9.
S TAN
I can admit, when I told my friends to invite the rest of their family, I should have heeded their warning.
I thought my Italian family was large, but we really had nothing on these people.
Granted, when we invited the guards and other staff that worked for my father and uncles, we had a huge group of people, but all of these people were related, and from what they said, there were three times as many family members in Texas.
I couldn’t imagine that gathering, but I’d already received an invitation from four different people, only one of whom I had known longer than a few hours, to come to their yearly get-together.
And to be honest, I was excited about it, if for no other reason than to see what the rest of the family was like.
I’d already met some children from their Texas relatives, adorably wild kids with the cutest Texas drawls who charmed me from the start. Even the teenage boy I met that day was charming in a standoffish teenager way that was still respectful and polite.
And now, there were at least twenty people close to my age in my home, and I’d laughed more in the last hour than I had in the last year.
They were an obviously close-knit family with inside jokes they were happy to explain and others that had been going on so long that they had good-natured arguments about how they started.
There seemed to be a dozen conversations going on at once as everyone sat down to eat, and they were in each other’s business about seemingly everything while still laughing and carrying on.
It was barely controlled chaos, and I loved it.
I was happily surprised when there were more cleanup volunteers than even my large kitchen could contain and simply stunned when I was ushered back to my seat at the table.
They said that since I’d been the one to cook the meal, I shouldn’t have any part in the cleanup.
They immediately started scraping plates, rinsing dishes, and washing pans - and in just a few minutes, the food was sorted into the disposable containers I’d bought to send leftovers home with people, and my kitchen looked just as spotless as it had before I started cooking.
As seemingly effortless as it was for them to get all the work done together, it was obvious that this was something they’d done before.
Once they were finished, I escorted everyone down to the game and theater room, and we’d been hanging out and laughing ever since.
When I bought this house, I thought the rooms and equipment in the basement would rarely get used - probably only when I had my family here to visit, but I hoped that we could make this a regular event.
If that happened, it would get plenty of use.
There was currently a good-natured and very loud game of pool going on, a possibly dangerous dart tournament happening, and a crazy competition on the air hockey table.
I took a video of all the excitement to send to Bella and sent a copy to Bex too.
I saw that my phone battery was dangerously low and slipped out to go upstairs for a charger.
It was so quiet that I couldn’t help but take a minute to stand outside on the deck and enjoy the peaceful breeze as I listened to nature winding down for the night.
I heard footsteps behind me right before a sexy voice said, “If you’ve had enough, I can tell everyone the party’s over and it’s time to go home.”
I turned around and saw Tana’s brother walking toward me. He stopped beside me at the rail before I said, “That’s not it at all. Since I moved here, I’ve gotten into the habit of coming outside early in the morning and then again at dusk to take in my beautiful surroundings.”
“My guess is that you didn’t have this view in New York City.”
I laughed before I said, “The view from my apartment was better than most because I lived on the top floor and it looked out over Central Park. It wasn’t the mountains by any stretch of the imagination, but at least it was beautiful and green.”
“I bet the people-watching was great.”
“You do that too?”
“All the time. When I was a kid, my mom and I made a game of it. We’d make up stories about whoever was in the car next to us in traffic or walking past us while we waited in line somewhere.
For a long time, I quit doing it because the memory just pissed me off, but I’ve found myself doing it again recently. ”
“Tana said that your mother . . . I’m assuming you have the same mother?” Before he could answer, I put my hand on his arm and hurried to apologize. “I’m sorry! That was so rude of me. It’s none of my business.”
Rin laughed before he said, “It’s not really an intrusive question. We do have the same mother.”
“Okay.”
Rin’s eyes were twinkling when he asked, “Has she ever talked about our fathers?”
“Yes. She explained her parents' relationship.” I mulled it over for a second before I said, “Well, I’ve heard her refer to her dad and her papa, but I assumed that ‘papa’ was what she called her grandfather.”
“Technically, that is what we call our grandfather. He goes by Papa Smokey. We use Dad for Loki, who is one of our fathers. Our other father is Derek, and we call him Papa.”
“It’s good that you love your fathers. But if he . . .”
Rin chuckled softly before he said, “That just never gets old, I swear.”
“Why do I feel like you’re laughing at me?”
“I’m not, but when we were kids, it was either learn to laugh about what people thought or start throwing punches.”
