“You’d rather our sales be that shitty than admit Sam Baily is toxic and a crook and has no one’s interest at heart but his own?”
“Exactly,” Max said.
Man, Max sure did not like to eat crow.
“I guess we’ll find out in that audit,” Steve said, knowing better than to pick a fight with Max. It didn’t get either one of them anywhere.
“Right. Have fun in Boston, or wherever you end up, and tell Zach I said hey.”
How did he know he was with Zach? Probably because Steve was always with Zach. “Will do. Keep me posted. I should be home within the next couple of days.”
After he hung up, he turned to Zach. “Did you hear that?”
Zach grinned. “Sam’s really done it this time. He touched Max’s money.”
“Nobody fucks with Max’s money.”
“And you can finally tell Max you told him so.”
Delight shuddered through Steve’s body. “You have no idea how good that will feel.”
“A hell of a lot better than being fucked with a rusty-nail bat.”
“Unless you’re into that kind of thing.”
Zach cocked his head to one side, bangs sliding to cover one eye. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”
“Actually, no, I would not.”
Their pilot’s seductive voice came over the intercom. “We’ve been cleared for takeoff,” Jordan said. “That means turn off your phone, Steven.”
He would never tire of listening to that gorgeous British accent of hers.
Steve took a few seconds to send a text to Roux before shutting off his phone, and then he settled back in his seat for the short flight to Boston.
Eleven
Several pairs of hands reached for Roux’s phone when a text came through a little before nine. Sage had the fastest fingers.
“Is it from him?” Azura asked, looking over Sage’s shoulder.
“Yep,” Sage said, her gaze lifting to Roux’s.
Roux shrugged as if she didn’t care that he’d finally had the decency to text her back, but her heart had started hammering the moment the text tone had sounded.
“Well?” Mama Ramona said from the doorway between the kitchen and the enormous dining room where they were playing a rousing game of Monopoly. “What does it say?”
“See you soon,” Sage read.
“He’s coming here?” Iona said, eyes wide.
“I told you he would,” Raven said, elbowing Roux in the arm.
“Isn’t anyone else concerned that he’s a stalker?” asked Mitzi, who had somehow become a high school senior when Roux hadn’t been paying attention.
“He can stalk me any day,” Azura said.
“He’s not a stalker,” Sage said, clasping her hands under her chin and fluttering her eyelashes. “He’s in love.”
Roux rolled her eyes. “We scarcely know each other.”
“I think that’s about to change,” Iona said. “It’s really going to suck when you have to dump him before the tour starts.”
Iona’s stare was hard and could easily be mistaken for a warning. It wasn’t a warning, was it?
“Puh,” Mama said, setting down the refilled bowl of chips and reclaiming her spot in front of a huge collection of Monopoly property cards. “A tour lasts but a few months. Love can last a lifetime. True love lasts even beyond death.”
“Mama!” Roux said. “We scarcely know each other.”
The endearing yet mischievous grin they knew so well spread across Mama’s aging face. “I think that’s about to change.” She copied Iona’s sentiment and punctuated it with a saucy wink.
“Well, maybe I don’t want to see him,” Roux said.
Everyone—from seven-year-old Margaret all the way up to the septuagenarian that headed their patchwork family—laughed until they were breathless. Roux wished this cat had never left the bag. Her family could be merciless when it came to teasing one of their own.
On her next trip around the board, Roux landed on one of Mama’s hotels and went bankrupt, which gave her the out she was looking for. “I’m pretty tired after that long drive today anyway,” she said. “I think I’ll turn in early.”
“I guess Steve is mine, then,” Azura said. “He’s the kind of guy who needs someone who knows how to party.”
“This is why he likes our Roux so,” Mama said knowledgeably—as if she’d met the guy and knew how he ticked. “She is good and pure inside and out. I never have to worry she will get into trouble. A man wants that when he is ready to settle down.”
Azura scowled. “We can’t all be goody-goody. Besides, I don’t think settling down is what Aimes has in mind, Mama. Here, let me show you a picture of him.” She opened up a screen on her phone and began searching online.
“Good night,” Roux said loudly, getting a few mumbled responses from the girls and women crowding around Azura’s phone.
“Oh,” Mama said, a hand fluttering over her chest. “This one is trouble.”
“Which is why I didn’t call him until you all talked me into it. Now he’s coming here and . . .” She couldn’t freaking wait to see him. Ugh! Why? He was trouble. She shouldn’t court trouble, but damn, she wanted trouble to court her. “I’m going to bed.”
“Me too,” Raven said. “Good night.”
Everyone was still ogling online pictures of Steve when Raven followed Roux out of the dining room and slid shut the ten-foot-tall wooden pocket doors behind them.
“Let’s get you ready.” Raven grabbed Roux by the wrist and tugged her up several flights of stairs to the room they’d shared as teens. It was still decorated with Raven’s death metal posters and Roux’s colorful daisies. The house had eight bedrooms, so Mama said this one would always be waiting for them whenever they needed to come home. As an orphan, Roux needed that stability. Mama had recognized that need before Roux had. She’d never met a better, more selfless, understanding person than their mama.
Raven threw open their closet. “Something sexy, but not too obvious,” she said, sorting through a rack of clothes they’d left behind. They could wear the same size tops, so there was a large collection to choose from. Raven had more ass and shorter legs than Roux, so they could also share skirts and dresses, but not pants.
“I’m not dressing up for him,” Roux said.
“Yes, you are,” Raven said. “He’s going to all this trouble to see you. The least you can do is make him realize with a single glance that the effort was worth making.”
“Do you really think he’s coming here?” Her belly quivered from nerves or excitement, she wasn’t sure which. Maybe both.
“For sure. Why didn’t you call him sooner, you damned idiot?”
“He’s only interested in one thing, and though I’m interested in that too, sex with the hottest guy on Earth isn’t enough of a motivator for me to put our careers at risk.”
“First of all, yeah, it is.” Raven gave her a pointed look before shoving a black T-shirt into her side of the closet and pulling out a black sweater. Raven’s entire wardrobe was black. “Second, do you really think all he wants is sex? I don’t think the man has a hard time getting laid.”
Which did not make her feel any less nervous. She was no virgin, but she wouldn’t call herself overly experienced either.
“He obviously sees something special in you,” Raven continued, shoving the black sweater back into the closet and pulling out a black button-down shirt. “You just have to let it sparkle.” Raven held the shirt up to Roux’s chest, her head titled to one side. Her eyes lifted to meet Roux’s. “You do like him, don’t you?”
“I think so.” Her hands clenched, and she squeezed her eyes shut. “Yes. I do. I don’t want to, but I really do.”
“He’s scorching hot.”