It was time to find out.
He set his glass on the bar and put an arm around his brother and mother. “I’ll prove it right now. Let’s get Dad and go sit down. I have something I want to share with you.”
His mother’s eyes widened. “Really? Oh, my God, really?”
He didn’t answer as he walked her to the table and Jerry went to retrieve Dad. In a moment, they gathered together, Jerry and Laura, his wife of six years, Mom and Dad, and Zeke and Mandy. It felt so natural, like she belonged in his family.
“I have some news,” he said without preamble.
Jerry and Laura shared a look, and Dad launched a snow-white brow to the north, and Mom beamed like a Christmas tree.
“I love news,” she said.
Next to him, Mandy gave him an uncertain look. “Good news?” she asked.
“Fantastic news.” He gestured them all a little closer, despite the fact that only the wait staff was in hearing distance. But wait staff could talk. “This is family confidential. You cannot breathe a word.”
“Why not?” his father demanded. “If it’s good news, we share it.”
“No,” Zeke said. “We have to handle the announcement very carefully, because this could be a delicate situation.”
Mom’s gaze zeroed in on Mandy’s stomach. “How delicate?”
“No, no.” Zeke waved her off with a laugh, putting an easy hand on Mandy’s back and feeling her stiffen at the implication. “Different kind of good news.”
Mom pressed her hands together under her chin, nearly jumping out of her skin. “Oh, this is so exciting.”
“Yes, it is,” Zeke agreed. “This is something I’ve wanted for a long time.” All five of them looked at him expectantly, and he breathed the words quietly, “My own baseball team.”
“What?” Mom’s and Dad’s simultaneous questions shot like a bullet across the table.
“Really?” Jerry leaned forward. “You’re buying a team?”
He could have sworn he felt Mandy sigh with relief.
“Starting one from scratch,” he said, reaching under the table to find her hand, hoping she liked the important part of his news. “My buddy Garrett Flynn proposed the idea to a few of our friends, and I’ve spent some time this week doing some site selection for a location to build a facility for a minor league team and to possibly use for Major League spring training.”
“Is that what you’ve been doing?” Mandy asked.
“I wanted you to come, but you were so busy with your own business, I couldn’t take you.”
Mom’s face had slowly faded to abject disappointment. “That’s it? That’s your news?”
“No. That’s not the best part.” He squeezed Mandy’s hand. “I’ve found a location after spending a lot of this week searching up and down the west coast of the state.” He turned to Mandy and met her gaze, hoping to see joy in those bright green eyes. “I found about a hundred and fifty acres of undeveloped land right on Mimosa Key in the northeast corner of Barefoot Bay. Which will get me back down here...all the time.”
He felt her gasp more than heard it, nothing but shock and...well, not joy in her eyes.
“Northeast Barefoot?” Dad leaned forward before Zeke could interpret Mandy’s reaction. “There’s nothing up there but an old goat farm.”
“That man died, I heard,” his mother said. “Cardinale. His granddaughter’s been living there since he passed. Is she selling?”
“She’s going to,” he said confidently, turning to Mandy. “Once we put Elliott Becker on the job.”
But she didn’t laugh or even reply, her face pale, her eyes still registering disbelief. Inside, all the excitement numbed as he realized…she wasn’t happy.
Jerry and Laura were throwing questions at him, Dad was adding to the melee, and Mom looked torn between disappointed and hopeful. But all that didn’t really matter because he’d expected Mandy to look thrilled, but she was anything but.
In fact, she barely smiled.
Chapter Eleven
The low-grade panic that had started when Zeke shared his news bubbled up in Amanda’s chest, squeezing everything until she couldn’t breathe. Her heart walloped her ribs, and every once in a while, she got a little dizzy. Somehow, she managed to chatter with everyone else and hold Zeke’s hand as they all left the country club to wait for their cars.
This shouldn’t have happened. She had no right and no desire to fall for someone again. That wasn’t the plan! That wasn’t independence, plus she—
“Here’s our car,” Zeke said as the limo pulled up to the country club entrance. He guided her into the back seat, gave one last wave to family members then slid in next to her. The car smelled rich, like clean leather, the lights barely on, the windows black.
“My girl is upset.” Zeke eased them both to the wide back seat, folding her in his arms. “Isn’t she?”
She let out the breath she’d been holding for a long, long time. “This would be a hell of a lot easier if you’d please be an asshole rich guy I’d like to punch.”
He grinned.
“And it would help if your family weren’t so nice.”
He laughed.
“And if you wouldn’t do things that make me want to…”
“Want to what?”
Break every rule for you. “Kiss you.”
“What did I do that made you want to kiss me?”
“Pretty much just standing, sitting, being, and breathing.”
He let out a soft moan and pulled her into his lap. “The party’s over, sweetheart.”
It sure was.
“Now we are free to…” He dragged her dress up to her thighs, and then eased one of her legs over him, so she was straddling and facing him. “Break the contract.”
“I’m not fr—”
He stopped her with a kiss, pulling her with both hands on her shoulders, situating her right over a mighty erection that pressed hard against her bottom, her pearly pink dress balled up between them.
As he broke the mouth-to-mouth contact, he slid his hands down, over the neckline and onto her breasts, making it impossible to talk or think. She had to feel. His hands erased everything.
He rocked once, making her gasp. She dropped her head back, the blood rushing through her doing exactly what she wanted it to do—clearing her head of any thoughts. Of any rationalizations. Of any truths or fears or problems this was going to lead to.