24. Ezra
In hindsight, I recognized my tantrum at work was less about the steak and the jackass who didn’t know how to order and more about the fact that said jackass had been on a date with my girl. And the kiss after—another dumbass move on my part, but I couldn’t bring myself to regret it. The way Brie had clung to me before ultimately pushing me away only stoked the fire of my desire to win her back. I’d made a lot of mistakes where she was concerned, but I was determined to rectify each and every one. I’d worship at her feet every day if she’d let me.
Which is how I found myself at Birdie’s the following week, surrounded by her entire family after inviting myself along to their weekly dinner.
I’d been to plenty of events hosted by the Delatou family before, but the pressure hadn’t felt as suffocating on those occasions as it had tonight. The stakes were so much higher, especially with Brie covertly glaring daggers at me.
I’d also brought along my dad and Hansen, and Delia hadn’t batted an eye. Secretly, I thought she was rooting for me and Brie to find our way back to each other. I didn’t know what the youngest Delatou had told her big sisters about us, but I could guess they were aware that something had gone down. It was the only explanation I had for Delia offering up Brie’s bakery kitchen to me and the silent death threats Brie conveyed to her sister in the aftermath.
Delia was stirring the pot, and if I hadn’t spent the last three years absolutely wild about her sister, I could kiss her for it.
That, and Owen would probably break me in half if I even tried. Being ripped apart by an ex-NFL quarterback wasn’t high on my bucket list. He and Delia were still figuring their own shit out, but it was obvious how much they cared for one another, and I figured it was only a matter of time.
On the flip side, it was clear Brie didn’t want me anywhere near the sanctuary of her kitchen—or her , for that matter—and I couldn’t blame her.
The morning after we slept together…I had handled everything so poorly, deciding to cut the ties between us before we could inextricably weave them together. I’d only been attempting to be the best father possible. Hansen had to come first always, but I wish I’d gone about everything with Brie differently. I wish I’d sat down and had a real conversation with her instead of a rushed, half-assed explanation while I made my escape.
Maybe then we wouldn’t have spent the last two years apart.
I deeply regretted my cowardice. I was an adult capable of compromising and juggling multiple priorities. The fact that I’d turned away the most impressive and stunning woman I’d ever known because I was afraid of how it would affect my ability to parent wasn’t something I could ever forgive myself for. I’d spent every waking minute of the last three years hating myself for it.
Brie deserved better than that—better than me.
But…I was reaching the point where living without her was doing me more harm than good. The what-ifs were eating me alive, keeping me up at night, wondering how different my life would look if I had her by my side.
Anytime I found myself in her vicinity was pure torture, especially when all I wanted to do was wrap her in my arms and claim her once again. The fucking cake batter scent of her skin drove me insane, had my stomach hollowing out like I hadn’t eaten in days and the only thing that would satisfy me was her body on mine.
I’d royally fucked up, and it was about damn time I did something about it.
Leon left it up to me to order wine for the table, so I requested the Chateau Delatou Cabernet, which was my personal favorite of the winery’s offerings. When the waiter reappeared with several bottles, they were passed around the table. Glasses filled as chatter filtered through the air. Across from me, Alfie and Leon got into an argument when he made some annoying comment about ordering a bottle produced by another winery. Leon quickly put him in his place, only for Alfie to turn and have Owen ready to chew him a new ass both for complaining and for making some comment to Delia I missed in the commotion.
I hadn’t spent much time around Alfie, but I knew one thing with absolute certainty: if Hansen grew up to be anything like him, I’d consider myself a failure as a father.
Another certainty was Owen was so gone for the middle Delatou girl, and as I glanced at Brie out of the corner of my eye, I couldn’t help thinking that I knew the feeling all too well.
At least Delia wasn’t inclined to hate him like Brie did me.
Next to me, she sipped her wine and made a sound of disgust. “ Too dry,” she said, and I held back a chuckle.
“Excuse you, young lady,” Leon said. “I worked very hard to perfect that blend.”
Under her breath, she said, “Should’ve tried harder.”
Leon’s eyes narrowed, and I knew he heard her.
“Watch it, Brie,” he said. “Take one more shot at my prized possession and I’ll take your bakery away.”
Leon Delatou was intimidating as shit and a shrewd businessman. I wouldn’t put it past him to make some crazy decision like that if he felt insulted.
But this was his daughter we were talking about—and his baby, no less. Not to mention, the bakery was wildly successful. And surrounded by his five daughters on all sides, as a parent myself, it was easy to recognize a stupid wine recipe was far from his pride and joy. Not with all of the amazing things his girls had accomplished so far in their lives. It had to be nothing but bluster.
When Brie gasped theatrically, I knew I was right.
“You can’t do that, Daddy,” she said cheekily, sticking her tongue out at her father. I resisted the urge to chuckle. “And you know it.”
“I can damn sure try.”
“You do, old man,” Brie started, pointing her father menacingly at him. Or as menacingly as she could, given we all knew she was far too sweet to ever do any real harm to anyone, least of all someone she loved. “And you’ll never taste my baklava again.”
Leon pounded his fist against his chest as though he’d been fatally wounded, and I finally released the laugh I’d been holding in .
This family was something else.
“You wouldn’t dare,” he said.
Brie tipped her nose into the air and shrugged. “Fuck around and find out.”
“Brie!” Lena scolded as the rest of the table devolved into a fit of laughter.
Though I joined in, I found myself mesmerized by the woman next to me.
