The Billionaire Next Door (Billionaire Bad Boys #2)(68)

“Nice to…meet you.” Rachel had to swivel her head to find her. She moved like a mini tornado. Gena’s glossy hair was smoothed back into a ponytail, her low-cut, red silk shirt not the least bit understated and her black jeans as tight as possible.

“You’ve been around our boy for a while.” Gena narrowed hazel-colored eyes.

“Claws in,” Tag instructed, palming Rachel’s back. The second he touched her, she relaxed some.

“You like her.” Gena grinned up at him.

“We don’t get out much,” Lucas said to Rachel in explanation. He placed the little girl in his arms on the floor—or tried to, anyway.

“Tad!” The girl held out both arms and reached for Tag. He obliged, taking her into his arms. “Airplane!” she cried, which sounded like “awwpwane” but it wasn’t hard to guess this little one had used Tag as her amusement park on more than one occasion.

As have I, Rachel thought with a smirk. Then her smirk died as she eyed Tag with a toddler on his hip. The sight of Lucas had been sweet and unexpected. But Tag? Who smiled as the girl tugged on his beard…

Ovary. Explosion.

“No time, Arianna,” Gena said, extracting her daughter from Tag’s hold.

Tag winked at Rachel, whose knees went the consistency of jelly.

“You can play airplane with Aunt Missy,” Gena was saying to Arianna. “Melissa! We’re going!”

A dark-haired woman appeared in the doorway of the living room and took hold of Arianna. Melissa was obviously Gena’s sister. She looked exactly like Gena but with no visible tattoos and shorter hair.

“The crying is our cue to leave,” Lucas said smoothly, handing his wife her coat and pulling on his black leather jacket.

Thirty minutes later, they were at La Prie, a top-notch steak house with swanky decor and the snootiest waiters Rachel had ever encountered. She normally didn’t understand the fuss of a place like this, but tonight, she decided to enjoy being doted on. A bottle of wine stood on the table between Rachel and Gena, who were both working on their second glasses.

Tag and Lucas, beers in hand, were laughing about who-knew-what. Rachel was having a hard time listening in on their conversation since Gena had been dominating theirs. Jury was still out on whether or not Rachel liked the woman. She was…audacious.

“So.” Gena elevated her balloon-shaped wineglass in one hand. “I know how you two met—a dog in the same apartment building. But what is it about you that has our boy, Tag, so unwilling to back down?”

“Babe.” This from Lucas, who sent an apologetic smile to Rachel. “Think you could hold off the KGB-style questioning until after we eat?”

“Don’t you want to know why Tag has invited us out to dinner to meet her?” Gena asked, gesturing to Rachel. “The last woman he was dating that I met was…” Gena froze, mouth open, then clapped her lips shut and regarded Tag. “My gosh. I think it was the night I picked up Lucas.”

“You didn’t pick me up,” Lucas corrected.

Tag leaned close to Rachel and said, “You’re in for a treat.”

“I did so,” Gena argued, putting her glass down. “I saw you and Flex Luthor over here working your wiles on a horde of skanks—”

Rachel sputtered into her glass, equally amused by Tag’s nickname and hearing Gena refer to a “horde” of skanks. She dabbed her lips with a napkin as Tag patted her back and laughed. Seriously, the man took everything in stride.

“—and I walked right up in between you and said—”

“I know what you said.” Lucas smiled genuinely.

“Then tell me.” Gena batted black lashes.

“You said, ‘I bet by night’s end you won’t remember a single one of these girls’ names, but you won’t ever forget mine.’” Lucas’s smile went wonky and his eyes turned the color of melted caramel. “Then she introduced herself.”

“Is that how a girl lands a player?” Rachel quipped, lifting her own wineglass.

“How’d you snag this one?” Gena asked, tipping her chin at Tag.

Rachel wasn’t sure she’d “snagged” Tag permanently, but she had him for now.

“I didn’t. Tag made me go to Hawaii.”

Gena’s brows rose.

“You weren’t exactly fighting me,” Tag said, a twinkle in his eye. “At all.”

Rachel froze, worried about how much more Tag might say. Turned out he didn’t say more, only sent her a knowing glance.

“Well, you had her thirty thousand feet in the air. I imagine it was because she had nowhere to go.” Gena turned her attention from Tag and leveled Rachel with a look. “You know he’s one of the good ones, right? Have you figured out that much yet?”

A rose-red blush stole Rachel’s cheeks. She had figured that out.

“Rach, let’s go powder our noses.” Without waiting for her answer, Gena stood and took Rachel’s hand, dragging her toward the back of the restaurant, around the tidy square tables and diners and waitstaff dressed in black. The restroom was sepia toned, with a gilded gold mirror on the wall. Gena didn’t move for a stall but stopped in front of the mirror and faced Rachel’s reflection. “Tag has a lot of girl friends.”