The Sister (The Boss 6)

“Shower or bath?” he asked as he helped me stagger to the bathroom.

Usually, my automatic answer would be my bathtub. I loved it so much, Neil had actually bought it from my old landlord and had a replica commissioned for our London townhouse. It was my favorite spot in our current residence, and though our love affair would inevitably lead to varicose veins, I treasured every moment of our illicit trysts.

But it wasn’t sized for two, and I wanted to be in my Sir’s arms more.

“Shower. And will you wash my hair, Sir?”

He kissed the top of my head. “I’ll do anything for you.”

And he really would.

****

The last time I took Neil to my hometown, it had been for Christmas. Calumet, Michigan in the dead of winter is a lot different than in June, and I was excited for Neil to see it. The lush green trees filled the fresh summer wind with the scent of pine, and usually, all of the snow had melted.

As long as we’d missed the first swarms of mosquitos, it would be a pleasant trip.

We flew into the nearest airport that could handle our private jet and took a rental car the rest of the way to the Keweenaw. Well, we took two rental cars, because my mother and Tony had come with us, and Neil could only travel so far with his mother-in-law.

“It isn’t that I don’t like her,” he repeated for at least the twelfth time since we’d left the airport. “She can just be…”

“A little much. I know.” I checked the review mirror and frowned at the pickup tailgating us. I gripped the steering wheel tighter. “Ride my as—”

Neil cleared his throat.

“—teroid, why don’t you?” I corrected myself. “Isn’t she asleep back there, anyway?”

Neil twisted in his seat and looked back at Olivia. “Dozing.”

“You shouldn’t be talking about my mom like that in front of her, you know. You’re so worried about me swearing,” I grumbled.

“I’m sorry. You’re right. Rebecca is a part of Olivia’s family, too. I should keep my criticism to myself.” He managed to go almost a full second before adding, “But did she really need to paint her toenails on the flight?”

“I get it from somewhere,” I singsonged.

The drive from Marquette to Calumet was an easy three hours of tree-lined highway, broken by the occasional small town. But Olivia had already spent most of her day in transit, so she hit her limit right around Baraga.

“Why don’t we stop at Grandma’s first, instead of going all the way out to the cabin?” I suggested. We’d rented a gorgeous property right on the lakeshore in Gay, but that would be another half hour of driving. “That’ll give Olivia some time out of the car.”

Neil looked uncomfortable at the thought. “We can’t just drop in on your family unannounced.”

“Sure we can. It’s not unannounced when you’re coming from out of state. And she knows we’re supposed to get here today. Besides, she’s expecting Mom and Tony.” And I kind of wanted to be there when Grandma met Tony. Mom was finally in a serious romantic relationship, something my family had kind of written off.

Which was shitty. While my relatives were loving and supportive, they seemed to think my mom had thrown away her entire romantic future by having me when she was a teenager. I remembered someone had called her an “old maid” when she was twenty-five. And it hadn’t helped that I’d successfully run off all the men she’d ever tried to date.

My stomach grumbled, and I went on, “And at least we can get something to eat at grandma’s.”

Neil looked like I’d just suggested I would pee on her rug. “You can’t just show up at someone’s home unannounced and expect them to feed you, Sophie, that’s rude!”

“It’s not rude! It’s Grandma’s house.” I lowered my voice so I wouldn’t wake Olivia. We only had a few more miles to Calumet, and I wasn’t going to spend them with a screaming toddler. “Besides, Mom and Tony are going to be staying there. Her hospitality has already been imposed upon.”

My grandma lived in the house I’d lived in after I was born, before she and my grandfather bought Mom the trailer I grew up in. The place looked pretty much the same as it had back then with the exception of the new slider door they’d installed when I was twelve and the bathtub surround that had finally been replaced to stop the wall from crumbling. My background and Neil’s couldn’t have been more different if we’d grown up on other sides of the solar system. This was something I was keenly aware of as we pulled into the driveway.

The door wasn’t locked—it never was—so I pushed it open and stepped inside. Neil followed hesitantly with a listless, sleep-bewildered Olivia on his hip. “Shouldn’t we ring the bell?”