Chapter Twenty-Six
Riley
"I hope Uncle Finn and Knox win today!" Jeremy exclaimed.
Duncan groaned. "Hey! You know I’m your dad, right? You’re supposed to be on my side.”
“Not todayyyyy,” Jeremy chanted.
"When is everyone arriving?" I asked.
I was on pins and needles. Apparently, all the Sterlings played a water polo match every year. Duncan had asked me to stay, and I'd said yes. I was looking forward to meeting everyone, although I was a bit nervous. We were waiting for them at the pool.
“Soon.”
"Your neighbors don't mind?" I asked Duncan. We were both keeping an eye on Jeremy. He insisted that he wanted to go down the slide a few times before everyone arrived.
"No. Actually, a lot of them come to watch."
I smiled, wiggling my eyebrows. "Let me guess—some of your single neighbors?"
He narrowed his eyes. "I'm trying to remember… I think you're right. Mostly women come."
"I can't imagine why," I teased him before adding, "So, when everyone arrives…"
"They're going to be rowdy and obnoxious, and you'd better not pay attention to whatever my brothers say."
I frowned. "Why not?"
"Because they tend to give me shit at every turn when it comes to you. They can’t wait to meet you."
I sucked in a breath. "They know I’m here?"
He frowned. "Yes. Why do you think I asked you to stay? I wanted to give you a chance to meet the family as well."
Holy shit. I hadn't put two and two together.
But honestly, the past few weeks had been busy, and I was scattered.
It took a while to settle Paula into my place.
I bought her an air mattress that was surprisingly comfortable.
I didn't have time to look for another place to live for myself, but I was going to get to it soon.
Right now, I was helping Duncan search for my replacement.
"You should have seen them when they got wind that I'd put the lawyers on Paula's case," he said with a twinkle in his eye.
"They know about that?"
"Yes. There aren't any secrets in my family. Not that I tried. I wanted them to know that you’re important to me."
Oh, that made me so blissfully happy. We hadn't talked to Jeremy about any of this yet, but that was quite all right. It was better to wait until I wasn't his nanny anymore.
Just the thought of it made me uneasy. I hated that I had to search for my own replacement.
"I see the party's already started," a loud voice said.
I turned around and saw a stunning guy walking right toward us.
"Riley, nice to meet you. I’m Finn. You know, I was wondering if my brother would be brave enough to ask you here with us today."
I laughed nervously. "Why wouldn't he?"
"Oh, he might be afraid that we’re not going to shine the brightest light on him or something."
"Finn," Duncan said in a warning tone.
Finn winked at him. "Don't worry, we've got your back. We want Riley to hang around, after all." He smiled enigmatically but didn't add anything else, as Jeremy yelled, "Uncle Finn!"
He was on top of the slide but then turned around and came back down the ladder.
My heart lurched in my throat. I’d told him so many times not to climb back down. It was tricky enough when you went up. It was a slippery death trap when you tried to descend it.
He jumped down the last three steps and then ran toward us, hugging Finn.
Knox arrived just then. "Why isn't everyone already in the pool?" He had a huge grin on his face when he noticed me, but then his eyes darted to Jeremy, and he said, "Riley, nice to see you again."
I had a hunch that he would have teased me and Duncan just as much as Finn, but they were reining themselves in for Jeremy’s benefit. Aw, that endeared them to me.
Several more people arrived. I only recognized Susan. There was an older man among the group as well, who I assumed was their father.
Duncan was right next to me. Finn and Knox had stepped to one side with Jeremy. I swear I only blinked and the two of them had gotten rid of their clothes, putting them on one of the lounge chairs. They already had swim trunks on, and they jumped into the pool with Jeremy.
The group approached us. "Riley, this is Bruce," Susan said, pointing to the elderly man.
“Nice to meet you.”
"How do you do, Riley. I've heard a lot about you." He glanced from me to Duncan, then to the rest of the guys. The brothers, I assumed. Susan and Bruce headed toward two chairs closest to the slide.
“I’m Chase,” the nearest brother said, putting his arm around the only woman in the group besides their mother.
"Hi, I'm Hannah," she introduced herself.
"She's mine," Chase said.
That was hands down the best intro I’d ever heard. Not "my wife," "my fiancée," or "my girlfriend," just "mine." I gathered that there was a possessive streak running in their DNA.
"Nice to meet you, Hannah.”
“This is my first rodeo with the polo match too. I don't play. Do you?" she asked.
I shook my head. "No. I’m here to keep an eye on Jeremy."
"And to meet you," Duncan added.
I blushed.
