Page 97 of Risky Game

She’d willingly put me in charge since that very first day in my office, and I wasn’t letting go of that control now.

The waiting, though, was hell. I gritted my teeth through a loud and highly off-key rendition of Happy Birthday. Amelia and Luke blew out my candles before I could make a wish.

We laughed through it all, and more than that, I was comfortable. For the first time in a long time, I didn’t only have a woman I was growing to care a great deal for, but her family was fantastic. Kind. Welcoming. I could see Christmases, four kids tearing through presents in the blink of an eye. Hell, I could see more than that. I was only thirty-seven. I could have more kids. I’d never wanted Amelia to be an only child anyway. It’d been my own selfishness that prevented us from having more. But Ruby?

God. Damn. Way to put the cart before the horse. She was only twenty-three. She had school to finish. Dreams to chase.

Hell… maybe I was reading the last twenty-four hours all wrong.

As soon as the cake and ice cream were eaten, and the women went on clean-up duty out of habit, I suggested Amelia and Luke go watch a movie in the movie room. As soon as they were out of the room, I turned to the remaining adults and Brittney.

“I have something I need to say.”

The room went so silent a pin could have dropped. I glanced at Ruby. Her face had paled.

Whether my tone of voice or my stance, she opened her mouth, reading me perfectly. “Logan—”

“What’s going on?” Jassen’s gaze bounced between the two of us.

Molly stared at her feet. Did she know? Oh no. Had she seen us? Or worse… heard?

“Logan.” Ruby snapped my name like a whip. She was so worried, the dish she held in her hand was shaking.

I turned back to Jassen. Risks be damned, I was doing it. Even if it all blew up in my face. “I need you to know something, and you’re probably not going to like it, but I’m telling you because I respect the hell out of you and the kind of man you are.”

His face turned to stone and his arms crossed over his chest. I’d never seen him look so serious.

Ruby was walking around the island, eyes wide. As if she could stop me.

“I’m seeing your sister.”

“You’re what?” His brows shot high on his forehead and he gaped at me. Blinked. Moved to look at Ruby. His gaze bounced back to me. “You’re her boss.”

Obviously. “I care about her.”

“It’s been three weeks!”

I knew all that too. “I still care about her.”

He could spew all the reasons why this was wrong, all the things I’d already considered, but only one thing made this good.

“You…” he sputtered, still gaping, still wide-eyed and blinking. He reminded me of a fish out of water. “You’re fucking him?”

“Watch it,” I growled. “I’ll talk about this all you want but don’t talk to Ruby like that.”

“It’s okay, Logan.” She set her hand on my arm and her voice was soft. Not angry. Sad maybe, but when I yanked my glare off Jassen and resettled on her, she was smiling up at me. “I will kick you in the shins for this later.”

I’d take the pain.

“It just happened,” she said to her brother. “I don’t know what will happen, and I definitely wasn’t planning on telling you tonight, but—”

“I won’t lie to you,” I told him. “Especially after tonight. You dropped everything you had to be here for me because Ruby asked you to because you love her. I don’t… hell, I don’t know what will happen. I don’t have a crystal ball, and I am asking you not to tell anyone on the team quite yet, but I do care about her. And you.”

Molly, for her part, was smiling, or trying to fight one. Yeah. She had to have seen us in her house. Fortunately, she wasn’t throwing me under the bus for it.

Jassen would probably blow a gasket. Bleach his entire bathroom.

“You’re fourteen years younger than him,” he told Ruby. Like we hadn’t already done the math. “And Paulie…”

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