I knew, having heard it directly from her mouth, that she sometimes struggled to find a place in her family. As the youngest, she often felt overshadowed by the bigger personalities and successes of her sisters: Chloe, the writer; Amara, the CEO; Delia, the marketing whiz and influencer who used her time and knowledge to help local businesses expand their social media reach.
I think Ella was the only one she didn’t try to measure herself up against. As a free-spirit, Ella was content with her job at the flower shop, brightening people’s days through her, admittedly stunning, floral arrangements.
I loved seeing her like this, with her father deeply pained by the thought of never tasting one of her creations again, with her being vocal about her likes and dislikes. The easy way she slotted into her family that I wasn’t sure she recognized.
These people—it was painfully obvious how much they loved her. My honey was pure sunshine, and her family was content to bask in the glow she cast on all of them.
I wanted to be included in that warmth, more than I’d ever wanted anything in my life.
“I never knew you didn’t like Cab,” I told her once the table had settled. I needed to speak with her, if only superficial things. I wanted to remind her that I was here for her , that I wasn’t going anywhere.
Brie looked me dead in the eye, not an ounce of fear or hesitation or pain or any of the other things constantly swirling within me present in their emerald depths. “There’s a lot you don’t know about me.”
I snapped my mouth closed. She wasn’t wrong and clearly had zero desire to speak with me, so I let my mission drop for the moment.
While my own father chatted easily with Leon and Lena at the head of the table and kept Hansen busy with a piece of paper and crayons one of the staff had procured for him, I was content to soak in the good energy that came from being around this family. Leon and Lena certainly had their hands full, especially when the elder three daughters were so outspoken and firm in their beliefs. It hadn’t taken me long to realize all five of them were stubborn as hell, which is the only explanation I had for why Brie had been able to—at least as far as appearances went—move on from our… thing so quickly. She simply wouldn’t accept anything less, wouldn’t let me or her family see her hurting.
I admired her for it but secretly hated it. I wanted her as outwardly torn up as I was inside. Then again, maybe the dissolution of whatever had sparked between us hadn’t broken her heart the way it had mine.
But I’d be damned if sitting there next to her wasn’t as easy as breathing, if spending time with her, with her family welcoming me and mine with open arms, hadn’t felt like two puzzle pieces clicking into place. The Wendts and the Delatous went together like meatballs and mashed potatoes.
Each casual brush of her shirt sleeve against my bare forearm when she reached for her wine glass had my body lighting up like the Fourth of July.
I wanted those sparks with her, wanted to rekindle the flame we’d found on a cold New Year’s Day and tended into an inferno on a hot July night.
Simply put, I wanted her. I had her once, and it wasn’t enough.
I didn’t think anything ever would be.
It was about damn time I started fighting for what I wanted.
And I wasn’t above fighting dirty.
I leaned close, my breath fanning the wisps of hair around her face as I said against her ear, “Will you pass me the bread?”
Brie sat up straighter, attempting to move away from me without making it obvious she was doing so. She accomplished it for a moment as she leaned across the table to grab the basket of garlic knots, but she was right back in my space a second later, her sweet scent at war with the bread for which was more heavenly to my nose.
Who the fuck was I kidding? It’d always be her.
“Thank you,” I said when she handed it to me, purposely brushing my fingers against hers. She gasped at the contact, and I bit back a grin.
It was nice to know she still responded to me the same. Maybe we weren’t entirely a lost cause.
“What are you doing?” she hissed.
I shoved a knot into my mouth and chewed, then innocently said, “Eating?”
Brie’s eyes narrowed. “That’s not what I meant, and you know it.”
“I know nothing of the sort,” I said.
“You’re being…friendly.”
“Am I not a friendly guy?”
“No,” she said almost immediately, and I would’ve been hurt by the frankness of her answer had she not been right.
I hadn’t been a “friendly guy” in a long ass time.
I lowered my voice to barely above a whisper, ensuring only she could hear me when I said, “That’s not what you were saying the night I had my tongue between your thighs, or the one with my cock buried deep inside you.”
“Ezra!” Brie yelped.
All conversation at the table stopped, and too many sets of eyes found us.
“Everything okay, sweets?” Leon asked his daughter.
Brie cleared her throat. “Everything is fine, Dad. Ezra just accidentally elbowed me in the side.”
I choked on my sip of wine. A terrible excuse, one I was certain no one at the table was buying for a second. Still, I was surprised when they all returned to their separate conversations. Leon seemed the least inclined to move on, narrowing his eyes and flicking them between us, attempting to suss out the issue. I watched Brie give him a reassuring smile, and he nodded once before giving his attention to Logan on the other side of the table.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” she asked.
“God, I love it when you swear,” I groaned. She did it so rarely, I found her loss of control unbearably hot. I did everything I could think of to keep my cock from hardening. The last thing I needed was to pop a spontaneous boner in front of her entire family.
“Seriously, Ez,” she said. “What has gotten into you?”
“I miss you,” I blurted, my voice practically a low hiss. “I thought that kiss last week made it obvious. I’m fucking dying here, Brie.”
Brie’s entire body went still, and she turned to me slowly. We were seated so close, thanks to the number of people crammed at the table, that our noses nearly touched. Each of her exhales became my inhales, and vice versa.
“You don’t get to miss me. This is broken because of you .”
I reared back like she’d slapped me, staring at the side of her face in stunned silence until she angled her body away from mine to chat with Amara on her other side.
Okay then.
The worst part was—she wasn’t wrong, but I wasn’t giving up that easily.
Brie may have won the battle, but I fully intended to win the war.