"My brother didn't give you a heads-up about us?” one of the other men cut in. “I'm Griffin, by the way."
"Hi, Griffin," I said. I felt myself blushing even more.
"I did give her a heads-up," Duncan said in a more serious tone.
"But I actually think a warning would have been necessary," I replied, holding my head high, though I was still blushing.
Griffin yawned. “Sorry, everyone. I went to bed late last night. Might not be at my best today.”
“What did you do?” Duncan asked.
“That’s private,” Griffin replied.
“No, it’s not, dude,” Knox said from the pool. “You do know that every time someone tags Sterling Industries on Instagram, all of us see it, right? Your date last night was hot.”
Griffin blinked. “What the hell? People are tagging the company? That’s fucked-up.”
“It’s the first thing that comes up when you type ‘Sterling,’” Knox explained.
“You might want to be careful,” Duncan warned.
Griffin groaned. “Please tell me you’re not going to be on my case all day, Duncan.”
“No, he won’t,” I assured him. “He wants to win. He’ll focus on that.”
Damn, was that too cheeky of me? Duncan was still my employer, after all.
The guy next to Griffin threw his head back, laughing, before saying, "I'm Wyatt. And you can go toe-to-toe with us. That's good."
Chase looked at Duncan. "Good choice, brother."
Hannah started laughing. "Oh, Riley. They can be a handful."
"They are," I said, feeling more of my sass coming back. I liked the guys. “I thought only Knox was a bit much, but clearly that applies to all of you.”
"Heard that," Knox said from the pool.
I snapped my head in his direction. When had he swum toward us?
"Yeah, he's got like a sixth sense when people talk about him," Griffin informed me, as if reading my thoughts.
"Good to know."
"What do you mean, I'm a bit much? I'm a lot much," Knox said.
“My bad,” I replied, fighting to keep a straight face.
He shook his head theatrically. "Come on, everyone. We've got a game to play. And if we time this right, we'll have all the single gals in the complex join us in the afternoon."
Duncan grinned. "Knox, knock it off."
"I swear to God, you warn me one more time not to hit on your neighbors?—”
"Sounded like you needed a reminder."
"No, I didn't." He glanced at me. "Riley, help me out."
I jerked my head back. "No, I won't. I'm with Duncan on this one."
Duncan's smile was totally smug.
Wyatt burst out laughing again. "All right, everyone, let's get this game started."
The next few hours were a veritable muscle fest. The guys were all hot as hell. There was no other way to describe them. They were tall, with broad shoulders and endless muscles, and moved with grace in the water. They were playing three against three. Jeremy was the referee.
"Can you even play water polo with just three people?" I wondered out loud.
"Oh, don't worry. My sons make their own rules," Bruce said. He, Susan, and Hannah were sitting side by side on chairs.
"They seem good at it," Hannah remarked.
While keeping an eye on the pool, I headed to the shade where Knox and Finn had left drinks in a cooler.
Susan came with me, and we each took a Diet Coke.
The fridge upstairs was stocked with beer, wine, and mixers, but Duncan said they’d only start mixing cocktails after the game was over, which I thought was smart.
"It looks like Duncan, Griffin, and Wyatt will win," I said as we stood in the shade, and I took a few sips of my soda. It was much cooler here than under the umbrella.
"You don't mind being here on a Saturday?" Susan asked, eyeing me.
"No, not at all. I really love my job."
"Hmm. But you're also looking forward to starting your new job, right?"
I nodded. "Yes, I am very much looking forward to that." I sighed, looking at the pool. "I'm going to miss Jeremy, though."
"And Duncan?" Susan asked, sounding surprisingly sassy.
I swear I blushed from the top of my head to the tips of my toes.
"Of course, although I'm spending most of my time with Jeremy." I wasn't sure what else to say. I didn't want to make things awkward.
"You know, Duncan's different when he's around you."
"What do you mean?" I asked quickly.
"He's relaxed, and even his body language is more open. He was never like that around Jeremy's mother. I was afraid from the very beginning that things wouldn't work out for them, but they did try for his sake. And Jeremy's closer to you than he's been to any of his nannies."
That filled me with so much pride. My face exploded in a grin. "I'm so happy to hear that."
She looked at me with a soft expression on her face. "You love that boy."
I swallowed hard and nodded. "Yes, I do. So very much."
"He likes your company so much, he's even bailing on spending evenings away with me," Susan said.
"Oh, I can't possibly compete with you or Bruce. Jeremy absolutely loves his time with you."
"He does. Bruce is a very good grandfather."
The affection in her voice took me by surprise. Not many people spoke with so much candor about their ex-husband.