Page 48 of Lawson & Jill

Chapter 15

“I fucking love that you’re calling it the ‘Battle of the Van’,” Eden said as she took another sip of her beer.

“I don’t,” Law glowered. He pulled Jill a little closer to him on the patio love seat on Jill’s deck.

“Was it the part where you took control, or the part where you almost died, that he has a problem with?” Asher asked.

“I’ll never have a problem with Jill’s take-charge attitude,” Law said.

“Yeah, it’s true. But if I get a sliver, he goes nuts.” Jill grinned at Law.

“Sounds like his brother,” Eden said as he smiled up at Asher who returned to hand her a plate of food.

“What sounds like me?” Asher asked as he took a seat beside her.

“You kind of get bent out of shape if I get hurt.”

“That’s a given,” he smiled at her warmly. “What brought that up?”

“Jill was telling me about the ‘Battle of the Van’.”

“I hate that phrase,” Asher said vehemently. “Jill could have gotten herself killed with the stunt she pulled.”

Jill caught Eden’s eye and tried not to laugh when the woman winked at her. She was outrageous. Luckily, neither of the Thorne brothers caught it, or if they did, they ignored it. Law kissed the top of her head, and she damn near melted into his side.

“Let’s find something else to talk about,” Law said. “How about the trip to Belgium, did you see the dates I e-mailed to you? Can you make any of those three work?”

Jill sat up straighter. She was both excited and nervous at the idea of meeting Law’s mother. The excited part was spending ten days in Europe with Law, the nervous part was meeting his mother. This was serious, serious. Of course, he had met her parents three weeks ago when they had trekked through Southern California on their way up the Pacific Coast Highway to see the sights. She’d been impressed by how well he’d done, not just with her mother and father, but with their cats.

She watched as Eden and Asher looked at one another, and Eden nodded. “Four weeks before our wedding should be perfect,” Asher said. “That way, Maman can meet Eden in person, ahead of time before the big event.”

Law frowned. “But she and aunt Claire are flying over for the wedding, right?”

“Absolutely,” Asher confirmed.

“It’s not like we haven’t met,” Eden said. “I’ve Skyped with your mother a few times. She’s a doll.”

“Do you mean without Asher?” Jill asked.

Eden nodded as she ate the last bite of her hamburger. After she swallowed, she elaborated. “I’ve been on so many assignments lately away from Ash that I couldn’t rely on joint calls. I think it makes it easier because I speak French.”

“How many languages do you speak?” Jill asked.

“Seven.”

“That’s amazing.”

“I was lucky, I got introduced to Chinese, Spanish, and English from the start. I was speaking those languages fluently before I started kindergarten, so it made it easier for me to pick up other languages.”

“Last month I started one of those rapid learning courses to learn French a couple of weeks ago, it’s going pretty well. I think it helps that I know Spanish.”

“I didn’t know that,” Law said. He snagged a pickle off of her plate.

“I didn’t want to mention it in case I failed,” Jill admitted.

“You never fail,” Law smiled indulgently. A shot of pleasure burst through Jill.

“You’re wrong, but I appreciate the sentiment.”