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Her eyes hurt. Avery fought the urge to rub them. Snow had picked up even more but the man behind the wheel wasn’t bothered by it. It wasn’t a guess on her part, just knowledge.
The SUV had been jacked up with oversized wheels. The ride was smooth and she felt safe and warm. Her sleep on the road had been sporadic at best, fear of the men her father hired would show to take her back. Then, of course, there were the nightmares.
However, right here, she teetered on the edge of exhaustion. Add to that the low, soft strands of R&B music flowing to her ears in the cab was a continual nudge to that edge.
He didn’t force conversations, and as the vehicle slowed her body woke from her light doze. They were pulling up to a nice house—smaller than Derek’s yet, even from here, she could feel the love streaming from it.
“Come on, Avery.” He had parked and open the door on her side.
I dozed again.
He assisted her, having her slide down the planes of his hard body. Avery wanted to stay there in his arms, yet didn’t fight as he placed her on the snow-covered ground before stepping to the back door to let Cao out.
Her dog leaned against her and she dug for the tab to put on his collar. She made it, black material with blue and purple designs on it and a silver hook.
Derek held out his hand. She placed hers in his, and she spied Wild and Alyse waiting and watching. Derek wrapped his arm around her when she made it to his side. The bag was in his other hand.
At the door, she struggled not to show any fear.
“You’re safe here, Avery. Promise.”
Wild and Alyse entered while she and Cao followed with Derek. Warmth and sense of mouthwatering temptation hit her.
“Oh, a dog!”
She saw a young, towheaded child run toward Cao. However, before he could get there, Wild scooped him up.
“You can’t just run up to a dog, Brayden. You have to ask for permission.”
Two of the kids coming were in diapers. Nope, .make that three.
“How is he with kids?” Derek’s deep rumble rolled over her.
“Cao loves kids, he never intentionally harms them.”
Derek looked at her. “We’ll discuss your wording later.”
They introduced the dogs to the kids. Brayden, Tyler, Hamilton, and Sarah. Then it was the adults’ turn.
She shook hands and met the rest of Derek’s family. The brothers — except for Wild — were dark-haired with deep blue eyes. Rhodi was with Karen — parents of Brandon and Sarah. Wild and Alyse had Tyler, an adorable girl with caramel skin and dark brown ringlets. Adam and Shelley Marie — a redhead — had a small black-haired boy named Hamilton.
“How did you and my son meet?”
That question came from the mama bear.
“He assisted me when I most needed help.”
Derek placed his hand along the small of her back, fingers lightly stroking. Mrs. Wilder’s eyes, like the three boys, softened. “That’s my son, always helping people who need it.” That gaze grew shrewd. “And you’re here now, why?”
“She’s spending some time with me.” Derek’s comment fell right away without any awkward silence.
“I see.”
Avery felt she did see, all too much.
“Dinner will be ready shortly.”
“Let me help,” Karen said, heading off to the kitchen as well.
Shelley Marie went also and she wondered if she was expected to follow. The question was answered when Derek guided her to a couch and told her to sit beside him. He draped his arm over the back, fingertips brushing her shoulder.
“Is everything okay, Avery?” Wild asked. She zoomed in on the way he touched his wife. Constant, and she leaned into him. Alyse had been the one who had flown her home. She’d been kind. Still was by all accounts.
“I am.”
“Are you sure?” Adam this time. “I’ve spoken to your father. He is worried. Said you talked about traveling then vanished without a word. No bodyguards.”
“I will leave, I have no wish to cause problems.”
Derek tightened his grip on her. “You’re not going anywhere. You’re not causing problems.”
“Avery.” Adam again. “We just need to know, not because we want you to leave. Do you have —”
“Supper’s ready. Come eat.” Mrs. Wilder’s voice rang with firm authority.
“Let’s go, it’s best not to keep Mom waiting.”
Avery swallowed, desperately wishing she didn’t feel so out of her league. It wasn’t as if she hadn’t been to family dinners and important meetings, not with her parents being who they were, but this was different. On so many levels she couldn’t even begin to count them.
This had to do with the one man who’d owned her fantasies for so long she wasn’t entirely sure she wasn’t still indulging in one now as opposed to being with him in real life. So lost in her own thoughts, she flinched when he touched her wrist.
Instantly, Derek released her. Concern leached from his gaze as he watched her face for any signs of distress and discomfort. She forced a small smile to tip up her lips, desperately wanting to put him at ease. This time, when he reached out his hand, he didn’t touch her he waited for her to accept and make the first contact.
Hands together, Derek led her to kitchen where she stopped with a small gasp. The large dining area off of the kitchen was a large table laden with food, plates, and chairs for everyone, children included. Once again that overwhelming feeling reached her and she wasn’t sure where she was supposed to go, what she should be doing, or what they wanted from her.
Everyone around her knew exactly where to go and filed to the respective seats, adults helping the children laughter and soft conversation flowing around her. This was the epitome of a family dinner. Something she’d read about and had watched on movies, especially those Hallmark kinds.
Derek’s hand released hers for a moment and fear swarmed. Seconds later his touch graced the small of her back, gently pushing and guiding her towards a chair. He pulled it out for her, waited for her to sit, and then pushed her back in to the table.
