Page 131 of Loving the Tormentor

It's Caden's turn to laugh. "Never mind, I like him."

"I don't," I say sternly. "Achilles, this isn't a clinical trial for your weird obsessions or to bring back to an SFU professor. This is a birthday lunch. Don't make a case out of everyone."

"Not everyone." He shrugs. "Just him." And by him, he means Caden.

"Wait." Nate's voice rings out at the end of the table. He was busy trying to get Livie to eat peas until now, but clearly, he's always paying attention. "So, I'm not an interesting case, but he is? That weirdo?"

"Don't call my brother a weirdo," Kay calls out without an ounce of fear for the mafia man as she walks back in holding boxes of pizza.

"Little Sunflower." Nate chuckles. "Have you ever met your brother?"

My eyes light up when I see the name of the place she ordered from on the box. It's my favorite on the North Shore. We're eating in their Stoneview mansion, but no one can get us to eat stupid fancy food, and that puts a smile on my face.

"Fuck yes," I exclaim. "I haven't had Caprinos in forever."

"Bad word!" Lia shouts.

She then proceeds to shriek as she runs to the first box her mom puts on the table, and Livie attempts to leave her dad's lap, but he holds her back.

"Finish your peas, and then you can have unlimited pizza."

She shifts until she's kneeling on his thighs, facing him, and puts her palms on his cheeks before planting her forehead against his. As usual, she doesn't say a word, but she doesn't need to.

Nate throws his head back. "Livie…Fine. Go have as much pizza as you want, sweetie."

She giggles as she jumps off his lap, and Kay throws a garlic bread roll at him from where she's standing, which he catches easily with a dumb, wide smile on his face.

"Nate," she hisses. "She hasn't eaten a vegetable in a week.Whatare you doing?"

"You didn't see the look in her eyes."

"She's manipulating you. Stop falling for it. Every fuc?—"

"Bad word," he says pointedly as he waves his finger at her.

"Oh, you'll hear some effing bad words later. You just effing wait. I'm going to shoot your effing head off."

His smug grin doesn't help her attitude.

We all laugh at her as she tries to stop Livie from grabbing five slices at the same time. And that's when it hits me. Achilles is laughing.Genuinelylaughing.

It sounds gorgeous, and my heart melts in my chest. I'm falling in love all over again, with a new man who I didn't know could feel joy that deeply. I don't say anything; I just hold his hand under the table as the pizza is being passed around. He grips it back tightly, and I could die from happiness.

Lunch goes without any more trouble. I'm having too much of a good, stressless time to realize how quickly the afternoon is passing. Candles are blown out, cake is eaten. Caden and Billie leave so they can spend the night at her dad and stepmom's house on the North Shore before heading back to New York tomorrow, where they live.

Once Nate takes the girls for bath time, the sun having already set, it's time for me to go back to my new life.

"Thank you for today, Kay," I say as we stand up.

Achilles, Caden, and Nate weirdly got along the whole afternoon. Triple the psychos, triple the covert insanity. Lia and Livie warmed up to him, and he was so good with them it mademe want to meet Sophie and see what he's like with his own little sister.

"It was a lovely afternoon," Achilles says politely to Kayla.

I walk toward her for a hug, but she stops us with a cold voice and a deadly look.

"Sit back down."

My head jerks back, a confused scoff leaving me. "What?"