A Perfect Ten (Forbidden Men #5)(115)

“Ten?” Gam’s curious voice came from behind his wife.

I peered around her to grin at him. “Hey, man. Ham and Blondie needed the place to themselves for a while, so I’m temporarily homeless. You take in strays here, right?” I stepped inside around his wife and sucked in a big breath, lifting my nose to the ceiling. “Damn, whatever that is cooking, it smells great. I’d love to stay for dinner, thanks.”

Gamble leaned a shoulder against the framed opening of the living room and lifted a non-impressed eyebrow as he crossed his arms over his chest. But his wife laughed at my antics.

“It’s nothing fancy,” she said. “Just tacos. And you’re welcome to stay, Ten. No problem.”

Ignoring her husband, I flashed her another bright smile. “Why, thank you, Mrs. Gamble. I’ll set the table.”

My offer made her face brighten, but she waved out a hand. “You don’t have to do that, but thank you. And you can just call me Aspen, you know.”

As I followed her into the kitchen, I shuddered. “Yeah, sorry. I don’t typically call women by their first name. It’s some kind of strange tick I can’t control.” I sent her a helpless shrug.

“Really?” She sent me a knowing little smile. “I’ve never heard you call Caroline anything but Caroline.”

“Hmm,” I murmured as I opened a cabinet door and pulled down a pile of plates. “If you want, I can come up with a nickname for you.”

Eyes flaring wide with horror, she shook her head. “No! Oh, no. I mean, really. No. If it’s anything like the one you gave Eva, I’d just as soon pass.”

“Hey, I will have you know Milk Tits loves her nickname.”

Aspen blurted out a laugh. “Yeah. I’m sure.”

“Wait. I have one.” I paused with a plate in hand to study her for a moment and draw out the suspense. Then I pointed and said, “Shakespeare.”

She instantly gasped. “Oh my God, I love it!’ A split second later, she seemed to realize she was acting too girly, so she blushed and covered her mouth. “I mean, thank you. I’ll take that one.”

With a wink, I went back to setting out the plates. “You got it.”

“Noel, Ten just gave me the nickname Shakespeare. Don’t you love it?”

I glanced around to find him leaning against the kitchen entrance now, his eyes narrowed as he watched me pull glasses from his cupboard.

“Since when did you two become such good friends?” he asked.

I opened my mouth to tell him that was none of his damn business but Shakespeare said, “Since I helped him with his resume a few weeks ago.”

I pressed both hands to my heart and grinned as annoyingly as I could. “We bonded. It was beautiful.”

Gamble contorted his face into an expression of supreme confusion. Then he glanced at his wife. “He didn’t hit on you, did he?”

She sighed and rolled her eyes. “Noel. Really?”

“Yeah, Noel,” I echoed. “Really? I was a perfectly respectable gentleman.” Then I winked at Shakespeare. “After we put our clothes back on.”

Gam’s face turned dark red. “You motherf*cker!”

“Oh my God, Noel!” Shakespeare grabbed his arm and started laughing. “He was joking. It was a joke.” She sent me a wide-eyed, cut-it-out look. “I don’t think he thought that was so funny, Ten.”

I shrugged and snagged a chip from a bowl on the table. “Well, it sure amused the hell out of me, which is all that counts. Some people,” I arched my eyebrows at Gam, “just take things way too f*cking seriously.”

“Where is everyone?” Aspen asked, desperate to change the conversation. “Colton! Brandt! Caroline! Supper.”

Colton came torpedoing into the room first with Brandt right on his heels. They both skidded to a stop when they saw me. Their eyes went wide as if they were sure I was going to call them out for what they’d done earlier.

But I simply sent them a big grin. “Hey, guys. Long time, no see.”

Brandt cleared his throat, ducked his face and hurried to a chair. Colton followed with similar meekness. I waited until they were both seated before I took the chair between them and slid down. They grew even more restless, and I almost busted a gut laughing. But damn, I loved f*cking with them.

As I was settling in, a breathless Caroline swept into the room, only to jerk to a halt when she met my gaze.

She wouldn’t stop gawking, so I sent her a cringe and pointed to myself. “I’m sorry, did I steal your chair?”

“What?” She blinked and glanced around at the places. “No,” she started, only to shake her head. “Well, actually yes, but you’re fine. It’s fine.” She sent her older brother a puzzled glance. “Uh...I guess we’re having a guest for supper.”

“He invited himself,” Gam intoned dryly.

Caroline shook herself again and finally took the last free chair available.

And so began our supper together as one big, happy family.

I was halfway through my second taco when Gamble frowned suspiciously at me and leaned across the table, squinting. I shrank away from him, hoping I wasn’t sporting a hickey or anything.

“Do you have a new black eye?” he finally asked.

I totally wasn’t expecting that question, so I said, “What?”