Kissing Under The Mistletoe (The Sullivans #10)(35)

Max grinned at him. “We’ll stack them real neat by the sink for you.”

A while earlier, Claudia had tucked Ian into the middle of Ethan’s big king bed with pillows propped up on each side of him so that he couldn’t roll off and hurt himself. Claudia began to slowly stand to go get him, but when Mary offered to rouse him instead, Claudia nodded sleepily and tucked herself in tighter against Max.

From where Jack was standing in the living room, he could see Mary get to the master bedroom doorway then stop in her tracks. Wondering what had her halting, he moved down the hall.

“Mary?”

She held her finger to her lips, then pointed to the bed. Ian was sprawled on his back, three of his four chubby little limbs spread wide. His thumb had found its way into his mouth, and his cheeks were pink from drying spaghetti sauce and the exertions of sleep.

Jack had been careful all night long to keep what was between them private. He hadn’t touched Mary. Hadn’t dragged her against him for a kiss. Now, he threaded his fingers through hers and lifted her hand to his lips.

She stared into his eyes, and what he saw in hers made his chest clench with love again, even tighter, even stronger this time. “Claudia and Max are waiting for me to bring him out.”

Reluctantly, Jack let her hand go and watched her sit gently on the bed beside Ian. She stroked his hair back with a soft touch so that the little boy wouldn’t wake too quickly, and Jack wasn’t surprised when the first thing his nephew said after finally opening his eyes was, “Pretty.”

Mary smiled down at him. “Your mommy and daddy miss you. Can I take you to them?”

When the little boy held out his arms and Mary lifted him up and buried her face against his warm, soft body, Jack’s heart skipped more than just one beat.

Chapter Eleven

The night was so clear that the stars seemed to be putting on a show in celebration of the beautiful San Francisco winter weather. Mary couldn’t remember the last time she’d enjoyed an evening so much, and she didn’t want it to be over yet.

After saying goodbye to his family, Mary turned to Jack with a smile. “What do you say we walk off some of that pasta?”

She’d never felt so comfortable—or so completely alive—with anyone else. It was just as natural to laugh and talk with Jack as it was to enjoy the quiet night as they made their way down the city sidewalk.

“Your family is wonderful,” she said as she linked her fingers with his.

“They obviously feel the same way about you. Claudia was clearly thrilled about no longer being the odd woman out with all of us boys. And she'll never forget that you made dinner so that she could put her feet up for a little while.”

“Your brother and his wife seem so happy together.”

“They definitely are now, although like Claudia said, it was a pretty big mess at first. Max was a basket case, falling in love with her while she was engaged to his best friend. He was pretty badly torn up about it. I spent more than a few nights closing down the bars with him back then.”

While all of the Sullivan men had the same rugged good looks, each of the brothers she’d met tonight had very different personalities. Max had been the easygoing one. Ethan was sharper, darker somehow. And Jack, well, not only was he brilliant and focused, but he was also the only one who made her heart beat hard and her lips tingle with pleasure even before he’d pressed his mouth to hers.

She’d loved seeing how close Jack was to his brothers. And despite the differences and the disagreements four brothers that close in age must have had over the years, it was clear that they’d do anything for one another. What’s more, tonight she’d felt as if he’d welcomed her into his family without any reservations whatsoever…whereas she’d been so afraid to let him do more than kiss her.

“They’re all so proud of you.” Every time his invention had come up during dinner, his family had been extremely supportive and excited.

“My brothers have all been really successful with their careers, but they never tried to get me to leave my dusty garage. I guess they figured if my vision didn’t end up working out, they knew I could come to them for help.”

“That’s why you never needed to,” she marveled, “because you really did know they’d always be there for you. No matter what.”

“Always.”

“When I was a little girl I thought that, too, about my own family. But—” Not wanting to ruin a perfect evening with self-pity, she tried to brush away her comment. “Listen to me, sounding like I’m still that little girl when it’s been long enough for me to have gotten over it by now.”

Jack squeezed her hand. “We all want our families to approve of us and the dreams we’re chasing.”

“Why aren’t you married already, Jack?”

Mary gave a slightly embarrassed laugh. She hadn’t meant to blurt that out, but when he kept saying such sweet things, she simply couldn’t understand why he hasn’t already been snapped up.

“That didn’t come out quite right. I just meant that not only have you got two great examples of happy marriages between your parents and your brother, but, at this point, most men would be running away as fast as they could from their weepy dinner date who can’t seem to get over something that happened when she was a teenager.”