Baiting Him (How to Catch an Alpha #2)(47)

“Hi, Gus,” Aubrey stops to say, and Rachelle, who’s staring at Gus, runs right into her friend’s back, almost knocking her over.

“Sorry.” Rachelle laughs, then smiles at Gus. “Hey.”

“See?” I roll my eyes, hearing Gaston chuckle.

“Hey, girls,” he says to the two of them, and then he looks down at me. “I’ll see you tonight, baby.”

“See you tonight.” I walk him to the door, receiving one more kiss before he walks out. Once he’s gone, I turn to face my girls, who are both grinning at me. “What?”

“You’re so totally in love with him.” Aubrey points at me.

“And he’s totally in love with you.” Rachelle grins.

“You’re both right,” I say, and they let out loud, earsplitting, girly screeches before they do their normal jumping-around business. I watch the two of them celebrate my newfound love and happiness, and I force myself to breathe through the goodness when I really want to cry happy tears.





Suggestion 14

LAY THE GROUNDWORK

GASTON

I walk with LeFou on his leash to where Chrissie is standing just outside the lobby doors of our building, and her head turns at our approach. Seeing the excited look on her face, I shake my head, saying softly, “Sweetheart, you need to relax.”

“I can’t.” She bounces on her toes, and LeFou at her feet hops up on his hind legs to join her in her excitement. When his front paws make contact with her shins, she pauses long enough to pick him up, then cuddles him against her chest and tells me something I already know. “They’re going to be here any minute.”

I study her beautiful face filled with happiness, not surprised I feel the way I do about her in such a short amount of time. This woman has given me something I wasn’t exactly looking for, and there is no denying I’m crazy in love with her.

“I just can’t wait for you to meet Chris and Sam, and for them to meet you.”

At her quiet statement, I wrap my hand around her hip and bring her a step closer to me. “You’re not nervous.” It’s a statement, not a question, and she sags against me.

“No, Chris and Sam already know all about you, so I don’t have anything to be nervous about.”

I know this is true, since her brother calls her often in the evenings when I’m around, and she’s never been anything but honest with him about our relationship. The situation with her father is a completely different story. She hasn’t told anyone but Leah and me that she even ran into him, and she’s dealt with the whole situation by not dealing with it at all—something that, in the long run, is going to fester into an ugly wound. My hope is that while her brother is here, she’ll tell him about seeing their father, and they can go speak to him together.

“Have you thought any more about what I said this morning? About talking to your brother about your dad?”

“Yeah.”

“And?”

“I’m going to talk to him,” she says with pain lacing her words as she drops her forehead to the center of my chest, with LeFou wiggling between us. I slide my fingers through the hair at the back of her skull, then bend forward and kiss the top of her head, lifting my eyes when a car pulls up.

Seeing it’s a taxi, I tell her quietly, “They’re here.”

“Finally.” She lifts her forehead off my chest, quickly standing up on her tiptoes to kiss me. Once she falls back to her flat feet, she grabs my hand and orders, “Come on,” dragging me with her toward the taxi as the back doors open.

As soon as her brother—who looks just like her, except a little taller, with a beard covering the lower half of his face—gets out, she lets me go so she can run toward him at full speed, still holding on to LeFou. I stop as they embrace, then laugh as LeFou starts to yelp in excitement and wiggles to join in on their reunion with doggie kisses.

Chrissie’s laughter fills the air as her brother lets her go so he can take hold of the wild pup trying to climb up his chest. He states to LeFou, “You’re even cuter in person,” holding him up and away to study him.

“And he’s hotter,” I hear muttered.

I turn to find a man, who I know is Sam from the photos I’ve seen around Chrissie’s place, smiling at her while he pays the cabdriver. Where Chris is short and bulky, Sam is tall and slim, with blond, almost white, hair and blue eyes. Chrissie laughs at Sam’s observation, then runs to him, throwing her arms around his neck, and he picks her up to swing her around.

“Hey, kid, I see you didn’t mess around when finding a hot guy,” he says when he drops her to her feet, and she grins at him before she turns and forces herself under his arm.

“Ignore him. I promise he’s harmless,” Chris says, setting LeFou on the ground, then stepping toward me. “It’s nice to finally meet you.”

“You too.” I give his hand a shake as Chrissie pulls Sam toward us.

“Gus, this is Sam,” she tells me, and I grin at her, then look at Sam.

“Nice to meet you, man.”

“You too.” He reaches out to give my arm a squeeze, and then he looks at Chrissie, saying, “Seriously, nice job,” and she giggles.

“This is what I have to deal with anytime these two get together,” Chris tells me, and then he narrows his eyes on his guy and his sister. “Can you two work at not making Gus uncomfortable?”