Chapter 15
Chapter Fifteen
“ Y ou don’t need that,” Audra insisted.
Damon silently disagreed, straightening his tie and critically studying his appearance. “You said your brothers are very protective, and I’m about to meet them, your parents, and your daughter. I want to make a good impression. I don’t want them believing the stuff they read about me online, and I don’t want them thinking I’m going to be like your ex.”
He wore navy slacks and a white shirt, but a jacket and tie would be a nice addition.
Audra marched over, stood in front of him, and tugged off the tie. “You’re going to be overdressed. It’s Sunday dinner at my family’s house, not the White House. I promise no one is going to judge you.” She lifted onto her toes and kissed his stiff lips.
“You’re sure?”
“I’m positive. You’re usually such a confident person, it’s cute that you’re worried about making a good impression, but you have nothing to worry about. I couldn’t resist you, and I know they won’t be able to either.”
“Don’t try to butter me up,” Damon grumbled. He looked at his reflection and then opened the top button of his shirt.
“You look great, hon. They’re going to love you,” Audra said.
He sighed. “All right, if you’re sure, let’s get out of here.”
On the drive over, Audra told him that Ethan, Thiago, Bruno, and Maxwell would be at the house, in addition to her parents and Kerilyn. She warned that while her mother would be welcoming and kind, her stepfather was a toss-up because he could be protective like her brothers. Kerilyn was excited that she’d finally meet her mother’s friend.
When they arrived at the property, Damon parked on the side of the house and followed Audra up the stairs and into the foyer. As soon as they entered, her parents approached.
“Hello and welcome. It’s nice to meet you.” Rose was a petite woman with a glowing smile.
“Nice to meet you, Mrs. Santana,” Damon said, clasping her small hand in his.
“Please, call me Rose.”
Benicio’s greeting, while not cold, was cooler as he assessed Damon with curious eyes and a firm handshake.
He was a bearded Hispanic man with salt-and-pepper hair. “Nice to meet you,” he said in accented English.
“Nice to meet you too,” Damon replied.
“Please, come join us in the great room. We’re waiting for the rest of the family.” Rose extended a hand to guide them through a trio of arches toward the back.
The room contained a fireplace and seating arrangements that promoted conversation. They all sat down, with Audra and Damon on one sofa across from Rose and Benicio on the other.
He quietly took a deep breath, anticipating the questions that were coming.
“What’s for dinner? The food smells delicious,” Audra said.
On the way to the room, Damon had also smelled the meal, which reminded him that he hadn’t eaten much because he had saved his appetite for dinner.
“Rodolfo prepared herb-crusted lamb chops with ratatouille, and for dessert, vanilla panna cotta with strawberry compote. Rodolfo is our chef,” Rose explained to Damon.
Before they could continue the conversation, he saw movement out of the corner of his eye. Other members of the family strolled into the room.
“These are my brothers. That’s Ethan, Bruno, and Thiago,” Audra said.
Damon stood to greet them, and as he shook their hands, he remembered everything she had told him about her siblings. Ethan, the serious oldest brother, was quickly amassing a real estate empire. Bruno was a chef who looked like a younger version of his father with dark hair and gray eyes. Thiago worked with their father and was in town for a few weeks.
The sound of girlish giggles preceded the appearance of a little girl racing into the room with a teenage boy running behind her.
“Gotcha!” He scooped her up.
When he saw their company, he slowly lowered her to the floor.
“You must be Maxwell. I’m Damon.” He extended a hand.
The teen grinned. “I know who you are. Nice to meet you. Did Audra tell you I said thanks for the jersey?”
“She did.” Damon smiled at Audra’s daughter, who looked up at him with curiosity as she sidled closer to her mother.
“Keri, this is my friend, Damon. Remember I told you about him?”
Kerilyn nodded and folded her hands in front of her. “Hello,” she said in a polite voice.
“Hello, Kerilyn. It’s nice to meet you.”
Benicio came to his feet. “That’s everyone. Now that we’re all here, we can make our way to the dining room. I am starving.”
They filed into the dining room, where a long table was set to accommodate them. Audra’s parents sat at either end, and everyone else settled into chairs on each side of the table.
As Rose placed a napkin across her lap, she said, “I hope you brought your appetite, Damon. We have plenty of food.”
“I do have a hearty appetite, ma’am, and I love a good home-cooked meal.”
Staff entered and placed plates of watermelon and feta salad in front of each person.
Initially, the conversation centered around the absent family members. Ignacio was filming on location, and Monica was in Europe with friends, living her best life now that she had graduated.
Rose brought the conversation around to Damon. “Do you travel a lot during the season? I admit I don’t know much about baseball.”
