“Well, hello!” Harlow shouted very loudly, then finished with, “Luke, and I think, Mr. and Mrs. Stark, Gabe’s parents.”
I froze.
Shanti gave me an EEK! face (all-caps, in bold and italics).
“They’re not behind me, are they?” I whispered.
She pulled in both her lips.
Yep.
Somehow, for some reason, Gabe’s parents were behind me.
Since I couldn’t will myself to evaporate—a trick I was going to begin practicing immediately after this ordeal was over—slowly, I turned around and was confronted with Luke Stark wearing a half-smile.
He was standing next to a man who I was in no doubt Gabriel Stark was a product of his loins. Built body, black hair (with lots of silver), cobalt-blue eyes and all.
He was grinning.
Standing next to him was a woman with strawberry-blonde hair (more strawberry than blonde, hmm) who had to be at least in her late fifties, and she was a bona fide knockout.
Shit.
She was looking through me, her cheeks pink.
Fuck.
“Well,” Gabe’s father ended the excruciatingly awkward silence, “when Gabe called and told us he was seeing someone, and Shelby got worried he’d hooked up with another Ariana and made me pack my shit so we could drive down here to make sure our son didn’t get wound up with another woman who wasn’t worth his time, we can just say she underestimated our boy.”
“Shut up, Mike,” Shelby muttered.
Luke’s grin went from half to whole.
Mike’s grin remained whole.
He also thrust a strong hand out to me. “Mike Stark.”
I took his hand and mumbled, “Nice to meet you, Mr. Stark.”
He gave my hand a squeeze and invited, “Mike.” We let go and he turned to Gabe’s mom. “This is Shelby,” he said.
I offered my hand and said, “Nice to meet you too.”
She took it, her squeeze was firm and warm but swift, before we released, and she said, “Same.”
“These are my girls, Shanti, Harlow, Raye, Jessie and Luna,” I introduced.
There were waves and heys.
“I’m sorry about—” I began, aiming this to Shelby, but I stopped when her eyes dropped down to Gabe’s love bite and darted away.
Oh my God!
How weird was this!?
Why couldn’t I vaporize?!
“There you are!”
