Page 49 of Badd Daddy

I sucked in a deep breath, shunted my own nerves way down, and pasted on a smile. I didn’t entirely have to fake it, because just being around Lucas tended to put a smile on my face. But nonetheless, if I was being honest with myself—which, like I’d told him, I wasn’t always very good at—I was feeling as if a large cloud of butterflies were dancing in my stomach.

Lucas’s family.

This had suddenly gone from a fun, low-expectation morning on the water with Lucas, to feeling very much like a date. A serious one.

With a man I knew I was developing feelings for.

I shook that thought off, and refused to consider it.

Friends. Just friends. We are here as friends.

I’m just meeting myfriend’ssons and nephews. Nothing else.

Nothing else.

I wondered if he knew I was as nervous as he was.

9

Lucas

Her hand was shaking.

I squeezed gently, and felt her squeeze back. My heart thudded, realizing I was holding her hand. Electricity arced through me, buzzing in my veins, setting me on fire. A simple thing, but for a man who’d been alone as long as I had, it was huge.

Once we passed through the doors, I let go; everything I was getting from her signal-wise was telling me she liked me, but there was resistance as well, and I wasn’t sure if she was ready to hold my hand, let alone hold it in front of my family, which would be giving them—and me—the wrong idea.

She smiled at me as I let go, knowing why.

The interior of the bar was fairly dark, but it was buzzing with conversation, and humming with music. One of my nephews and a stunningly gorgeous young blonde woman were on a little stage in the back corner, creating the music. My nephew was sitting on a wooden box that he was slapping to create a drumming sound while the girl strummed a guitar, and they were singing in harmony. It was amazing music, although god knew I didn’t know shit about music. I just knew it sounded great, and it was my nephew making it. The rest of the crew was clustered around the bar, standing, sitting on stools, a few in a booth near the kitchen, and others milling around.

I tried to identify the ones I’d met, and the names I remembered. I leaned close to Liv and pointed them out. “The big dark-haired one with the tats is the oldest of my nephews, Sebastian. He goes by Bas or Bast, or some stupid shit like that. Next to him is my son Roman, who you met. The one with the buzz cut and a permanent scowl on the other side of Rome is Zane, the next oldest of my brother’s set. He was a Navy SEAL, which explains the scowl, I’d say. On the other side of the bar opposite of Zane is Bax, he’s the big fucker built like a bull on steroids. Next to him is the pretty boy of the bunch, Brock. I think Brock is actually the next oldest after Zane, and Bax is after him.”

Liv laughed, standing with me just inside the bar. “You know I’ll never remember all this, right? Even for me, this is going to be a lot of names and faces to memorize.”

I chuckled. “I’m telling you for my own sake. Quizzing myself on my own family.”

She bumped me with her shoulder. “There’s a lot of them, so be nice to yourself.”

I had no answer for that, so I went on with my inventory. “The young skinny kid with the glasses is the baby of the family, Xavier, the one with the long ponytail is Lucian, next oldest to Xavier. The one on stage is…Canaan? I think? Not sure. He’s an identical twin to the one in the booth, and I’m not sure which is which. Only met ’em twice. I know the ones on stage are married to each other, and are pretty successful musicians.”

Liv frowned at them, listening. And then her expression brightened. “Oh! I know them! They’re Canary. My daughter Cassie is a huge fan of theirs. She also was a fan of…oh gosh, Bishop’s Pawn, I think it was?”

I shrugged. “Honestly, fuck if I know.”

She laughed. “You have a lot to learn.

“No shit,” I growled. “Um. So, my other two boys are in the booth over by the kitchen. Ramsey is the one with the beard, and Remington is the other one, obviously.”

“What about the women?”

I sighed. “I’m not as sure of them, who’s with whom, or their names.” I pointed at the bar, where three women were seated in a line, engaged in a three-way conversation with each other and the men behind the bar. “I know Dru is the one with the reddish hair on the end, married to Sebastian, with the tattoos. Next to her is…oh god. Um…she’s with Zane. Marie? No, that’s not it. Close, though.” I squinted, thinking. “Mara? That sounds right. Mara. On the end of the three sitting at the bar is Kitty, who’s with Roman. Not married, but living together serious, permanent-like, whatever you want to call that.” I surveyed the bar. “The native chick is Juneau, who’s with Remington, and next to her, the tall blonde with the huge…ahem. The tall blonde is Izzy, who’s with Ramsey.”

Liv giggled, slapping my arm. “Lucas. Really. I know what you were going to say.”

I shrugged. “I meant it as a general description.”

Liv bit her lower lip, stifling a laugh. “I mean, sheisrather prominently endowed, isn’t she?”