Kissing Under The Mistletoe (The Sullivans #10)(33)

Mary ran a hand over Ian’s soft, dark hair, then followed Claudia into the kitchen.

Mary drew Jack like a magnet, so he turned to Ian and asked, “Want to follow the pretty ladies to see what they have for us to munch on before dinner?”

Ian grinned at him, four sparkling white teeth in a mouthful of gums. “Want candy.”

Jack laughed and gave the little boy a kiss on his forehead. “Let’s see what goodies we can find hiding in Uncle Ethan’s kitchen.”

Maybe he should have been surprised to find Mary with her hands in flour and eggs at the kitchen counter while Claudia sat with her feet up on a chair, but he wasn’t. Yes, she was a gorgeous, successful model. But first and foremost, she was a woman who clearly enjoyed children and food.

“Mary offered to make fresh pasta,” Claudia told him as she sipped a club soda and relaxed deeper into her seat. “I assumed it would be too difficult to make at home, so I’ve always bought pasta at the store. Where did you learn to make it, Mary?”

Mary deftly brought the flour and eggs into a ball, then began to knead it on the kitchen counter. “I was barely older than Ian when my grandmother showed me how. Homemade pasta is a tradition in Italy.”

“Is that where you’re from? I thought I heard the slightest hint of an accent.”

“You should have seen how hard I worked to get rid of it when I moved to New York City.” She laughed at herself. “I was so desperate to look and sound like everyone else back then.”

“Are you kidding? I would have loved to have had an exotic accent like yours. I’m sure if I had,” Claudia joked, “the men would have been lining up around the block for me.”

“You’re beautiful,” Mary said in her unaffected manner. “I’m sure the men were already lining up.”

“Have I mentioned how much I like you yet?” Claudia shot a meaningful glance at Jack, one that he could see clearly asked, Have you convinced her to be yours yet?

He shot his sister-in-law back his own clear message: Trust me, I’m working on it.

“I’d love to know how you and Max met, Claudia.”

“I was dating Max’s best friend, actually. It was all very scandalous, and we both tried to fight what we felt for each other for a long time, because we didn’t want to hurt anyone. But eventually, neither of us could fight what was meant to be. Even if it meant hurting someone we both cared about.”

As Max and Ethan came into the kitchen, Claudia told them, “I was just telling Mary how we met.”

“Have you gotten to the stolen kisses part yet?” Max asked as he leaned down to give her one.

“I love hearing tales of true love,” Mary said with a small smile. “My mother and father are like that. There’s nothing they wouldn’t do for each other. Nothing they wouldn’t support each other in.”

The longing on her face had Jack nearly moving to pull her into his arms and kiss her, too, in front of everyone. And he might have if Ian hadn’t poked at his cheek and said, “Thirsty.” Knowing that kissing Jack in public—especially in front of his family—was the last thing Mary would want to do, Jack knew it was something he had to resist…for now.

Meanwhile, Ethan was leaning against the doorjamb looking extremely cynical about the scene in front of him. His divorce had been finalized last year, and since then, he had been burning even more midnight oil on the road looking after his business.

“Too bad William isn’t here tonight,” Ethan said. “He and I could raise a toast to the happily single.”

The implication was clear: Everyone thought Jack and Mary were dating. Her eyes met his and, instead of clarifying things with his family, she let her mouth curve up just the slightest bit at the corners. The air was knocked straight out of Jack’s lungs.

Did this mean she was finally ready to be more than friends who stole kisses from each other at every possible opportunity? And if so, what had changed her mind?

Mary changed the subject as deftly as she rolled out the dough. “The four of you must have been quite a handful for your mother.”

Max grinned. “Mom looked so delicate and pretty, but she never let us get away with a damned thing.”

“I got away with plenty,” Ethan countered. Although, a moment later he rubbed his right ear and admitted, “I still get phantom pains sometimes from the way she would drag me to my room.”

“What about you?” Mary asked Jack.

He gave her an innocent look. “I was an angel.”

Her blue eyes flared with heat for a split second at his use of the endearment that always spilled from his lips when he was kissing her, but then she shook her head and said, “I doubt that.”

“You’ve got this joker figured out,” Ethan said with a laugh as he sat down at the table with his brother and sister-in-law. “How many times did you nearly burn the house down with one of your inventions gone wrong, Jack? The way I remember it, the fire trucks used to patrol our street on a regular basis, just in case.”

Ian looked up at his uncle, his voice solemn as he informed Jack, “Fire trucks are red.”

He kissed his nephew on the nose. “They sure are. And what do you want to bet that’s the same color your shirt’s going to be after we eat spaghetti tonight?”

Spending time with Ian when he could during these past eighteen months had made Jack realize how much he liked kids. But it wasn’t until he’d met Mary that he’d begun to wonder what it would be like to have his own children.