Nobody's Princess

Hello! Tall, dark, handsome, linebacker shoulders and filling out a pair of faded jeans like a cover model. Blue, blue eyes registered, beautiful eyes just like Thomas. This must be Josh. She was so nervous she couldn’t hear a word past the roaring in her ears. She stared at his mouth, trying to make sense of what he said.

“Can I help you?”

Relief made her head spin. She could handle that question. “Josh?”

The corner of his severe mouth twitched slightly. “No, I’m Richard. Josh is inside.”

Oh. My. God. This was not even the hot brother? Mind blown. “I’m Tiffany.” The strap of her overnight bag slipped against her sweaty palm, so she didn’t offer her hand to him. “I’m a friend of Thomas’s.”

“Ah,” said Richard, in a tone that made her think this was not exactly news to him. The slight tilt around one corner of his mouth widened into a holy hell smile that hit her straight in the male appreciation department of her girl brain. “He’s inside.” He stepped aside to allow her to enter. “Can I take your bag?”

“Yes. No. I’m not sure.” She had to give him points for not laughing in her face. He merely looked grave, polite, and patient. This one was the doctor. Maybe he was used to crazy people in his work. “What I mean is, I don’t know how long I’m staying.”

“Yes.” He nodded sagely. “But you’re probably staying long enough to give your arm a rest. Perhaps even long enough to have a glass of water or—dare we hope—a glass of wine.”

She stared at him. Shit, he was joking. Tiffany broke into an agonizingly high-pitched titter of laughter. “I’m a little nervous.” Because, at this point, what else was she going to say? She stood in Thomas’s family home making a complete dork of herself. Confessing to nerves could only be an improvement.

“I would recognize a pair of Jimmys anywhere,” said a second male voice.

Tiffany turned and forgot to breathe.

“I’m Josh,” said the Man God. “And you must be Tiffany. Man, are we glad to see you.” She clearly must have tripped into a parallel dimension because Man God grabbed her and engulfed her in a hug that was all muscle and incredible-smelling male.

“Jesus,” said Richard. “It’s a conditioned response, like Pavlov’s dog.”

Tiffany blinked away the daze over Josh’s shoulder.

Richard shook his head and glared at his brother. “Any woman breathing and he flirts.”

“I’m just friendly,” Josh said, pulling away from her. He kept his hands on her shoulders and surveyed her from head to toe. “He said you were beautiful.”

“Who?” Blue was such a mundane description for that particular blend of sky and velvet midnight of Josh’s eyes. Any time her brain decided to check back in would be good with her.

“Thomas.”

“He did?” Again with the squeak. As far as first impressions went, she’d pretty much blown this one.

Josh looked at his brother. “Does he know?”

“Not yet.” Richard grinned.

“I’ll get the camera,” Josh said. “You take Tiffany to run the gauntlet.”

“Um . . . can I just talk to Thomas?” She had totally lost control of the situation.

Richard shook his head with an apologetic look on his face. “Unfortunately, the whole family is here, and they’d have my guts if I let you go without meeting them.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.” He shrugged. “You picked a good day to show up.”

Tiffany didn’t think she could have picked a worse one. She needed to talk to Thomas, alone and quietly. The only thing she knew for sure was what she was doing there. How Thomas would react remained to be seen.

She was going to barf. Not even in the swimsuit section of her beauty pageant days had she been this nervous. She wanted her book so badly her fingers curled around an invisible pen.

Richard used the opportunity to guide her through the entrance hall and into a large kitchen. Home. The kitchen breathed home. On one side of a huge central table, a blond woman sat with an infant in her arms. Another woman of about the same age but shorter and with the most outrageous head of hair leaned with her hips against the counter. An older woman sat feeding a toddler. As one they turned to stare at her.

Run, screamed her brain. One foot moved to get started, but Richard’s hand pressed firmly into the small of her back. “This is Tiffany.”

All the women perked up and their scrutiny got even keener.

“Tiffany.” Richard tugged her farther into the room. “This is my mother, Donna.”

“Pleased to meet you.”

“Over there is Josh’s wife, Holly.”

“I’m not anyone’s wife,” said Holly.

Donna threw Holly an evil grin. “Not yet.”

“Pleased to meet you,” Tiffany whispered into the building silence.

“And that’s Lucy,” Richard said with all the pride of a man unveiling his lifetime’s achievement.

“Pleased to meet you,” Tiffany whispered for the third time. God, how much lamer was she going to get before this was over?

“Hey, Tiffany.” Holly smiled at her. “Has Josh seen your shoes yet?”

“Yes.”

“He’s going to love you.”

She had no idea what to say, so she gave a weak sort of smile.

“And don’t let Donna intimidate you, she does that to all the new women in her son’s lives.” Holly shot a mischievous grin at Donna, who raised her eyebrows serenely.

“Welcome, Tiffany.” Donna got to her feet. Instead of taking her outstretched hand, Tiffany found herself tugged into a warm embrace of lemon and vanilla. The older woman released her and stepped back, cupping Tiffany’s face in her palms. “I know somebody who is going to be very glad to see you.”

Tiffany blinked away the tears. “Really?”

“Really,” Donna said.

“Tiffany?”

She froze. Her legs refused to move. Her gaze sought Donna’s again. Reassurance filled the other woman’s eyes. Tiffany looked past her at the blond woman at the table. Lucy gave her a smile and a small wink. Holly managed a wide grin.

Thomas stood behind her, like a force of nature. Finally, she turned.

AH! The element of surprise, she read across his chest. A smile started deep inside her and oozed into her chest, over her throat, and onto her mouth. “You’re such a geek.”

“Hey, Barbie.” He grinned back at her.

She threw back her head and laughed. This was Thomas. Thomas with his dumb T-shirts and his huge smile. Thomas who bought her books and wanted her to read the naughty parts out loud. Thomas who always saw her and not what he wanted to see. Her Thomas.

And then his arms were around her and her feet left the ground. Her Jimmy Choos dangled somewhere about halfway between his feet and his knees as he pulled her tight against him.

For the first time in three weeks, Tiffany breathed. She clung to the solid width of his shoulders and let herself feel happy.

He tilted his head, his mouth finding hers.

“Thomas,” she said against the warm, press of his lips. “Your family.”

“They all know how this is done.” He kissed her and she didn’t care anymore. It all melted away in the taste of warm man and spice. She wrapped her arms around his head and pressed into his kiss.

“I guess this means she’s staying for dinner,” a man said. It could have been Richard or Josh, she had no idea.

Tiffany broke the kiss, laughing. Her face went hot, but she kept her gaze on Thomas. “Am I?”

Thomas’s huge smile curled around the corners of his mouth. “Damn straight, you are. And for a lot longer than that.”

“I only brought a small bag,” she said.

“We have stores.” He cupped her face in his big palms. “Josh can even take you to the sort you like.”

“Okay.”

He stared at her as if he couldn’t get enough of the sight of her. “Stay forever.”

“Let’s start with today and see what happens.” It was all so new, she didn’t want to jinx it or rush it and make it all go shitty. What they had was new and shiny and beautiful.

“Okay,” he said. “But just so you know, I’m going for forever.”

“Okay.”