Safe with Me (With Me in Seattle, #5)(44)

“Dominic,” Gail addresses him and turns to us. “This is Brynna, Stacy and Nate.” She turns back to us. “This is Dom Salvadore.”

“Hello,” he nods and offers us a half smile, and I do believe my girly parts just came awake.

Who the hell is this guy, and why are Caleb’s parents having lunch with him?

“I think Jules and Natalie will be along in a moment with Luke and the baby, if you’d like to say hi,” Nate offers, his eyes glued to Dom, watching him carefully.

“We would, but I do believe we need to go,” Steven responds quickly, ushering Gail out ahead of him. “Kiss Liv for us.”

They wave and quickly exit, leaving the three of us looking back and forth between us with puzzled expressions.

“Weird,” I finally remark.

“Definitely,” Stacy agrees.

Nate pulls his phone out of his pocket and wakes it up. “She said his name is Dominic Salvadore?” He asks.

“Yeah. What are you doing?” I ask.

“Making a note.” He tucks his phone back in his pocket and winks at me and I melt. Nate is seriously hot, but more than that, he’s kind and strong and so good for Jules. We all adore him.

“You could kick his ass,” Stacy offers and smirks at him.

“Of course I could, sweetheart. That was never in question.”

He raises an eyebrow and scoffs.

“Did I mention that you have an ego the size of the Space Needle?” I ask.

Nate laughs, a full out belly laugh and drapes his arm around my shoulders, hugging me to his hard side, as the hostess motions for us to follow her to our table.

“Ego or not, honey, I could kick his ass.”

***

“I shouldn’t have had that slice of tiramisu,” I mumble and rub my belly as Stacy pulls her minivan into my driveway.

“Who is that behind us?” Nat asks and then giggles. “It’s Will and Meg.”

“What are you doing here?” I ask as I gather my purchases from the back of the van.

“Isaac sent out an S.O.S.,” Will informs us with a laugh.

“What? Why?” Stacy’s voice is surprised, her eyes wide with worry.

“He’s got a cop and a SEAL in the same room with him,” Luke replies with a laugh and lifts Olivia into his arms, pulling her out of her car seat. She laughs with him, as though she knows what he’s talking about. “What could possibly be going on in there?”

Us girls all look at each other and immediately make a beeline for the front door. Jules pulls her phone out and has it pointed out like she’s about to take a picture.

“What are you doing?” Luke asks her as I unlock the door.

“I’m ready to document whatever is on the other side of that door.”

Never, in a million-billion years, am I expecting what we find inside.

“Holy shit,” Nate mutters under his breath. “Hey, Jules, is it wrong that I suddenly find your brothers smokin’ hot?”

“Mommy!” Sophie exclaims and runs over to Stacy, hugging her around the knees.

“That’s a great color on you, man,” Luke taunts Caleb who scowls. No one in the room has moved besides Sophie and Jules has hit record on her phone.

The guys are sitting on the floor, around the girls’ small craft table. Josie and Maddie have set up a tea party with what look to be brand new American Girl dolls – holy crap, that must have cost them a fortune – and they all, every last one of them, are wearing tiaras.

Tiaras.

Even Sgt. Bix is seated dutifully between Josie and Maddie, sporting a princess tiara on his head, his bad ear flopping over the side. His eyebrows move up and down as he surveys the scene.

“Wow, you’re so pretty, Matt,” I mutter, not able to hold it in anymore.

“Okay, tea party is over,” Caleb announces and pulls the pink tiara from his head and hands it to Maddie.

“But you only had one cup,” she complains.

“That was plenty,” he mutters with a scowl and pulls himself up off the floor.

“Isaac, are you wearing a necklace?” Will asks, howling in laughter and pointing at his brothers.

“Sophie wanted me to wear it,” Isaac responds, puffing his chest out. “Just you wait,” he points to Luke. “Liv will do the same to you.”

“This is so going on YouTube,” Jules mutters and continues to film.

“Turn that off now, Jules,” Matt instructs her, his voice hard.

“Not a chance in the world,” she shakes her head and giggles. “This is awesome.”

“Give me your phone!” Caleb lunges for her and she throws the phone to Meg.

“Take it!” She shouts.

Meg easily catches it and continues to film, moving quickly about the room. As Isaac is about to pull the phone from her hand, she throws it to me.

“Legs, I swear to you, if you don’t give me that phone…” Caleb stomps toward me, glowering at me.

“You’ll do what? Spank me?” I smile sweetly and pull the phone out of his reach.

“What is wrong with these women?” Matt asks the room at large. Luke, Will and Nate are laughing so hard they’re holding their stomachs.

“Oh man, this is the best day of my life,” Will sputters as he tries to pull air into his lungs. “I’m so glad we caught it on video.”