Page 143 of Mayhem
“See. Just mannish,” her grandmother stated, and Erin started to think she had super hearing.
Lena nodded in agreement. “Yes, but that’ll work for us in the long run.”
Ancel snorted before shifting the conversation, and Erin finished her dessert before excusing herself to mingle with some of their other guests. They were spread out. Some were watching football, and others were holding different conversations. She found herself in another discussion with Emberly, asking her,Chayse, and Alijah for a little cousin, which Chayse made Taila’s problem.
“You know, Mom, I think giving me a sibling would be wonderful, and it would sort of give Emberly what she’s asking for.”
“Oh! A little auntie or uncle is acceptable, too,” Emberly agreed.
“I don’t normally curse in front of children, but hell no,” Taila responded, pulling laughs from those around them.
There was a knock on the door, and the console beside it lit up. Erin went to answer it and found Naidlyn on the other side to catch the end of the festivities. She greeted the other woman and stepped aside to let her in. She still wore her scrubs, and Erin was sure she was tired from her shift.
“Look, your mom’s here. Why don’t you pester her for a sibling,” Taila stated.
“Trust me. I have. Why do you think I’m bugging all of you?” Emberly responded.
Erin shook her head. It didn’t seem she’d escape the baby talk anytime soon.
Cruz stood at the bar, drinking his bourbon as he watched Erin laugh while talking to a few of their guests. She was glowing. The lilac wrap dress she wore contrasted against that smooth carob skin. It made him think back to his mother and Julia’s conversation an hour ago, but he shook it from his mind.
“She won’t disappear if you take your eyes off her for a moment,” Ancel teased him in Polish, joining him at the bar.
“When she’s the most beautiful person in any room she walks in, it’s kind of hard to,” Cruz responded.
Ancel chuckled. “I would tell you that was corny if it weren’t something I might have said.”
“Where do you think Paetyn and I get it from?” Cruz questioned, and the two shared a laugh.
“I can’t blame you. If I were twenty years younger,” Ancel teased.
“You’d still be too old,” Cruz pointed out. He’d be ten years older than Cruz was now and almost twenty years older than Erin.
Ancel chuckled. “You’ve got me there, but seeing the three of you so in love is nice, to see what you boys feel being reciprocated on the same level. Where both of you are equally invested in.”
Cruz furrowed his brow. “What do you mean?”
“You were both always more invested than your partners. They were nice women; they cared about you, but not on the level you did for them, and not equally, and I can understand that. Your type of relationship can be challenging. It’s easy to lean towards one more than the other. I don’t see that with Erin. The energy feels different, even from the two of you. You did well.”
“Dzieeki, Tato.”
Ancel smiled at him at the spoken rarity before patting him on his back and joining Bronson, who Cruz had discovered throughout the gathering might have a bit of an infatuation with Julia. He wondered if he was the only one who’d noticed, but highly doubted it because the older man was not at all subtle in his staring, random joining of conversations she was in when he had no clue what was being discussed, and him volunteering to serve her, and only her, dessert.
His attention shifted back to Erin as he took a drink from his glass, and it was only seconds later that her eyes met his.She smiled at him, excused herself from the group she’d been conversing with, and approached him.
“Are you drinking to forget what my grandmother and Lena discussed over dessert?” she teased.
Cruz chuckled. “I started letting her pestering go in one ear and out the other long ago. But if I recall correctly, it was you who told her you weren’t opposed to children with the right men.”
“Hmm. I did say that, didn’t I? I meant it, but not immediately.”
“You probably should have clarified that to my mother. Which means I’m going to blame today’s conversation on you,” he smirked.
“Me? You were the one who decided to inform them that you board my ship often.”
“There’s no point in pretending we don’t. They know we aren’t virgins. They actively want us to have sex.”
Erin shook her head at him. “What am I going to do with you?”
