Page 57 of Finding the One (River Rain #7)

My smile was just as soft before I looked to the room and started to get up, saying, “I’ll get the door.”

“No,” Dair said, setting his drink aside. “I’ll get it.”

He pushed up.

Sorcha shifted to me.

Davi brooded at the fire.

Kenna calmly sipped her wine.

Dair and Bally came in.

I got up. Kenna got up.

Davi remained seated, brooding at the fire.

Kenna and Bally touched cheeks, and I wanted to give a cheer at how Kenna did it. She was entirely comfortable. It was only awkward on Bally’s part.

His attention came to me, and I set my glass down and approached.

“Hey, Bally,” I greeted.

I tipped my head for him, and he seemed startled before he touched his cheek to mine.

I pulled away and Dair claimed me.

“Our Blake,” Balfour murmured, his gaze shifting between Dair and me. “So glad you two worked things out. You’re a bonny couple.”

“Thanks,” I mumbled.

“Drink?” Dair asked.

Bally glanced at Kenna.

She did a barely-there lift of her chin.

“I can get it,” Bally said.

Davi grunted unhappily, still ruminating toward the fire, but now she’d lifted her feet to rest them on the upholstered coffee table.

Bally shot a devastated glance at his daughter and left the room.

No one said anything as we returned to our seats, but Kenna switched hers so she was sitting next to Davi, and Bally would not be doing so.

Bally returned with his drink, sat on the sofa, and as it seemed was the way with the Wallaces, he didn’t fuck around.

“Davina, my darling, if ye and I could go somewhere to?—”

“Save it, Dad,” Davi sniped to the fire. “I’m all in to do this friendly family thing, but you’re going to have to give me more time to be”—she slowly turned her head his way—“insanely pissed off at you.”

“I can give ye that time,” Bally said quickly.

“Good,” she spat.

Bally looked to Dair. “Son?”

“You made me a promise in your office and you’re keeping it,” Dair proclaimed.

“Mum has the house, as she should. You’re providing for her financially, as ye should.

You assisted with the Signe problem, and I appreciate it.

You shared honestly what prompted this mess with Helena, and I appreciate that too. ”

Davi made an unintelligible grumble, and just a quick note that, since our reunion, Dair had shared that he’d told Davi everything.

“But I still hold anger,” Dair continued. “That said, I want this friendly family thing too. For Mum, for Davi and me, and so Blake doesn’t have to put up with our shite. She’s had enough family shite for two lifetimes.”

Aw.

He was so sweet!

Dair reclaimed his glass, sucked back some Scotch, and finished.

“So, we’re giving this a go, and I’ll do my bit to make it successful.”

Bally’s shoulders slumped in relief.

“Ugh, I’m going to have to get over it,” Davi announced. “I can’t have Dair being more adjusted than me.”

There was laughter, and even Bally risked a small smile.

Dair relaxed back into the sofa, tucking me to his side again. “What’s for dinner, Mum?”

“Fish pie,” Kenna said.

“Of course, your favorite.” Davi aimed this remark to Dair.

“Starting with Cullen skink with crusty bread.” Kenna aimed this at Davi.

“Your favorite,” Dair drawled toward Davi.

“I hope ye dinnae mind doubling up on the seafood, Blake,” Kenna said to me. “I was in a fish mood.”

She was in the mood to spoil her children.

So obviously, I replied, “I don’t mind. I love fish.”

Dair gave me a squeeze.

And then he broke the ice.

“Did ye see Signe has taken down all the videos about me?” he asked his dad.

Bally sat back in the sofa. “Didnae see, but I was told she was getting hit with some backlash.”

“Aye,” Dair confirmed. “Though ‘some’ is an understatement.”

“I’m disappointed she took them down,” Davi said. “It was my new favorite pastime to see all the people on social media telling her to go stuff herself.”

I laughed.

Kenna sipped her wine through a smile.

And then Davi did her bit.

“I’m obsessed with the TV show Ludwig . Anyone seen it?”

Conversation flowed from there, through dinner and dessert (Kenna hadn’t mentioned the raspberry cranachan, which was the perfect addition), with the only continuation of the early awkwardness happening when Bally was the first to leave.

As for me, I waited until after Dair, Sorcha and I were home, Dair had given me an orgasm, so, more importantly, I could give him one too, and we were under the skylight in his dark bedroom, cuddling before sleep.

“That went okay,” I said quietly.

“Aye,” he agreed.

I gave him a squeeze. “Are you okay?”

He was silent a moment.

Then he released such a huge breath, even I felt the relief of it.

“Aye, my love,” he said. “This isn’t a perfect world, as much as we want it to be. That’s as good as it’s going to get, so I’ll take it.”

“Your mum is amazing.”

“Aye,” he agreed more readily to that.

“I love you, Alasdair Wallace.”

He knew it, of course.

But it was the first time I said it out loud.

He was again silent, and this moment lasted longer.

I was disappointed.

Until he turned into me shoving my legs open so his hips could fall between them when he got me on my back.

“Dair, I’m still so full of your mum’s amazing cooking, you were lucky to wring one orgasm from me,” I lied.

“We’ll get ye into shape,” he said against my lips. “In the meantime, I’ll do all the work.”

And then…

He did.