Damon dabbed his mouth with a napkin. “We play 162 games, and half of those are away games.”
“My goodness, you’re gone quite a bit. He travels more than you, honey.” She directed the comment at her husband.
Benicio grunted. “Now that you know the situation can be worse, maybe you will not give me such a hard time.”
Rose pursed her lips. “All that traveling must be difficult,” she said to Damon.
“It keeps me busy, that’s for sure, but I make time for what’s important.” He shot a glance at Audra beside him, and she blushed as she placed a piece of watermelon in her mouth.
Rose’s gaze bounced between them, but Damon couldn’t read her expression.
“Do you have any children?” Bruno asked as a member of the staff lifted his empty plate from the table.
“No, I don’t.”
“Siblings?” Benicio asked.
“No. Just me, my mother, and father.” He kept his voice neutral, but tension coursed through his muscles. He’d known they would ask personal questions, but he still became uneasy whenever those questions arose.
“But you date a lot of women,” Thiago said slowly. He had a full beard and dark eyes, and more than once Damon had caught him staring, his gaze unwavering.
Audra’s head snapped up, and an uncomfortable silence filled the room.
“I read about you online,” Thiago said by way of explanation.
“I used to,” Damon admitted.
He wanted to be careful how he spoke because he wanted to impress Audra’s family, but he also wasn’t about to let her brother intimidate him. This one, in particular, seemed to be an ass. At least the others were pretending to be nice.
“Used to?” Ethan, the eldest, latched on to the words. His eyes were cool and penetrating.
“Yes, past tense. Is there something wrong with dating?” Damon asked, laughing to lighten the mood.
“No, as long as all parties know what is going on and no one is playing games.” Thiago again. What was the problem with this guy?
Damon met his gaze directly. “I don’t play games off the field, and I wouldn’t have come here to meet Audra’s family if I didn’t care about her.”
Silence filled the room as both men stared at each other.
“Okay, that’s enough,” Benicio said in a warning tone, shooting a glance at his son. “Let’s keep things civil. Damon is our guest.”
Hopefully, that would be the end of the tension in the room. If Benicio hadn’t interrupted, Damon had a sneaking suspicion the questions were about to become more antagonistic.
Audra squeezed his knee under the table. “Damon used to play for the Twins before he signed with the Braves.”
He was impressed by how much she’d progressed in her baseball knowledge since they first met.
“Did you like it there?” Maxwell asked.
As he replied to the question, Damon relaxed. He told the family about his experience and how much he had appreciated signing with the Braves.
“My hope is to retire as a Brave,” he said.
“I want to play baseball too.” Kerilyn directed the statement to Damon. She sat between Ethan and Thiago.
“What position would you like to play?” he asked.
“I like to throw the ball,” she answered.
“In that case, you’d like to be the pitcher.”
She nodded vigorously. “I don’t throw very far right now, but maybe I can throw far when I’m bigger.”
Damon smiled across the table at her. “You can do anything you put your mind to. Size doesn’t matter. Heart does.”
A grin spread across her lips.
From then on, the conversation remained relaxed. The Connor-Santanas learned about Damon, and he learned about them, as well. He found out that Audra’s Hispanic brothers had a connection to Colombia on their mother’s side and learned about Ethan’s dream of creating a multi-billion dollar residential development one day.
Maxwell’s siblings teased him about the many girls he dated, and Kerilyn added to the conversation by exclaiming that she was not looking forward to the end of summer vacation and going back to school.
When dinner ended, Damon said his goodbyes, and Audra walked him out. As soon as the door closed behind them, she flung her arms around his neck.
He hugged her back, laughing. “What’s this for?”
She gazed up at him. “You were great. They love you.”
“How do you know?”
“I know.” She couldn’t stop smiling. “Thank you for coming. I wanted them to see how great you are.”
“I enjoyed myself, but things were a little rough at the beginning.”
“That’s just Thiago.” Audra rolled her eyes. “He can be an ass, but if he’s on your side, there’s no one more loyal or who goes harder for you.”
Damon nodded. “I can see that. He’s got your back. Your whole family does.”
“And Kerilyn likes you.”
“She’s a cutie. Maybe… if you’re open to it, we could do something together with her one day.”
She looked immensely pleased. “I would like that.”
With one arm around her waist, Damon bent his head and kissed either side of her mouth. “I love being with you, Audra. Thank you for inviting me.”
She pressed a hand to his jaw and kissed his lips, and he felt his body stir. She barely had to touch him for him to become aroused.
“I’ll see you when you get back,” she whispered.
He’d be on the road for the next five days and had never hated travel more than he did now because it meant being away from Audra. “See you then.”
He gave her one more kiss and then jogged down the steps to his car.