I’m counting on it, Babygirl.
Though I ask aloud, “But isn’t Pastor Rutledge also friends with your dad?”
“Yep.” She pops her lips. “My dad wants him to marry us.”
Yeah, that’s part of Nash’s plan and the mountain of bullshit; how Nash can have all the kings and queens at our wedding without Alena knowing who they really are.
Me? That’s his circus and monkeys. I just want Alena.
“So, how do you feel about that?” I ask. “Sire marrying us?”
She shrugs. “My dad has lots of hot, tatted friends. I’m used to it.”
“Maybe you should introduce one to your bestie, Vale. She seemed lonely tonight.”
No, Vale left with Nash tonight. And with his secret twitch in his dick for Vale?
I don’t want to hurt Nash—sure, we fight and still love each other—but thisbullshitwill become ashit showif Nash and Vale drop a match on the bonfire of sexual tension between them.
It could burn Alena’s friendship with Vale to the ground, and I’d never leave my Babygirl in the ashes.
Who would she have if she lost Vale and me?
“Shedidseem down.” Alena sighs. “I keep trying to get Vale to smash with that bouncer at Delta’s, you know, where she works.”
“Which one?”
“The one who looks like Reacher. The hot big one. Not little Tom Cruise.”
I laugh. Grant and Jace get that all the time. Guess I cansee it. They’re not twins, but they have that whole hot and imposing look going. Shit, guess we all do.
But I play dumb. “Aren’t theretwosecurity guys at Delta’s?”
And what does Alena think about my brothers? Could she feel at home withallof the kings? Could she fit in instead of always being left out? Like me?
“Yeah,” she chirps. “Vale said one’s married to a French blonde bombshell, so his heart is taken, but the other one, Jace? He’s in love with a married woman.”
He is?
Jace, you big, sad fucker. No wonder you’ve been heartbroken.
And the bombshell? That’s Delphine. And she and Grant areveryavailable and helping me with Alena tomorrow night. I need people I can trust.
“And you want one of those Reacher guys to smash with Vale?”
“Not the married one, though Vale’s a unicorn or whatever,” Alena rambles. “But Vale and Jace? I don’t know. There’s something between them.”
Yeah, it’s called Nash—her father.
“So if not them, which friend of your dad’s is left for Vale?”
“Mmm.” Her tone drops. “Guess my godfather, Michael, but…”
“But…?”
Suddenly, I’m more than curious. I’m painfully aware how overprotective Axel is of Alena, but how does she feel about him?
“One, I think Michael’s in love with his paralegal, and two, Vale’s not his type,” she answers innocently, not even knowing Axel’s name. “Or maybe it’s the other way around. Either way, they’d clash like a lion and a tiger. Bloody with one predator left standing.”