Moments later he claimed the chair beside her on her left side, and maneuvered his chair so their legs touched. Skimming her glance over him as she turned to find where Cao was, she found he had entered the dining area and lay behind her. Out of the way should somebody need to walk around, yet in true form in the place he could protect her. With a hand signal she told him to stay then faced forward once more.
Alyse sat beside her on her right side. Next to her was their daughter Tyler, and on the other side of the small child was her dad. A clenching in her chest occurred when she noticed the way he brushed his lips over his daughter’s forehead. How was her father doing? Was he worried about her?
She blinked away tears, determined not to let them fall and show anyone else how concerned she actually was about having left her father with no words and where she was. It didn’t matter, she should have known better.
Derek leaned over and whispered in her ear, “We will let your father know you’re okay after dinner.”
After grace, she watched in awe as this family dynamic exploded before her. Loud, raucous, and entirely what she’d never had growing up. There was joking, playful threats, and more amongst the siblings.
Even the wives got in on the action, as did the mother. Never once did they let her feel like a stranger. Derek and his brothers included her in the jokes and the stories, opening her eyes to a world she’d only dreamed of. Children were well behaved and as she observed it became painfully clear Mrs. Wilder was one helluva matriarch. She’d raised her children right.
After dessert, Avery got up and helped clear the table along with put food away while the guys did the dishes. It didn’t matter where she was in the kitchen, it never seemed to fail that Derek found a way to brush up against her to let her know he was thinking of her. Even through the cleanup the jokes and teasing continued.
Little by little, the families left until it was Derek and her and Wild’s family, who were the only ones left in the house with the mother. She hadn’t missed the looks and silent communication between the brothers, however, and knew that they would be brought up to speed as soon as they got their family’s home.
Interested in the large window in the front, she leaned against the wall, staring out the glass as Cao lay at her feet. She could hardly see past the light from the house, the snow was falling so heavily, and as she rubbed her arms she was eternally grateful she wasn’t out still trying to drive in this.
Alyse walked up next to her and slid an arm around her waist as if they were friends and had been for the longest time. A wonderful feeling if she wanted to stop and think about it. Accepting the gesture as it was meant to be comforting and friendly, Avery smiled at her.
“I have to tell you, Avery. The first time I had dinner here it was pretty much announced that I was Wild’s woman. I tried to deny it, but none of them believed me. This family is extremely close and there aren’t secrets between them. Wild and Derek are the closest with each other, which is why we’re still here. I’m not telling you all this to scare you, or worry you. I want you to know we are your family now. If you have a problem, you come to us, any one of us, it doesn’t matter we’re here for you.”
Fighting the urge to rest her head on Alyse’s shoulder, Avery smiled. “I hardly think my being here makes me Derek’s woman, but thank you for saying what you did. I know you didn’t have to and I know you do mean it. I’m an only child, never had siblings. This dinner was a lot for me in some ways, and in others everything I wish I could’ve had myself.”
Alyse chuckled. “If you truly think Derek hasn’t claimed you, we really need to talk about your eyesight. Unless you can stand there and tell me by looking me in the eye that he wasn’t touching you all through dinner.”
Closing her eyes, she fought back the blush that threatened to rise in her cheeks. Alyse started laughing. She dropped her arm and crossed them over her chest, one eyebrow arched.
“I thought as much.”
What did one say to that? Avery had no response, so she opted to remain silent. Something, she found out moments later, that was in her wisest course of action.
The men showed up, Wild moving up behind his wife and wrapping his arms around her waist. Derek appeared beside her, slipping one arm around her back and brushing his lips against her temple.
“What’s so funny that we missed?” Wild propped his chin on Alyse’s head even as he held Avery’s gaze.
Both men flicked their gazes back and forth between her and Alyse, yet she couldn’t find the wherewithal to give them any sort of response.
“I’m sorry, Avery. Did you want to tell them or do you want me to?” Alyse’s tone was full of laughter.
“I was kind of hoping we could forget the discussion ever happened.”
Alyse snorted. “Like that’s gonna happen.” She patted her husband’s arm. “What you don’t understand about these guys, Avery, is that they’re relentless. Think hungry dog with a meaty bone kind of relentless.”
Of course they were.
“What is it you don’t want us to know, babe?” Derek tucked her tighter against him, his fingers along her side, creating havoc in unchecked emotions to rise within her.
There was something intensely intimate about this man calling her babe even though she had no doubt he tossed that word around like he was standing on a fire truck throwing candy at children during the parade. In that moment it was just for her and that made it all the more special.
“I was just telling her what it was like my first dinner here.” Alyse shrugged. “How it was when I didn’t want to show up and yet you all told me that I was family and if I had any problems I could come to you, any of you.”
“Absolutely.” Wild nodded. “That was not a lie, we meant every word.”
“Derek, come here for a minute and help me.”
She didn’t say a word as he ran off to go assist his mother; however, when it was just her and the other two, Wild’s lighter blue eyes were shrewd as he watched her. His gaze so intense she shifted, her motion such a high rollercoaster. Cao lifted his head and watched to ensure for himself she was okay.
