Harrison snorted. “Yeah, right, Dad loves talking about his feelings. He’s always been great at emotional regulation.”
“Yeah, true enough,” Logan agreed as he stole another fry.
“Where did our waitress go?” I asked as I craned my neck to pretend to search the tiny restaurant. “She said something about dessert…”
“Yeah, I’d love a glass of port,” Logan said. “That is, if you don’t mind me hanging with you a little longer.”
I watched Harrison’s face as he answered.
“You’re family,” he said. “Always welcome.”
Welcome, maybe. But appreciated? Understood? I was less sure of that. These Ashfords had no idea how to genuinely connect, and that made me hurt a little for all of them. I reached for Harrison’s hand under the table and gave it a squeeze. Whether or not he felt like he had his family on his side, I wanted him to know he had me.
22
HARRISON
“Well,damn,” I exhaled as Gwen floated into the room, ready for the party. “Do I have your sister to thank for that dress as well?”
She shook her head. “Believe it or not, I totally forgot I had this thing. I bought it to go to a premier for—” She broke off abruptly.
“Ah,” I nodded. “No wonder you forgot about it. Mr. Detective School?”
“It wasn’t like a date or anything,” she said quickly, brushing her hands down the front of the light blue cocktail dress. “A couple of my colleagues and I were going to the event in an official capacity, but then his girlfriend decided to show up, and Ben told me I wasn’t needed. It was awkward and obvious.”
She frowned briefly at the memory.
“Well, hereallymissed out,” I said, taking her hand and drawing her close. “You’re a goddess.”
I kissed her on top of the head.
She beamed up at me. “Thank you. You look incredible too.”
My brothers and I had opted to make the dress code cocktail instead of black tie, so I was in a light gray linen suit, open collar, and loafers. And I was very glad to see that Gwen enjoyed the view.
Although the blissed-out expression could be due to the multiple orgasms I’d just given her.
“What do I need to know?” Gwen asked. “Conversational pitfalls to watch out for, handsy uncles to avoid…fill me in before we get down there. Because honestly, I’m a little nervous.”
“Oh come on, as if you need any help navigating uncomfortable situations,” I squeezed her before letting her go. “I’m not worried about your performance tonight. Although you might want to watch out for Uncle Larry…”
“Uncle Larry,” she made a check mark in the air. “Got it.”
“I’m kidding, all of my uncles are decent people. And you’ve already met the main players, so you should be good to go.”
“How are you holding up?” Gwen asked, sliding her arms around my body and resting her cheek against my chest.
It was like she knew exactly what I needed in the moment, because despite my typically placid outward appearance, I was about to navigate a minefield. The hug was my reminder that I wasn’t going it alone.
The Ashfords were family, but blood wasn’t a guarantee of people actually getting along.
It wasn’t always tense between us. Our childhood had been pretty damn idyllic, but we had our mom to thank for it. Withouther stabilizing, bonding presence, it was like we were magnets that had all flipped to push each other away instead of pulling together.
Work remained the one thing we had in common. All of us working for the parent company with Dad at the head. He was a good boss, and our conversations about work pretty much always went smoothly. Now if we could just manage to cobble together a conversation about somethingotherthan work.
“With you at my side, I couldn’t be better,” I answered Gwen. “Now let’s get down there before they give me shit for being late.”
“Oh, if they try that, I’m going to say you were busy performing cunnilingus on me,” she wiggled her eyebrows. “How do you think that’ll go over?”
