Xavier chuckled. “Sounds like my mom.”
“Oh?” Jeanine took him by the arm and walked him in, leaving Justine behind. Then she introduced him around.
Justine and her sisters looked alike, the older two more physically similar to each other. Angela, the oldest, appeared dressed to impress, all lean lines and sharp eyes. Mallory, the middle daughter, gave a shy smile. He could see the softness, that eager need to please Justine had previously mentioned, in her greeting.
“So nice to meet you, Xavier.” Mallory smiled at Justine. “It’ll be so much fun to have you with Justine at the wedding.”
“I can’t wait.”
She beamed.
Angela gave him a subtle onceover but was pleasant all the same.
Then he got to meet the head of the family. As Jeanine led him toward her husband, he could feel the dynamic shift. The man could totally command a room. He had a powerful presence, one used to being acknowledged.
Jeanine put her hand on her husband’s arm, and he leaned in for a kiss on the cheek. A sweet yet perfunctory gesture. “Honey, this is Xavier, Justine’s new boyfriend. Xavier, meet my husband, Lyle.”
“A pleasure to meet you, sir.” Xavier held out his hand and met Lyle’s gaze, conscious Justine might as well have been his mini-me. They had the same features, the same smile, yet where Justine projected warmth, her father did not.
Lyle gave a charming smile, at odds with the calculation in his eyes, and shook Xavier’s hand. “A pleasure, Xavier. Please, call me Lyle.”
“Sure thing.” Xavier waited for Lyle to release him before pulling away. A classic power move on the man’s part, but Xavier had no intention of making problems by trying to challenge Lyle’s authority and finally dropped his hand by his side. “Thank you so much for the dinner invitation. I’ve looked forward to meeting all of you.”
Lyle nodded to the liquor bar. “Would you like something to drink?”
“A beer, if you’ve got one.”
“I’ll get it,” Jeanine said. “Justine, come help me.”
“Okay, Mom.”
So much for not abandoning him to the wolves. Yet Justine offered an apologetic glance as she followed her mother into the other room.
Xavier took a subtle look around him, noting the grandeur of the home. Everything looked polished, from the formaldining area to the luxurious living room full of high-end, light-colored leather furniture and hand-carved wooden tables. The area looked professionally decorated—that or Jeanine had a flare for design. He didn’t note one speck of dust anywhere, and the sophisticated artwork around the house gave the space a museum-like quality. It didn’t help that the living area, where one would expect to kick back and relax, had been filled with neutral and light colors. He swore not to sit down on the pale couch for fear of leaving a smudge of dirt behind.
Not a place where he’d ever feel comfortable enough to relax. And definitely not a place for kids or pets, not that he’d noticed either around the house.
Still, he couldn’t deny the place was a masterpiece of style.
“You have a gorgeous home,” he said to Lyle when he noticed the man watching him.
Lyle smirked. “We only have nice things now because all our kids are grown and gone.”
Xavier had to laugh. “That’s what my mom says about her place.”
“Does she live in Seattle?”
“Yeah. She’s in Queen Anne, in the same house my sister and I grew up in.”
“I loved our old home in Fremont, but we needed the space. We bought this house oh, about fifteen or sixteen years ago. It was a huge step-up for us.”
“How big is this place?”
“A little over four thousand square feet. It’s actually too big for Jeanine and me, but we like it. It’s not far from work, and we finally have it just the way we want it. My wife recently remodeled the front room.” Lyle took Xavier on a tour around the house.
When they returned to the living area, he saw Justine waiting for him with a beer.
She looked relieved when she spotted him. “There you are.”
