Page 46 of Boss in the Bedsheets

He stared at me for a moment, his jaw stiff and his head cocked like I'd said something terribly incorrect or maybe invasive. No, his cool study told me it wasveryinvasive and he wasn't accustomed to anyone invading him.

Then, "How did you know that?"

I flicked a bit of pollen from his shirt. "Because it's how I'd feel. Like I never knew where I stood with someone. But maybe that's just me."

"No, it's not you. That's exactly it. One minute we're tearing everything apart, the next we're bullshitting about the Bruins. It wasn't always like this but now—" He blew out a breath as he blinked up at the roof and chimney. "It's a mess right now and I don't know how to fix it. I don't think I can."

"We'll figure it out," I said, meaning every word of it. I'd solve this problem. I could solve nearly any problem so long as it wasn't mine. "But not right now. We should get in there before we get another warning."

He led the way inside the house and toward the dining room—the one with the newly upholstered seat cushions courtesy of the bolt of fabric bartered for two old crockpots, which was all highly important for me to know and admire, I'd learned. Diana was always on the hunt. She intercepted us in the hallway, her hands loaded down with a large dish of rice topped with meat and shellfish.

"I was about to send out the search party," she said. "And Zelda, sweetheart, you have some maple seeds in your hair. Those little wingy thingies. They're everywhere. Such a mess. Ash, help her, would you?"

She shot a meaningful wink in my direction that said she was aware we'd been fooling around in the woods like oversexed teenagers just now and her only concern in the whole affair was for my bird's nest hair.

"My pleasure," Ash said as he plucked out the seeds.

"Come along, then," Diana said, hoisting her platter in the direction of the dining room. "You'll sit between me and Ash, sweetheart. I'd keep you all to myself but I imagine my son would pitch a fit."

"You imagine right," he said to her. To me, he murmured, "Told you so."

Another thing you should know about me was other people's parents always loved me. I'd meant it when I told Ash I was accustomed to being the flavor of the week. The part I'd omitted was becoming that flavor required real strategy and I'd honed that game hard. I knew how to be the fun friend kids sought out and the respectful, courteous,tidyfriend the parents wanted in their house. By the time I was eight years old, I knew how to coax my friends into following their parents' directions and doing their chores, sometimes doing them myself if that meant keeping the peace well enough to stay for dinner or spend the night. Twentysomething years had passed but I still remembered folding a load of the family's laundry because my friend Aimee was in a mood and refused to do it. I couldn't look at her father the same way after handling his briefs.

I cleaned up after myself—and everyone else—because leaving a room better than I found it guaranteed an invite back. I took up the parents' and siblings' interests to keep the conversation flowing. I knew how to make myself invisible when the parents argued or my friend got in trouble and I knew how to smile and play nice even when a member of the family hadn't earned that from me.

Carlo grinned at me from his seat at the head of the table but I offered that make-believe smile because I'd heard the whole damn conversation he'd had with Ash and he was nowhere near earning a real smile from me. I wasn't letting him off the hook for a word of it but I knew better than to tear a stripe off my host at the start of dinner. Not that I had a clue what to say about their business issues—not yet—but I hated the way Carlo had questioned Ash's intentions. The man could be a whole bunch of bossy but he wasn't underhanded. Ash wasn't out to screw anyone over. He was a good guy wrapped in an assertive shell and doused with an overbearing sauce.

"I don't believe we've met," boomed a deep voice from across the table. The resemblance between Ash and his brother was striking because it was something of a mirage—they looked exactly alike but only when in an unfocused glance. I could see how they would've been nearly identical children though as adults, he was thicker and darker than Ash, and the beard was a definite difference. "Not properly, at least. I'm Linden. The third one."

"Third?" I repeated.

"Second," Magnolia said, holding up two fingers. She pointed at Ash. "First."

"What are we talking about?" I asked Ash.

"Birth order. We always get that question," he said, holding up a bottle of wine. "Would you like some?"

I held my thumb and forefinger apart. "Just a bit, please." Then, realizing I'd ignored my half of the introductions, I said to Linden, "Sorry, I got caught up in the triplet speak. I'm Zelda. I'm Ash's"—I stopped myself because I had no idea which word came next. The man in question dropped his palm onto my leg, his fingertips pressed deep into the private skin of my inner thigh, and he gave me a greedy squeeze. An invisible cord cinched around my chest, forcing out a quavering gasp in response. "I'm Ash's."

"Pardon this old man's memory and give me a second to catch up here, would you?" Carlo peered down the table at us. "What happened to Millie?"

"I cannotbelieve this," Magnolia muttered. "Do you not recall the conversation we had ten minutes ago, Dad? When I explained to you and Lin that everyone—but especially you two—was to be on their best behavior tonight because we don't want to traumatize Ash's new person the very first time she meets all of us? And how that would be an issue because I don't want her feeling uncomfortable at my wedding which is in"—she angled her wrist for the group to see her smartwatch—"six days?"

Carlo offered a sheepish head shake. "We had this conversationtonight?"

Rob, the fiancé I'd met before chasing Ash through the backyard, took hold of Magnolia's wrist and lowered it to her lap. "Take the loss. You can't win all of them."

Ash handed the bottle to Rob. "Have some wine," Ash said to his sister. "Have the whole bottle."

"That's funny," she quipped. "As if I'm not well into hip flask territory these days."

"Yes, Ash arrived first," Diana said, lacing her fingers together in front of her plate as if still caught up in the birth order discussion and oblivious to everything after. "He was in a big hurry to meet us and Magnolia was quick to follow but Linden would've been content to have the place to himself for a time."

"In my defense," Linden started, "it was very crowded in there. Anyone in my position would've enjoyed the solitude."

"Unless you were inmyposition," Diana said with a wistful laugh. "There's no modesty when you're birthing three babies over twenty-eight hours. No shortage of hands inside you either."

"I warned you about the childbirth stories, Mom," Magnolia said. "I told you to get into the habit of not talking about your uterus so it won't be so difficult next weekend. Remember that? Remember my wedding and the three hundred guests we have attending?"