“Don’tyoucome from a real family?” he asked, confused.
“Sure, but my home was never like this.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, my house was always so…civilizedI guess you could say. My dad is far too serious, and I hardly ever remember my mom laughing. I would have loved to have grown up in a lively, rowdy house like this.”
Sloane leaned in and took hold of his mate’s hand. “My family is your family now.” He winked at Ray then added, “And you’re most welcome to them.”
“Miles Sloane!” his mother shouted from the kitchen. “I heard that.”
Sloane threw his head back and laughed, delighted when his mate joined in.
After about twenty minutes, his mom called them in to dinner and they all sat around their huge dining room table. Sloane’s mother talked at Ray nonstop, and his sister bombarded her with questions, too. Ray promised to take Ava shopping and his sister looked as if all her dreams had just come true. Sloane had figured it might have been overwhelming for his mate to be around such a rambunctious family, but not only did she take it all in her stride, but she seemed to be in seventh heaven. He’d never seen her as animated.
Sloane had disliked Ray’s father upon meeting him, but he’d thought later that perhaps the man had just been suspicious of his motives towards his daughter. Now, after hearing what Ray had said about her family growing up, he didn’t take the man’s attempts to buy him out of Ray’s life personally. Clearly Luther was so used to negotiating deals in business, he thought he could do the same thing in his personal and family life too.
And perhaps he could.
If he’d offered other men a million dollars to stay out of Ray’s life, he imagined they would have taken him up on it. It was a lot of money, after all. But he’d met his match with Sloane. The only thing that would ever take him out of Ray’s life was death, andthatwasn’t going to happen for a very long time.
Sloane’s family argued and fought constantly, but they also laughed just as hard, and loved each other fiercely. They were close. Sloane hated that Ray hadn’t had the same thing growing up, but what he’d told her out in the yard had been true. His familywasher family now and they would treat exactly as if she was one of them. Because she was.
