She smiled back—for his sisters’ sake, he was pretty sure, and he was proven right when she went up on tiptoe to murmur in his ear.

“I don’t care how hot you look, Captain Sparrow, if I survive this night, I win. And my spoils are going to be more than brownies.”

Chapter 21

You can’t call a woman’s things ‘stuff,’” Clare said to Cole. She looked at Olivia. “Sorry. We raised him better than that.”

Olivia did her best to smile. No way was she going to admit that walking into this all-Donovan party had shaken her to her core. No way. She shook her head, like It’s all good. “It’s okay. It is mostly…stuff.”

Iron Man came up behind Cole and began to strangle him. Cole reached behind him and junk-punched the superhero, dropping the giant guy to the floor. As Iron Man went down, he hooked a foot around Cole’s legs and brought him down with him, hard.

The floor shook like thunder.

The two of them wrestled and rolled around, crashing into a coffee table. They were evenly matched, which was a good thing for Jack Sparrow, given that Iron Man had a hundred pounds and six inches on him.

“Squash him like a bug, honey,” Thing Two yelled.

Okay, that was sweet in a way, Olivia thought, Cindy calling her brother “honey.”

“Nail his sorry ass,” Cindy yelled. “Come on, Garrett, you can totally take that pipsqueak!”

Whoops, Olivia’s mistake. Thing Two wasn’t encouraging Cole. She was yelling for Iron Man to squash Cole like a bug.

And indeed, Iron Man rolled onto Cole and bent him like a pretzel.

“Excuse me,” Olivia said to Thing Two, “but you know he’s injured, right?”

“Eh, he’s tough,” Cindy said. “Honey,” she yelled, “sit on him if you have to!”

The entire party of about thirty people had gathered around and were cheering and egging on the wrestling match. They seemed pretty evenly divided between Jack Sparrow and Iron Man.

Iron Man was winning. He had Jack Sparrow in what looked like an impossible hold, eating hardwood floor.

“He’s injured,” Olivia tried again, this time to Miley Cyrus and Robin Thicke, who’d come up beside her. “His shoulder—”

The guy dressed as Robin Thicke grinned. “He’s scrappy as hell, darlin’, no worries.”

Olivia glared at them, and then at his sisters, but clearly no help was going to come for Cole from either source. Whatever. She’d help him herself then, and she strode directly into the melee and—

Cole managed to turn his face and smile up at her. He actually smiled, like I got this, babe.

She stopped and shook her head, and Cole made his move. He rolled Iron Man onto his belly, climbed on top of him, and wrapped his forearm around Iron Man’s beefy neck, yanking his head up off the floor.

“Oh, come on!” Cindy yelled at Iron Man. “It’s like you’re not even trying!”

Cole leaned low over Iron Man, his mouth near the guy’s ear. “Say it.”

Iron Man shook his head.

“I’m going to offer this one last time,” Cole said, calm as you please, sitting on Iron Man’s back. “Say it or eat dust.”

Iron Man huffed out a huge sigh. “Fine. I bow to your greatness.”

“Sorry,” Cole said, cupping a hand around his ear. “Didn’t hear you.”

“I bow to your greatness! Jesus! You’re going to wrinkle the suit, man! And you might want to lay off the pizza and beer, you’re getting fat.”

Cole grinned—clearly he knew damn well he didn’t have a spare ounce of fat on him—and sprang up to his feet.

Iron Man flopped to his back. “Shit. You suck.”

Cole strode over to Olivia and slung an arm around her neck. Pulling her in, he kissed her temple. “Ariel, this is Garrett, my brother-in-law.”

Olivia just stared up at Cole. “Are you okay?”

“I won, didn’t I?” He glanced back at Iron Man, still lying on the floor sucking in wind.

“Yes,” she said, “but—”

“Princess of the sea,” he said, and let out another laugh in her ear, “you can inspect me for injuries later.”

She stared at him. “Men are so weird.”

“Good weird, right?”

That was when Elvira walked up to them. She was lean and regal, and she gave Cole a long look.

“What?” he said, lifting his hands. “He started it.”

Elvira shook her head and looked at Olivia. “You’ll have to excuse my son,” she said.

Oh, God. Her son? This gorgeous creature was Cole’s mom?

“Seriously,” Cole said. “He started it.”

“Your father taught you how to walk away from a fight.” Elvira took Olivia’s hands in hers. “He also taught you manners, which you’ve clearly forgotten. I’m Amelia,” she said. “And you are?”

“Olivia Bentley.”

“You own that lovely boutique. It’s wonderful to meet you. I love your costume.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re certainly giving Jack Sparrow some class tonight.”

Cole laughed. “I think it’s fair to say she can outclass me on any night, Mom.” Again he slipped an arm around Olivia.

Did she look like she needed the support? Olivia wondered. She’d thought she was managing the terror pretty well. To be on the safe side, she flashed him the small, bullshit I’m-fine smile that had worked on every single person she’d ever let into her life.