About the time I ran out of small talk, Sloane came to my rescue.
“Sit in the front row.” She indicated a chair with a single rose placed on the seat. “The hard part is over.”
“Thank God,” I gusted out, happy to plop down and rest my aching feet. Between Jess overheating, the poisoning, and all the baking, it had been a long day, and it wasn’t over yet. Just because no one raised a red flag on their way in didn’t mean one of them wasn’t the next Mindy. “Stay with me?”
“The food starts circulating after this.” She sat beside me but kept her spine straight and head on a swivel, scanning the gathering for signs of danger. “Where else would I be?”
A hush swept through the yard when Rían stepped to the front with a sample pamphlet in hand.
Not gonna lie. The way he commanded respect without instilling fear impressed me. Trust was almost a scent in the air I could detect. These people had the most to lose if worse came to worst. That there was no more than the anxiety you would expect from a parent/teacher conference left me awestruck.
Granted, most of the clan hadn’t heard about Becca. Except for those who had responded to my signal and the staff at the emergency clinic, her situation had been kept under wraps until this gathering. Better for Rían to address worries in person than issue a clan-wide text alert that set his cellphone ringing off the hook.
“You’re drooling.” Sloane passed me a napkin that smelled suspiciously like cookies. “Shut your mouth.”
“He really is something.” I hadn’t meant to say it, not while he was talking, so I was glad it slipped out on a whisper. Rían caught my eye, his gaze softening on me, and I mouthed,“Sorry.”
But the grin tugging on his lips convinced me he wasn’t mad about it.
The overwhelming urge to drop my face into my hands and hide itched in my palms, but I forced myself to remain calm. Even if a few knowing smiles on my periphery left my cheeks sizzling from the slip-up and desperate for the speech to end so I had an excuse to flee to the kitchen and collect myself before facing the clan again.
As soon as Rían wrapped up his talking points and the applause died down, he opened the floor for questions.
That was my cue to slip away and arm the enforcers on duty with trays of refreshments.
“Those aren’t cookies,” Sloane whined from behind me. “I was promised cookies.”
Never mind she had already eaten a dozen tonight between what I gave her and what she had stolen.
“The cookies are for the kids. The real food is for the adults.” I jerked my chin toward a plate I made for her earlier. “Mini cheese quiches—no icky onions or spinach per Goldie’s orders. Pigs in blankets made with only the finest of mini sausages. Sweet and sour meatballs with plastic sword skewers—a must for any party involving a dragon skull flag.” Like the one flying above the fort. “There are also cheese-cracker-crusted chicken nuggets, bang bang shrimp, and deviled eggs.”
“Why won’t you marry me?” She inhaled her shrimp in a single gulp. “I’ll buy you a diamond the size of a grape. Just maybe don’t have it appraised. Like ever. Plastic isn’t worth as much as it used to be, and it should be the thought that counts anyway. Who can put a price on true love?”
“Rían would pick you out of his teeth if you ever proposed to her.” Liam stole an egg from her fingers. “If you want to get married that bad, pick another sucker then move in next door to her and Rían. Then you two can duke it out to be their favorite couple and get invited to game nights, dinners, and holidays.”
“What if I buy the house and become their favorite singleton?”
“Couples always want other couples to do couple things with.” He darted his hand toward her napkin then yelped when she bit him, thinking he was moving in on her quiches. “You’d probably have to pay someone to put up with you, so I’d save that ring money to entice a sucker to propose.”
“Or.”She lifted a finger. “Just hear me out.” Liam, rightly, looked wary. “You and I are already their favorite people. Why don’t we skip the ring, forget the wedding, and move in together beside them? We can be roomies. Friends with benefits, if you will. Except the benefits are Ana’s cooking.”
“But then I would have to live with you.”
“What can I say? Someone always gets the better deal, and this time it’s you.”
“Ummm.”
“You don’t have to give me an answer now. Take some time to think?—”
“No.”
“—about it.” She moved on to the pigs in blankets. “It’s a big decision, and you don’t want to?—”
“Yeah.” Liam shook his head. “Still no.”
While Sloane attempted to convince him she was roommate material, I escaped before she could drag me in as a reference. She was a menace in bed, and she was also kind of a menace out of bed. The best thing I could do was avoid answering any questions pertaining to living with her.
Life with Sloane, as much as I had grown to love her, was not for the weak.
