Page 15 of Loving You

Sammy lifted a hand and waved at Rachel, and she returned it with a little wiggle of her fingers.

Oh, crap.I didn’t begrudge Rachel and Sammy their happiness, but now that I knew my sour mood wouldn’t have trusty old Eric for company, I felt a sudden wave of loneliness spread through me.

It was my own fault, of course, since I wouldn’t have felt alone with all these happy people if I would’ve just opened my stupid mouth and told them what was going on.

But as Eric and Sammy reached our table and the group started laughing and chatting about whatever’d been happening between them on their walk over, I realized how selfish it would be of me to ruin their fun with my drama.

Honestly, how could I do that?

Obviously, Rachel and Sammy were living out their very own romance novel with their accidental-pregnancy-turned-perfect-family situation.

Kate and Will were blissfully married with their teen and new baby keeping them busy with all kinds of domestic-blissy stuff.

And Ellie was about to marry the man she’d loved for practically her entire life after way too long of an engagement if you asked me. There was no way I wanted to rain on her parade.

Or any of their parades, for that matter.

My inner whining came to an abrupt halt when I heard my name coming from Eric’s lips. My eyes went there, but he’d already said whatever it was, and he wasn’t speaking anymore. He also wasn’t smiling anymore.

What had he said?

I shook my head. “Sorry, I was daydreaming. Did you ask me something?”

His jaw clenched, and something hardened in his gaze.

Was he pissed at me?

Yep.

Only, there was something different about the fierceness in his eyes that resembled anger caught in a choke hold of control. It almost looked… possessive.

Then, with a slight roll of his muscular shoulders, it was gone. “Ellie said you were planning to hire male strippers for her bachelorette party, and I asked if you were out of your fucking mind.”

His tone was light enough, but something warm slid through me and pooled in my belly at the quick flash in his eyes again. It wasn’tgrosspossessiveness, by any means. More like, sexy caveman who wouldn’t hurt a fly?

But just as before, it was there and gone in a blink.

Without missing a beat, I crossed my legs and propped my elbow on the table with my chin in my hand. This show wasn’t over, and I planned to fake my way through it if it was the last thing I did. “Oh, Eric. I’m sure everyone at this table knows I’m a little out of my mind, but that’s why you all love me.”

There were snickers and nods of agreement all around me, but all I could see was the slight twitch of Eric’s lips as he held my stare.

“Well, if anyone is asking for volunteers—” Sammy started, moving his arm like he was about to flex before wincing when Eric smacked him upside the head. “Ouch, come on. I’d be a great stripper.”

“You only strip for me, Sammy Walker,” Rachel growled, bursting into laughter when he attacked her with an enthusiastic kiss.

Ellie put her head in her hands and looked imploringly at Kate. “Save me.”

“No worries, friend,” Kate replied, reaching across the table to pat the space between them. “No stripper in this town is dumb enough to work a bachelorette party for a soon-to-be Walker woman. Especially not with the rest of them as guests.Includingtheir mother.”

Everyone shuddered at this, and for the first time in what felt like years, a genuine bark of laughter ripped out of me.

The image was so clear: Jenna Walker. At a bachelorette party.Magic Mike-looking strippers being yanked away from her daughters-in-law by her angry sons.

It was just too damn good.

And then, as I was wiping actual laugh-so-hard-you-cry tears from the corners of my lashes, I made the mistake of looking up at Eric’s face again.

This time, there was no fire in his dark eyes. There was no possessiveness, no anger, not even annoyance or disgust at the idea ofhis motherandstrippersin the same room.

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