“Don’t scare her.”
“I’m not trying to,” he said. “I’m just wondering if she realizes that Derek’s made his claim on her.” The look Alyse sent her was nothing more than see I told you so.
Derek came back in a few moments and, just like that, put his arm around her once more. As if it were common every day for him to touch her as he was. Not that she minded, it took everything within her not to lean against him as Alyse was doing to her husband.
αβ
Derek cut his gaze to the woman riding in the passenger seat. There was no denying the exhaustion lining her eyes or the tense way she sat as they drew closer to his house on the snowy night.
“You okay over there?”
She shifted on the seat, doing her best to keep it inconspicuous; however, he caught it. Every move she made he watched.
“I am, thank you, just a bit tired.”
“I’m sure family dinners are little bit louder than what you’re used to, but it wasn’t bad, was it?” He wanted her to like his family, wanted her to enjoy the dinners that he had every intention of bringing her to more often as their lives went on.
“Definitely noisier than I’m used to, no argument there. But it was wonderful. I can’t thank you enough for taking me and allowing me to be included tonight.”
“You have this horrible habit of thanking me, Avery.”
She shifted once more and he ground his jaw, well aware she was searching for words to appease him.
“I’m not looking for thanks, Avery. I want to get to know you better. And, like my family said, you are one of us now. I’m sure Wild mentioned it, possibly Alyse; then again maybe it was one of the others, but they told you how I claimed you in front of my mother, right?”
She didn’t respond so he looked at her, took his eyes from the snowy road and skimmed it over her. Her fingers were completely inside her shirtsleeve, and from the looks of things she was about to have a major panic attack.
He reached out, slowly as to not spook her, and took her hand from where it resided inside her shirt and held her.
“I know it’s a lot to take in, Avery. It will get better, I promise. You and I have a lot to talk about, we have things to work through, but one thing at a time. Okay? Babe, I need you to respond to me because I can’t take my eyes off the road long enough to stare you. My other choice is to stop to give you my full attention, but I want to get you home.”
“I hear what you’re saying, Derek. And it’s sweet, hell, it’s more than that. I can’t lie and say I haven’t fantasized my own version of how things would be. But that’s not reality. We both know that. I’m not a good fit for your family. Look at these women who your brothers have married, the children they’ve given, the love between them and your mother, their husbands, everyone. I can’t compete with that. That isn’t my life, I don’t know how to be that way.”
He tightened his fingers around her hand, unwilling to release her and had, the snow not been accumulating so fast he would have stopped. But he didn’t want to be stranded alongside the road, that would be foolish.
“Hold onto that thought, babe. That deserves an answer and my full attention, both of which you will have the moment were back at the house. However, I do want to make one thing clear right now, right here. I have claimed you as my woman. I spent the past two years unable to get you out of my head, unable to let go of my vision of you.”
“Why would you say such a thing?”
“Because it’s nothing but the truth.”
“You never came and found me. If it was that important wouldn’t you have done that?”
He released her hand and downshifted to turn into his driveway, pleased when the gate still opened smoothly.
Parking in a spot he rarely used in his garage, he unbuckled his belt as the door closed behind him. The second he was free of the confinement, he hopped out and went around to her side. Yanking the door open, he undid her belt and turned her towards him.
“The only reason I didn’t come after you, and I do mean the only reason, was that I didn’t want my presence to bring back all those bad memories to you.” He swept his thumbs along her smooth skin, reveling in her beauty that even the dim light of the garage couldn’t hide. “But you came to me, you found me, you let me know that I didn’t give you horrible memories. And that means just one thing, babe. I’m claiming you.”
Her small gasp was swallowed up by his kiss. Working hard to keep it as gentle as he could, Derek pushed through her mouth, relearning her taste once more. He touched everywhere he could, coaxing her to play with him, to touch him, to learn him.
His eyes closed, and when he opened them later the entire garage was dark. He been so into her kiss he did not notice when the light went out.
More, his body cried.
Stepping back, he helped her down from his high vehicle, sliding her down his body once more.
Damn, I want to do that without clothes on.
“Come on, babe. Let’s go call your father, put his mind at ease, and then you and I are going to finish this discussion.”
Seconds later he heard the dog as he hit the floor, felt him against his leg as he brushed by go to the door. Inside the house they stood in the kitchen together, each leaning against the counter, the phone between them.
“Did you want me to call him, or would you like to do it?”
Avery worried her lower lip between white teeth that worked perfectly straight. He liked the crookedness of her smile.
“I should do it, he’s my father and you can’t fight my battles for me.”
“The hell I can’t. I will fight any battle for you, if you want me to.” He never once dropped her gaze as he told her this God’s honest truth.
“Perhaps I should’ve said I shouldn’t have you fight my battles for me.”
He quirked his lips in her direction. “My response would still be the same, but if it makes you feel better we can go with that.”
That sparkle that filled her brown gaze warmed him in ways equatorial heat couldn’t begin to compare to. Reaching for the phone, he unlocked the screen and pulled up the number for her father. After he pressed call he spun it in the palm of his hand and offered it to her.
“All yours.”
