Pulse (Collide, #2)(100)

“Feeling better, man?” Trevor asked, chomping into a piece of corn on the cob. “Or do we need to be careful you might get sick all over the table?”

Fallon rolled her eyes. “Eew, Trevor, that’s gross.”

“It is, isn’t it?” Gavin shook his head and chuckled. “Just for that, if I do feel sick, I’m aiming it at Trevor.”

“Okay, seriously?” Olivia chirped, her forehead pinched in disgust. “We’re trying to eat here.”

“Why do women get freaked out over that?” Jude scooped a monster-sized portion of potato salad onto his plate. “There’re nastier things out there other than throwing up.”

“I agree.” Gavin leaned back, folding his hands behind his head. A slow smirk lifted his mouth. “Like my nephew with his finger shoved in his nose right now. He’s digging for something.”

Everyone whipped their heads around to the table Melanie, Colton and the kids occupied. Sure enough, little Timothy had other plans for what he was going to enjoy for dessert.

An orchestra of revolted groans from Olivia and Fallon filtered through the air along with the sound of their chairs screeching back from the table as they plucked up their plates and walked away.

“Colton,” Gavin called out, smiling, “bro, you might want to handle your kid.”

Colton lifted his eyes from his plate. He flicked them between his two children, ultimately stopping on the guilty one. “Timmy, get your finger out of your nose.”

Melanie sighed, reaching for the unoffending hand. She swept him up from his chair. “Come on. It’s soap and water for you.”

As the men laughed and joked about what’d just happened, Emily, Lillian, and Chad emerged from the house. They each took a seat at one of the two tables.

Emily placed her plate down, her expression curious. “Why did Fallon and Olivia just storm inside? Did one of you guys insult them?”

Another round of laughter went off, adding to Emily’s confusion.

Jude stood and made his way inside. Gavin assumed he was attempting to go check on Olivia. Gavin draped his arm over Emily’s chair. “No, we didn’t insult them. They just have weak stomachs.”

Emily started piling cucumber salad onto her plate. “Mmm hmm. I’m not even going to ask.”

“Good. You’re better off, Em.” Trevor took a swig from his beer and pushed his empty plate away. “So what’s the deal? You two have a name for the little one?”

Emily looked at Gavin. “We do.”

“Noah,” Gavin answered, trying to keep his mind from straying to unwanted thoughts of him not being his son. “Noah Alexander.”

Trevor nodded. “Good name.”

“Yeah, it is.” Emily gave Gavin a weak smile, knowing his head was stuck in battle again. With a sigh, she turned to Trevor. “So, Fallon said you two are moving in together.”

Trevor beamed. “Yep. She insisted.”

Emily raised an incredulous brow. “I heard it was the other way around.”

Gavin chuckled and shook his head. “She told us all about it the other day. The roses. The dinner with the nervous speech.”

“Okay. You caught me.” Trevor finished off the rest of his beer. “Like you’re any better with Emily, you sap. Forget about speeches. Yours are infamous.”

“Ah. They are, and I’m worse.” Gavin smirked. “But you’ll never catch me denying it, and my sappiness gains me swoon-worthy points.”

Emily giggled.

“Dude. You’re done for. Swoon worthy?”

“You got it, bro. I’m as swoon worthy as they come.” Gavin massaged his fingers through Emily’s hair. “Tell him, sweets.”

Emily dropped her fork onto her plate and dropped herself into Gavin’s lap. She curled her arms around his neck and smiled. “He’s the king of swoon, Trevor. You really should take some pointers.”

Trevor stood, stretching his long arms. “I’m out. You two are scaring me in more ways than one.” He swiped his plate from the table and made his way into the house.

“Mmm, we scared him away,” Gavin whispered, brushing his lightly stubbled jaw against Emily’s cheek. “We’re bad, huh?”

A sultry smile touched Emily’s lips. “So very bad.”

After indulging in a few stolen moments with the only woman he wanted to consider him swoon worthy, Gavin watched Emily disappear inside to help his mother prepare some desserts. It triggered an upsurge of relief. The past couple of weeks, the two had become close, and that’s all Gavin wanted to see. As he enjoyed the sounds of his niece and nephew playing tag, Gavin was glad he’d cut this year’s party down to close friends and family. With the sun getting ready to retire for the day, he took a seat around the fire pit alongside his father and Colton.

“Thanks, Pop,” Gavin said, accepting a beer from his father. “Today turned out good.”

“It sure did.” Chad relaxed in his seat, his eyes landing on Gavin’s. “The older you get, you’ll start to notice the chaos of a big to-do party loses its glitz. This is what it’s all about.”

Gavin knew his father was correct. Somewhere between becoming successful with Blake Industries and playing the tiresome field with women, Gavin lost touch with what really mattered. Not that he hadn’t held family close to his heart—it was impossible not to considering his parents raised him to treasure it—but the importance of what really counted in life became skewed.