Even Eli cracked a smile.
“Everybody better be good or I’ll let Penny do your makeup next,” Tempest said.
“Please be bad,” Penny said, clapping her hands right in front of herself with hardly any sound at all.
Tempest rolled her eyes as she set out paper plates and cans of soft drinks. She put a large piece of pizza on each, then opened the cans and set one by each plate. “Dinner’s ready!” she called out.
The kids rushed the table and chose a place to sit.
Eli immediately realized there was no cheesy bread stick on his plate.
Tempest addressed it before he even had a chance to complain. “Help yourselves to the bread sticks, guys. But eat your pizza first.” Once her orders were given, she sat down near Brandt and looked over at Ronan. “I heard you were thinking of staying. Is it all worked out?”
“It is.”
“Good. We miss you. It’ll be nice to have you around.”
“I’m feeling really good about the whole thing,” Ronan said.
“Then stop worrying. It’ll all work out.”
“I hope so. I’m just not sure how to move forward with Giada. She keeps trying to shut me down.”
Tempest shrugged. “Valentine’s day is coming up. Maybe you can invite her out for Valentine’s day.”
“That’s not a bad idea,” Ronan said.
“Of course, not. It’s my idea,” Tempest said, waggling her eyebrows.
“Listen to her, she knows shit,” Brandt said.
“Oh, I know only too well,” Ronan said.
Chapter 9
A little more than a week later Ronan showed up at the shelter again, but this time it was early morning. He’d been there a few times since sharing dinner with Giada and the boys, and while always polite, she never failed to try to convince him that the last thing he wanted was to be involved with her. So he was trying a new approach this time. He walked in to the reception area, but instead of going straight to the reception window, where Giada sat, he didn’t even look over at the window. Instead, he went right through, his sights set on the gym near the back of the building.
Giada remained at her desk, but stood a few times to glance around the reception room. Shaking her head, she sat back down. She glanced up again, and let out a frustrated sigh. “He just ignored me,” she mumbled under her breath before getting back to work.
Five minutes later the front door opened again and Havoc walked through. He looked around the reception area, then took only a couple of more steps inside. He looked around again, then approached the window.
Before he could say anything Giada noticed him, recognized him as one of the family members of the people who’d started the shelter, and stood smiling. “Hi, can I help you?”
“Yeah, actually, you can. I’m looking for my brother. He said he’d meet me here, and I don’t see him,” Havoc said.
“Who’s your brother?” she asked.
“Ronan. You know him? You seen him around?”
“Ronan’s your brother?” she asked.
“Yep. I’m Havoc, he’s Ronan, we’re brothers. Can’t you tell from our charming personalities?” he asked, leaning onthe ledge right beneath the window and giving her his most disarming smile.
“Oh, I didn’t realize you were Mrs. Valerie’s son, too. I just knew you were connected to one of the founding families somehow.”
“Valerie and Maverik are our parents. We got a sister, too, her name’s Hell. But Ronan’s the baby of the bunch. Come to think of it, we got another sister and brother, too, but they’re older and live out of state. That’s beside the point, though. Did Ronan come in here?”
“He did. But I’m not sure where he went.”
