Just because she was having so much fun, Rubi lifted to her toes and kissed him, eyes open—as were his—sharing a silent message of we’re in this together.
When she lowered, he pulled his arm from her grip and circled Rubi’s shoulders, tugging her toward the kitchen. “I’m going to introduce Rubi around, Uncle John. ”
“Why don’t you let me do that?” Both Wes and Rubi turned toward the voice.
A middle-aged woman stood beside John. Hair a mix of blonde and gray, Rubi guessed she was in her late fifties. Her eyes were blue, and Rubi could see a lot of Wes’s handsome face in this equally handsome woman—the high cheekbones, the beautifully shaped mouth, her eyes.
“I’m Susie Lawson,” she said, her smile warm and genuine. “Wes’s mother. ”
Great. She’d just sniped family in front of Wes’s mother. Just another episode in Rubi’s version of how not to win friends and influence people. But she had to admit, poking John’s ego had alleviated her immediate panic and placed her in a “safe”—or at least safer—emotional zone.
She held out her hand to Susie. “Rubi. ”
“Aren’t you refreshing?” The woman’s smile deepened with the same mischievous sparkle Rubi had often seen in Wes’s gaze as it darted to meet her son’s. A silent communication passed between them, one Rubi couldn’t read. She led Rubi toward the kitchen. “Let’s see who else we can set straight tonight. ”
Rubi bit her bottom lip, then glanced down at Wes’s petite mother. “I don’t know what Wes has said, but you should know I’m really not good with the whole family thing. ”
Wes’s mother’s gaze was filled with flash and humor as she patted Rubi’s arm. “Oh, sweetheart, I think you may be more of a natural than you realize. ”
Twenty-Three
Wes watched Rubi stroll away with his mother. He smiled as something shifted inside him. Something deep and warm and un-freaking-bearably sweet.
He’d just fallen in love with the woman. All over again.
“She’s certainly gorgeous. ” His sister’s voice drew his gaze. “You won’t have to worry about forgetting that—or reminding anyone else. ”
Wes refocused on Whitney with some crazy-ass fizzy brew messing with his stomach. “But the best thing is”—he took the beer Whitney held out to him and met her gaze with a smile of fresh confidence—“she’s even more beautiful on the inside. ”
She didn’t hide a flash of suspicion. “Sure you’re not just blinded by love, bro? You’ve always been a closet romantic. ”
“Don’t tell her that. Romance freaks her out. ”
“How’d you convince her to come? I thought she said no way. ”
“She did,” Wes said. “Then changed her mind and just showed up today while I was at the VA with Wyatt. ” He glanced at Whit and shook his head. “What a cluster that almost turned out to be. ”
He relayed the story about Melissa and the kiss.
“And you still convinced her to stay? You must have a serious way with words. ”
“Me? Way with words?” He lifted the backs of his fingers to her forehead as if testing her temperature.
Whitney batted his hand away. “True. I forgot who I was talking to. ” With her gaze on Rubi and his mom again, a sly grin edged her mouth up, and Whitney cut her gaze toward Wes with a slight lift of her chin. “This ought to be entertaining. Let’s see if she can slice a few inches of those two. ”
Wes hoped it was entertaining in a good way. He’d always believed Rubi could handle herself in any situation, but this new vulnerability around family was more than a little unnerving.
He and Whitney both took a drink from their bottles, watching as his mother introduced Rubi to his cousin Martin—the I-made-partner-last-month-what’s-new-with-you CPA, and his cousin Sam—the check-out-my-latest-Mercedes attorney. Both men, about five years older than Wes, turned from their conversation and focused directly on Rubi with a deer-in-the-headlights sort of shock.
“They’re frothing at the mouth,” Whit said, her voice droll with disgust. “Not a surprising start. ”
“Give her a minute,” Wes said. “She likes to make them feel comfortable before she plunges the knife. ”
Martin and Sam chatted easily with Rubi for a few moments. Wes caught a word or a phrase, but nothing more. Whitney must have been just as diligently struggling to hear the conversation, because she wrapped her fingers around his wrist and pulled him toward a snack table closer to the group. Wes kept his back that direction, facing Whitney as he speared a piece of salami with a toothpick.
“Russo Industries is owned by my father,” Rubi was saying, “and even though he and I aren’t close at all, he is all over that rig Wes built for Wyatt. It is a truly cutting-edge design, let me tell you. Dolph cherry-picks every project, and when he believes in a product, you can bet he’s going to send that inventor into the stratosphere as a rising star. But I’m having a hard time convincing Wes to entertain the idea. He’s so focused on getting Wyatt back on his feet, selling the rig is the furthest thing from his mind. ”
“Fascinating,” Martin said with all his manufactured sophistication. “What would something like that go for? Hypothetically, of course. ”