“No problem,” I mutter. “Glitter and grease is all the rage.”
She laughs loudly, swiping up a huge glass of red and having a healthy glug. “Is that for me?” she asks, pointing to the bottle I placed on the side.
“Yes.”
“Oh good.” She necks the rest of her glass, a whole half glass, and immediately tops it back up.
I toss Sal a questioning look, but he just shrugs it off and necks his Scotch. I’m not being intuitive, since Sal has told me there are issues, but maybe I’ve underestimated them. There’s some serious unrest in the Walker household.
“Mia,” Moya screams, making me jump and Sal wince. “I said get off the trampoline.”
“I’ll see to it.” Sal sighs, heading out into the garden. “Mia, come on. Daddy has to sweep off the soggy leaves.”
Two seconds later, all hell breaks loose, Mia screaming and Sal shouting. I flinch repeatedly at the ear-piercing screeches coming from Sal and Moya’s tiny little girl, and Moya’s jaw visibly tenses as she slams a basket of bread down. “Oh, can’t he do anything properly?” she mutters, going to the door. “For God’s sake, Salvador, don’t wind her up!”
“I’m handling it, Moya,” Sal shouts. “Mia, come here.”
Another scream. And another, this one drawing out for-fucking-ever. I put my hands over my ears to protect my drums, my wide eyes on Moya’s back as she waves her arms frantically, slamming stuff here, there, and everywhere.
I’m stunned. It’s fucking anarchy here. How the hell does Sal live like this? When I think it might be safe, I slowly remove my palms from my ears, hearing the screams have stopped, but they’ve been replaced with crying and a chiming sound coming from the front of the house.
“Oh, that’s the door,” Moya says, slipping her oven glove back on. “Would you mind, Ty?”
“Sure.” I head for the door. “Who else are we expecting?”
“Sal’s new assistant,” Moya calls.
“What?” I blurt, spinning away from the front door to face an empty hallway. I couldn’t have heard her right. “You mean Lainey?”
“Yep,” Moya shouts from the kitchen. “I told Sal it was about time I met her.”
“Oh fuck.”
“And Gina couldn’t make it.”
They asked Gina, too? I would question why my assistant neglected to mention that, but I know. Mac. He was getting ready to impress. He has a date with Gina, and she didn’t want me to know.
I look between the kitchen and the front door. Part of me is delighted, since I get to see Lainey, but a bigger part is dreading dinner even more now. How the hell am I going to play it cool? Keep my eyes to myself?
I dash for the door and swing it open, slipping outside quickly and pulling it shut behind me. I knock a stunned Lainey back in the process, the plant she’s holding crashing to the ground. I ignore the smashed pot and piles of soil surrounding it, and instead grab her and snatch a quick kiss.
“What the hell?” she cries incredulously, pushing me away. “What are you doing here?”
My lips straighten. “What are you doing here?”
“Sal’s wife wants to meet me. If I’d known you were here I would have tried harder to worm my way out of it.”
“Sal didn’t mention I was coming?”
She looks at me, panicked. “He’s not exactly chatty at work.”
Oh God, this is going to be the worst kind of hell. “Any ideas?”
Lainey quickly looks at the door, then to me again. And before I can usher her along for an answer, she dives at me and smoothers my lips with hers. Okay, so not what I had in mind, but I’m damned if I’m going to deny her. I hum and gather her up, deepening our kiss while mentally talking my dick down.
“Down, boy,” she mumbles into my mouth, subtly pushing her groin into my solid length.
“Oh, this is going to hurt,” I whimper, dotting light pecks across her bottom lip. “Please don’t look at me. Not even a little bit, okay?”
“I can’t promise that.”
“Lainey, please,” I beg. I need all the help I can get.
“I’ll try.” She wrenches herself away and watches as I adjust my groin area on a groan. “Sorry.” She shrugs.
“No, you’re not.” I narrow an eye on her. “Ready?”
“No,” she admits, looking down at the ground. “And you’ve broken my gift.”
“A plant?”
“It’s a peace lily, actually.” She drops to her haunches and starts gathering up the broken pieces of ceramic, and I laugh, really loud.
“Shit, this place could use a million peace lilies.” I dip and help her out, just as another scream sounds out from beyond the door. “See?”
“Wow, what’s going on in there?”
“Murder, I think. Hope you brought your ear defenders.”
She laughs lightly and stands with me. “Come on, then. Suppose we need to get this over with.” She truly looks panicked. I can guarantee, she’s not as panicked as me.