Glancing at the sky, he frowned. The forecasters had predicted another snowstorm, and for once, they may be right.
The days following Daisy’s party were more of the same. He drove Freya to work each morning, and since he didn’t feel comfortable leaving her alone at his place in the mornings even though he knew it was secure, he’d moved his gym time to his lunch hour.
Work was still busy. They had a number of assignments coming up, and their teams were going to be stretched thin. But on a positive note, he and Gavin had made formal employment offers to the two final candidates they’d interviewed.
Nothing more threatening had happened to Freya. His frustration was building, and he still had that gut feeling that something was off. That whoever was behind the photos wasn’t done. He wasn’t the only one either. Wilson and Tash were both antsy about it, as well.
It didn’t ease his worry, but it reassured him that he wasn’t being overly paranoid.
The highlight of each day was Freya. He looked forward to picking her up from work so they could spend their evenings together. Whether it was dinner at home or getting together with her work friends or his, he simply enjoyed every minute with her. But his favorite part was holding her, kissing her, filling her, falling asleep and waking up with her in his arms.
He couldn’t pinpoint the exact moment it had happened, but sometime over the last few weeks, he’d fallen hard. The woman was his everything.
Now, as he stared at the dark clouds through his windshield, he winced. They were on hour four of what was supposed to have been a two-hour trip. But a delayed ferry, plus several car accidents on I-5, along with Thanksgiving-morning traffic, had them rolling into Blanchard Bay later than planned. Food was being served at noon, and thankfully, they’d left Hudson Island extra early, so they were still on track. However, they were still about half an hour out, and the last thing they needed was for the sky to start dumping snow on them.
Freya had been fielding numerous texts from her brothers, reassuring them that she’d remembered to bring both the mac and cheese and three Thanksgiving pies.
As they entered Blanchard Bay’s city limits, he said, “Run everyone’s names by me again.”
“Axel’s the oldest. He can be kind of an ass, though I’ve been told he means well. He’s a detective with the Blanchard Bay PD. He’s a single dad, and his twin daughters—Andie and Josie—are five, in kindergarten, and are freaking adorable. Then there’s the twins, Oscar and Jasper. Oscar’s super tidy and regimented, while Jasper’s basically a slob. But they’re both really nice and surprisingly work well together.”
“They run the construction company your dad started, right?”
“Correct. They’ve done well for themselves. Then there’s Finn, the youngest.” Xander glanced over at Freya just as her nose scrunched. “He’s going through his man-whore phase right now, but he’s a good guy. Of all my brothers, he’s probably the funniest and most laid-back of the bunch. Oh, you’ll take a right at the light.”
He followed Freya’s directions the rest of the way, listening to her commentary—her high school, the elementary school her nieces attended, the pizza joint Finn got banned from. Finally, they pulled into the driveway of a large, two-story craftsman with a wraparound porch. All the spaces in front of the three-car garage were full, so he pulled his SUV in behind a Chevy Tahoe and cut the engine.
“Ready?” he asked.
She let out a breath but kept staring straight ahead, her hands twisting in her lap.
“Baby,” he murmured, taking her hands in his. “No need to be nervous. It’ll be fun.”
She glanced at him, and the worry in her eyes had his chest squeezing. “What if they’re jerks to you? I don’t want any of them giving you a hard time. They’ll try to interrogate you and?—”
“Freya, baby, relax.” He brought her hands up and kissed her knuckles. “They can ask me whatever they want. Whether I answer will depend on their question. It’ll be fine. I promise.” His eyes darted to the house, and he grinned. “Now, unless I’m mistaken, there are two little faces pressed against the window waiting for you.”
Seeing her nieces, she smiled and squeezed his hands. “Ifanyof my brothers give you a hard time or are rude in any way, you let me know. It’s Thanksgiving, and if they do anything, I’ll pull them aside and kick their asses.”
His heart warmed. If he wasn’t already in love with her, that ferocity would have done him in. He snaked a hand into her hair and pulled her in for a quick kiss. “You’re super hot when you’re feisty, you know that?”
She grinned against his lips. “Don’t distract me. I need to get my little-sister glare going.”
He dropped another quick kiss on her lips. “Sorry, I promise to not get in the way of your sibling glare.”
They got out of the car, and he stretched his back. The body wasn’t meant to sit for four and a half hours straight. He handed her the gift bags for her nieces, grabbed all their bags of food, and followed her up the porch steps to the front door. It swung open as they approached.
“Auntie Freya!” The girls swarmed her with squeals of excitement.
He hung back as each of her brothers hovered in the entryway, waiting for their turns to hug her.
Xander’s eyes widened in surprise. Her brothers weren’t what he’d imagined. Freya was a petite little thing, and he imagined her brothers would follow suit. He hadn’t expected them all to be nearly as tall as him. They were all fit and had varying shades of dark hair, and they all had the same ice-blue eyes like Freya, leaving no doubt they were related.
After her last brother hugged her, she turned to him. “You guys, this is my boyfriend, Xander.” He loved the way the pink in her cheeks deepened. “These two beauties,” she said as her nieces attached themselves to her sides, “are Andie and Josie.” Then she pointed at each of her brothers and introduced them.
For a moment, they all stared at him with varying degrees of wariness before Jasper cleared his throat and stepped forward, reaching for some of the bags. “Here, let me help you with those.”
Xander gave the man one of the pie bags, and the group moved into the large open kitchen. Axel veered off and went out the back sliding door toward a large black smoker.
