Page 43 of You Complicate Me

Yeah, this is a guy who’s ready for marriage.

“Are you guys helping her out of this, or am I?” Gage growled.

Grace shifted her eyes to Nick. A muscle in his jaw tensed, but he said nothing. Great, no help there. “It’s not your business, Gage,” she said quietly. “But…if you can find a way to help subtly, I say go for it.”

He turned on his heel and marched his stiff shoulders and squinty, annoyed eyes right up to Michael. After a few seconds of heated conversation, Sadie gave Michael a quick kiss on the cheek and walked over to Nick, Gage hot on her heels. Michael stubbornly crossed his arms over his chest and held his place in line.

Grace smiled at Sadie as she sat down at their table and snagged a fry off Nick’s tray. “Problem?”

Sadie smiled back. “Nope. Gage just didn’t think that roller coasters were a good idea, since we’re still recovering from food poisoning.”

She glanced over at Gage and struggled not to roll her eyes at the lame-ass excuse he’d come up with. He gave her a sharp stare, telling her with his eyes not to contradict him.

“I’m sure that’s true,” she eventually said, striving for her most benign tone. It was the same tone she used with clients who were just sure none of their employees would ever steal from them, that they’d know if something like that was going on.

For the record, more often than not, they were, and they didn’t.

As Sadie sat down and started talking to Nick, Grace caught Gage’s eye again and mouthed, “Lame.”

He scratched the side of his nose. With his middle finger.

Real mature, Gage. Real mature.

Not to be…out-matured, Grace brushed her hair off her forehead with her middle finger, then one-upped him by crossing her eyes at him.

Take that.

Then she realized she was having a one-finger salute fight with her almost thirty-year-old cousin and suddenly didn’t feel so proud of herself anymore. For some reason, Gage always brought out her inner twelve-year-old.

Later that evening, after Michael had ridden every ride in the park and Grace had eaten her body weight in fried yummy goodness, they all went back to the hotel. In the elevator on the way to their rooms, Nick said, “I might be willing to admit that you were on to something with my sister. I’ll talk to her.”

Grace let out an inward sigh of relief. Outwardly, she merely nodded and said, “Whatever you think is best. No pressure.”

She was rewarded for her easy-going response with a kiss that damn near stopped her heart.

Hmmm. Maybe there was something to this whole “go with the flow” thing after all. Who knew?

Chapter Twenty-one

Dinner that night wasn’t a complete train wreck, Nick thought to himself rather happily.

Sure, Gage and Sadie still had a disturbing amount of nearly R-rated eye contact, and Sarah still looked at Nick like she was mentally castrating him. But Brad hadn’t shown up until dessert, (“Gee, was I supposed to invite him?” Gage had said, completely devoid of sincerity. Nick had discreetly knuckle-bumped him on that one) and Ruthie had only insulted gays, the Irish, and the Catholic clergy (long story) a few times. She’d made one waiter cry, but the 35% tip Nick had given him seemed to make him feel better. (There was nothing he could do to make it up to the gays, Irish, and the clergy. They were on their own.)

“Did you talk to Sadie?” Grace asked as they got out of the elevator to head back to their rooms.

He nodded. “She’s just nervous about meeting all of you and wants to make a good impression. I don’t think there’s anything to worry about.”

She frowned up at him. “You led the witness, didn’t you?”

“What does that mean?”

“You asked her questions, she didn’t have good answers, so you made up your own answers, and she readily agreed with you. You led her to the answer you wanted. That’s called leading the witness.”

She was more right than he cared to admit. His talk with Sadie had been a little tense. When he’d started asking about her relationship with Michael and why she was suddenly so damned agreeable about everything, she’d gotten defensive. And when he’d asked about what was going on with her and Gage—and with the sexual tension that practically choked the air out of the room when they were together—she’d shut down on him completely.

But he didn’t really want to admit any of that to Grace at the moment. So, instead he said, “God, you’re hot when you lawyer like that.”

Because that was true, too. Grace was damn hot when she lawyered. And looked at him. And said his name. And breathed in his general direction.

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