Page 76 of Tango Down

Goddammit.

I hugged him to me and rubbed his back.

No need to wonder what Ma would say tomorrow when they came up for dinner. I’d tried to postpone it; I’d even sent Piper and Blake down there so they could catch up. My folks had obviously been worried sick all this time too, but I just knew that if I explained the current situation, Ma would put ideas in my head.

WhenI explained the situation. Not if. Come tomorrow, I’d be screwed.

“Boss!” Crew made his way over again. “I’mma get goin’. Can you give me Emerson and Danny’s contact information? I wanna stay in touch—and thank them for building you this wicked deck so I didn’t have to.”

I laughed softly and nodded. “I’ll text you their numbers. Have fun tonight, and don’t be nervous. The boy will like you.”

“He better.” He chuckled nervously and reached over to poke Julian’s cheek. “Andyou—you’re cute. The boss should totally adopt you and the other two.”

“Crew,” I chastised, instantly on edge. What the fuck?

Then Julian let out a snicker, and my annoyance evaporated. Sweet Jesus, that was an adorable sound.

“What? I’m just sayin’. You’re already our daddy at work. Always fussin’ and whatnot.” Crew was oblivious to Julian’s milestone or whatever I was supposed to call it. He merely shrugged and then eyed Piper. “So it was really nice seeing you again, Piper.”

Oh, for chrissakes. I coughed, or choked, on shock and amusement and…whatever else. My God, that kid had zero finesse, and he still got more shit done than most others—because he simply laid things out there.

Piper smiled stiffly, awkwardly, and put down her magazine. “You too.”

* * *

Crew Finlay

Got the magazines, passed the sniff-the-armpit test, minty breath, good hair, let’s go.

I headed into the restaurant, which was Jack’s favorite, according to Adrien, and I told the hostess my party was already here. ’Cause I saw them over by the window.Deep breaths. It was a casual place, barbecue fusion, mixing Texas barbecue with South America’s million flavors. I was here for it.

I walked past the large, circular kitchen at the center of the place, where steaks were being grilled over an open flame.

Get ready to like me, kid. I’ll bribe the fuck out of you. I have gold.

I took a deep breath as Adrien saw me, and he was that old-fashioned gentleman who rose from his seat to greet his date. Hot as fuck.

His smile told me he totally knew I was nervous.

“Hi,” I said. “Sorry I’m late.”

“I’d expect nothing less from a Marine,” he assured. “Hey, sweetheart.” He dipped down and kissed me briefly, so I guess we were doing that in front of the eleven-year-old. “Jack, I want you to meet Crew.”

I discreetly wiped my hand on my thigh—in my defense, the sweat came from holding the magazines. “It’s nice to meet you, Jack. Your old man’s talked a lot about you.”

Jack pushed up his glasses, then shook my hand and scrunched his nose. “You too. Dad says you drive too fast, so I think we can get along.”

I beamed like a fucking prince. This li’l geek liked to go fast? We could go fast. No problem.

“It’s my son’s one big flaw,” Adrien sighed and sat down. “He dreams of driving a Ferrari all the way to Area 51.”

“Well, they’re not going to let me fly a Nighthawk,so…”

Okay, he was a good kid. I sat down too, and I handed over all the magazines. “These are for you—so that you’ll like me. Now we can talk about renting a Ferrari.”

Because I have gold.

EPILOGUE 1

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