Adam spit out his food and started choking.

Malinda frowned. “I love David very much, Samantha. Someday I would be delighted if you’d live with us as well.”

Mark choked this time.

I frowned at her. “Have you met Mason? I don’t come alone anymore.”

Her smile slipped a bit. “I’ve met Logan, and I thought he was a delightful young man.”

“He’s an ass if he doesn’t like you,” Mark pointed out.

Adam nodded. A dark look came over him.

Malinda touched my hand and leaned forward. “I’ll admit; I’ve always been a bit intrigued by those two Kade boys. They’re so handsome and athletic. Bit of bad boys, aren’t they?”

Mark groaned. His forehead dropped on the table with a thump. “Mom, could you be more embarrassing right now?”

She straightened. “I could. You really want me to be?” Her voice came out razor sharp, and her son lifted his head, gave her a sheepish look, and reached for a piece of sausage.

He mumbled as he popped it in his mouth, “I love you, mom.”

She melted again and beamed. “Oh, honey. I do love you so much.”

And then there was a knock at the door. Malinda went to answer, but I heard a deep masculine voice as soon as she opened the door. My stomach twisted into knots and my heart picked up its pace.

“You okay?”

I stood from the table and walked to the foyer. There he was. Garrett stood above Malinda and he flashed a charming smile to her. His teeth were white and perfect. He had angular cheekbones with a dash of grey in his dark hair. He had broad shoulders, a slender waist, and I knew his type.

He was the usual dreamboat to mid forty year old women and I saw him working his magic. Malinda touched his arm. I expected to hear a purr, but when I didn’t, I drew up short and blinked back to focus. Her eyes were twinkling, but there was no real flirtation in her voice.

Oh right. Garrett seemed the opposite of David, who was her real dreamboat.

When he saw me, I could tell that he was surprised by how his sex appeal seemed to bounce off of Mark’s mother.

“Sam.” He gestured for me to come closer.

She touched his arm again and glided away. When she passed me by, she murmured as she touched my arm, “I’ll let you two have some privacy.”

As soon as she rounded the corner, Garrett came inside and shut the door behind him. His eyes raked me over before glancing back towards his house. “I saw you come in here. When you didn’t come out after a while, I figured…” His tone was cautious, but I sensed the disapproval from him.

“You’re mad because I didn’t come home last night?”

A deep breath left him in a rush. “I’m mad because when I came home, your room was empty. There was nothing. No note. No phone call. No text message. Nothing. What if something had happened to you?”

A knot tightened in my gut, but another unraveled at the same time. It put me off balance. “I…I’m sorry. I didn’t—I forgot. I didn’t think about you or that… My mom hasn’t really cared and since we moved out, my dad’s been… Well, you know.”

He jerked his head in a nod and cleared his throat. “I know. I do. Helen pointed that out to me—”

My head went down. “You were with Helen?”

He sucked in his breath. “I…was… We had a date night, but… I called her when I saw you hadn’t gone home last night.”

“And she told you to call Analise?”

“No.” His voice was strained. “She was going to call Mason. I told her not to and that’s when I called Analise.”

I nodded. “And James came down to the room.”

“Yeah…” He pulled the collar of his shirt away from his neck and glanced around. Then he cursed under his breath and his shoulders dropped an inch. “Look, Sam, I know your mom wants to have this family meeting, but I have to go back to Boston.”

Something fluttered in my stomach and I glanced up. I asked in a quiet voice, “To see your wife?”

His face twisted. “Uh, yeah. So…”

“I won’t say anything.”

“Really?” He studied me with an intensity that had me frozen in place.

“I won’t. I don’t even want to deal with that.”

“But if you say anything to Mason…” He looked outside, and I felt the regret from him.

“I won’t.” I reached out and touched his arm. It was tense, enough that it sent my hand away as if I’d been scalded.

“Yeah, okay.” He sounded regretful. “I don’t know, Sam. You shouldn’t have to deal with this, with…”

“I won’t say anything.” My voice grew firm.

“Okay.” His shoulders loosened some more before he jerked me against him. He wrapped both his arms around me and lifted me in the air.

“Oomph.”

He squeezed me harder, tucking his head into my shoulder. “You’re a good kid. I’m damned lucky that I knocked up your mom when I was reckless and stupid.” His voice was gruff, but his lip trembled a tiny bit. “I’m damned lucky, that’s all I gotta say. I’ll see you in a few days. You’re staying, right? I don’t want your mom to swoop in and demand you move back to their home.” He patted my shoulders again as he withdrew. “And I’m taking back that bucket of condoms. Your ass was right. I wasn’t being a father when I did that. It was all a joke, but he was right.”