Page 44 of If You Could Only Imagine
“Lots of reasons,” Denise countered. “Maybe his hands are busy…” She face-palmed herself as soon as her words registered.
“Oh, I bet his hands are all kinds of busy,” Shane teased.
“Shane!” Denise yelped, her face flushed.
“What?” she asked, Mason’s chuckle in the background.
“Oh, my God! Can we get back to the purpose of this call, please,” she muttered, clearly embarrassed.
Shane’s laughter subsided, and she asked, “Mason did you send out an invitation to Denise’s parents for a party in celebration of…uh, how I accepted your ridiculousness?”
I laughed as I watched Denise’s eyes bug out of her head. I couldn’t imagine what she was thinking listening to Shane speak to Mason in such a flippant manner.
“It wasn’t me, babe,” he answered. “But a party sounds like a good time.”
Denise’s hazel gaze shot my way. “Then who would invite my parents to a party no one knows about?”
“Michael,” came the immediate answer by me, Shane and Mason.
“I’m going to strangle that kid one day,” Denise muttered.
“Nu uh,” Shane chimed in. “I got dibs on that man’s neck.”
I laughed, not at all surprised that this was Michael’s concocted plan. “Thanks, guys,” I said, hitting the End button before they could even say their goodbyes. I looked up at Denise and waiting patiently for her apology.
She rolled her eyes and grumbled, “Okay, fine. Sorry…”
My lip tilted. I was doing my best to refrain from smiling at her obviously painful apology. “That’s it?” I asked. “You barge in here, accusing me of all kinds of evil doings, and that’s all I get?”
She cocked her head at me and stared at me like I was a simpleton. “Can you please call Michael and ask him what the hell?”
This time I narrowed my eyes at her and dialed Michael. “I’m just letting you know now, you’re sucking my dick in the only appropriate way of an apology that I’ll accept.”
Denise straightened her spine and crossed her arms over that glorious chest of hers. “Oh, am I, now?”
Michael’s voice came over the line before I could confirm. “What’s up?Oooohhhh,I’m on speaker phone. This must be good,” he said, echoing Shane, and I laughed. I’m sure Denise didn’t find it funny, but she’d get used to my family soon enough.
“Seriously?” she asked, looking over at me.
I got myself under control and spoke into the phone. “Michael, did you send Denise’s parents an invitation to a party for Shane’s company?”
The little twerp snorted. “Of course, I did,” he answered, his voice sounding completely reasonable.
“Why?” I asked, curious as to what had been going on in his mind.
“Dude,” he deadpanned. “Your charms obviously weren’t working, Aid. What was I supposed to do? Let her get away?”
Denise gawked. “Let me get away? This isn’t hunting season and I’m not a deer, Michael Buchanan.”
“As long as women are walking this planet amongst men, it is always hunting season, Dibtab,” he replied. “And you may not be a deer, but not even you can argue that Aiden went after you with all the instincts of a hunter tracking down the only thing left on the planet to eat.”
The man wasn’t wrong.
“You guys are crazy?” she mumbled under her breath, but we both heard her.
“No,” Michael argued. “I’m right is what I am. His way was not working, and so, I had to pull out the big guns. There was a chance you weren’t going to be receptive to our little talk because…well, because Aiden sucks at wooing women. So, I had to pull in the parentals in a manipulative tactic to make sure you weren’t going anywhere.” We were both silently stunned by his methods. “You guys may thank me later by naming your firstborn after me.”
My entire being warmed with Denise’s next words. “What if our firstborn is a girl?”
