet you,” she says as she releases me, and beams at her husband.

Kasey slips his arm around my waist as I shake hands with his brother. Eric looks more reserved than Kasey, and there’s an air of command exuding from him.

We move into the living room, and Kasey disappears into the kitchen with his brother. Sylvia sits beside me, and asks, “How’s your brother?”

“He’s okay really. They’re releasing him tomorrow, and I’m hoping that getting him out of that place might cheer him up. He still can’t walk.” I shrug. “It’s not going to be easy because he’s used to running at full speed, and then there’s the hockey. It’s been his life since he was a kid, so I can’t imagine what it will do to him if he can’t play anymore.”

“That will be hard, but if the doctors think that he might suddenly be able to walk again, then he needs to have faith in that.”

“I’m hoping the fresh air in Montana will take his mind off everything and help him heal.”

Sylvia is really pretty with her blonde hair tied back, and minimal makeup. Her welcoming smile and true concern for my brother makes me like her all the more, and because of her concern, I feel more at ease.

Kasey places a cup of coffee in front of me and hovers. There really is no other word for it as he stands to the side of me before his brother tugs him away to sit opposite.

I smile and watch as he sits in one of the armchairs with his brother Eric rolling his eyes in the one beside him.

Eric takes a sip from his mug and watches Kasey from the corner of his eye.

“What?” Kasey asks. “Why the long look?”

Sylvia hides her laughter behind her hand, but I grin openly. She leans closer and whispers, “They love nothing more than to wind the other up. It’s entertaining.”

“You, Brother…” Eric drawls and shaking his head, takes another sip of coffee as he rests an ankle over his knee before he smiles when his eyes touch on Sylvia. “Was I this bad with you?” He nods at Kasey.