Page 316 of Secret Shifters Next Door

He rubbed a hand over his face. “I’ve got a long way to go before I’m totally good. At least I understand now that you and your family didn’t kill my brother. No different than if he’d been a firefighter. If he’d died in a fire, I wouldn’t have blamed the fire department. Not sure if what you and I are doing is right or wrong, though. All I know is that I care for you. MaybeLiam would approve, and maybe not. What I do know is that my brother would haunt the crap out of me if I didn’t protect you when I had the chance. Falling for you? Well, that’s an unexpected bonus.”

Blayne’s words slammed into me. I’d never been struck completely silent before, but all my comprehension of words disappeared. He’d been much more forward and honest than I’d thought he’d be. All I could do was continue walking beside him, picking flowers.

“Are you okay with that?” Blayne asked. “I know that was a lot.”

I got my words back and smiled. “I am.”

Blayne grinned, and I felt a storm of butterflies shudder through my stomach.

TWENTY-THREE

BLAYNE

Taking Ava to the lily field had been a success. Being able to talk to her like that had really helped to make things a little more normal between us. It seemed we were both starting to leave the shadow of Liam behind. That was a huge weight off my shoulders, and I was certain Ava felt the same.

We stopped at a little restaurant not far from the field for lunch. The conversation became much less intense. Instead of delving into deep and dark memories, we talked about silly things: favorite cartoons we watched as kids, music, movies, holidays—all the goofy things people in a relationship talked about. It was silly but also necessary. How could you really be sure you knew someone until you knew all the goofy things they enjoyed?

We’d been gone over four hours by the time I pulled back up to Gio’s house. The escort parked behind us. Gio was reading a newspaper out on the front porch. As we got out of the truck, he waved to us and started folding his paper.

“How was the day?” he called out as we walked toward the steps.

“Really good,” I said.

Gio nodded and put his paper aside. “Blayne, can I have a minute? In private?”

Ava narrowed her eyes in suspicion. “Why do you need to talk to him?”

“I think you know the answer to that, kiddo.” Gio winked.

She opened her mouth to argue, but I put a hand on her lower back to stop her. “It’s fine,” I said. “Your father and I do need to have a little talk.”

I leaned forward and kissed Ava on the cheek. She walked past us toward the front door, glowering at Gio. “Don’t scare him off.”

Gio chuckled as the front door swung shut, leaving us alone. “Well. I think this is the time when we havethe talk.”

I took the seat opposite him at the patio table. “I suppose so.”

“I guess we’ll jump right into it. What are your intentions with Ava?”

I shrugged a shoulder. “I want to get to know her and see where this leads. We’re taking it slow.”

Gio pointed at me. “You know, I could see what was happening between you two before either of you realized it. It scared me a bit. What with past history being what it is.”

“Gio, I’ve made peace with what happened to Liam. I’ll never beokaywith it. No one can be okay with losing someone they love. But blaming anyone else for the choices my brother made was not a healthy way to live. I swear to you, my intentions with Ava are pure. This isn’t some vindictive thing. I’m not lying about my feelings. I would never screw with someone’s feelings to get back at them, if that’s what you’re worrying about.”

“No, I wasn’t worried you were doing something like that. I just wanted you to be sure of each other before getting too deep. A lot has changed in the last ten years, and you both deserve to be happy. I want my daughter to be happy. But I wanted you to do it the right way.”

“Exactly,” I said. “I want us to take our time. We need to get to know each other properly. We never had that chance before.” I leaned forward, locking my eyes on his. “I promise I’ll take care of her for as long as she allows me to.”

Gio rapped his knuckles on the table. I felt like he was trying to look all the way into my soul. Satisfied with whatever he’d seen in me, he nodded and winked. “Okay, Blayne Walker, I think you truly do have my girl’s best interests at heart. Perhaps you can make an honest woman out of her.” He held up a finger. “We’re a traditional Italian family. If you get to the point that you all are getting really serious, you need to put a ring on that finger. Stuff like that matters to us.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. “Okay. I will keep that in mind. Anything else you wanted to talk about?”

Gio grabbed his paper and started unfolding it. “One thing. The message has been sent to Antonio. We’ll know what’s coming soon—likely very soon. You may want to check in with your boys. We need to be ready for whatever Antonio sends our way.”

A strange thrill of excitement and fear trickled down my spine. “All right. I’ll see how Ava’s doing, and then call the guys. We’ve got a big meeting planned today, anyway.”

I headed inside and found Ava in the den. She was putting her phone down as I came in. “Hey. I need to go meet up with the guys. Your dad says we’ve made contact with Antonio. We need to prepare.”

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