“Still confused.”
“My parents were part of what’s called a triad. Some people call it a menage. That’s when . . .”
I interrupted and said, “I know what that is.”
Rin smiled and explained, “We have Papa and Dad, and we used to have a mother. I look like Papa, and my sister and brother look like Dad.”
I studied his features and said, “I assume your papa is not a blond-haired, blue-eyed Viking type.”
Rin burst out laughing before he said, “Papa is Black, and Dad is the blond Viking.”
“That’s interesting.”
“When people realize I’m the middle child, they assume I was adopted. Then they meet Papa and wonder if Tana and Ian were adopted. It’s kind of funny to watch people’s expressions while they try to figure it out without asking a million questions.”
“I would guess that not many people have encountered a dynamic like that.”
“Most haven’t, other than in romance novels, but they exist. You didn’t seem all that shocked.”
“Because I wasn’t.”
“You know a triad?”
“How many do you know?”
“A couple. Our friends Jonas and Lawson have two dads and a mom. They’re still together after all these years and have more children than just the twins.”
“I’m sorry you lost your mother.”
“I’m not,” Rin replied. A line appeared between his brows and he frowned before he said, “Shit! That sounded so much worse than it was meant to. I mean . . .”
“Don’t ever apologize for how you feel, Rin. My mom’s been gone for a while now, and it took quite some time to admit that losing her was more of a relief than a sorrow.”
“That’s a good way to put it. I’ll have to remember that.”
“Obviously, my mom and I weren’t close. She had . . . issues.”
“So did mine.”
“My mother’s problem was mostly pills, I think, but I’m sure there were other things here and there. Regardless of her addictions, she wasn’t an attentive mother on the best of days. On the worst of days, she was impossible to live with.”
“Mine was a great mom when she was sober, but she developed an addiction to prescription painkillers when Ian was still a baby. She died in a car accident when I was eleven and Ian was ten.”
“Was anyone else hurt?”
“Me, my brother, and our cousins, Sway and Sobie. We were on our way to a dinosaur exhibit we’d been so excited to see. She took a wrong turn somehow, and we ended up on a mountain where she ran off the edge of the road. We rolled down until we hit a tree that finally stopped us.”
“Oh my God!”
“It was some time before anyone found us. A random motorist realized there had been an accident hours later and called it in, so we were in the hospital for a few days due to exposure. We all had cuts and scrapes that needed attention, and my arm was broken.”
“That must have been terrifying.”
“We were hanging upside down in the car, which made things even worse. Ian and I helped our cousins get out of their seatbelts and were about to try to crawl out and trek up the side of the mountain back to the highway. Luckily, we didn’t have to.”
“Oh, Rin,” I whispered as I rested my hand on top of his where it rested on the railing.
He turned his hand over and squeezed mine before he said, “Some of the firefighters that came to rescue us worked with our father, and he was on the scene before they started hauling us up the mountain. It was tricky because of the way the car was situated. It had flipped onto the roof, and they were worried that they wouldn’t be able to keep their traction and it would start sliding again.
I remember holding my brother under my good arm with my cousins on my lap, and when I looked up and saw Papa laying on the ground beside us, I knew that everything was going to be okay. ”
“Your papa is your hero.”
“He always has been. So is my dad.”
“My dad is too. I love him so much that words can’t explain it. Of course, he also makes me so mad sometimes that there aren't words to explain that either, but I think that’s just how it goes with parents.”
“So, tell me about this throuple that you knew. I’m interested to hear about it because it’s not like they’re a dime a dozen.”
“It was me.”
“You were part of a triad? Look at you with an open mind.”
I gave him a lopsided grin and said, “It didn’t last for very long, and now the entire situation is incredibly complicated, but it’s part of my life and I’m not going to try to hide it.”
“Don’t ever try to hide the experiences that made you who you are and turned you into the beautiful soul you are today.”
“That’s almost poetic, Rin.”
“Thank you.”
“Is that a famous quote?”
“I wouldn’t say I’m famous, but I’m popular in certain circles,” Rin said as he pretended to dust dirt off his shoulder.
“You came up with that on your own?”
“I’m a poet, and you didn’t even know it.”
“Good grief,” I said as I rolled my eyes. “Well, at least you’re not vain about it.”
“I know, right?” Rin brought my knuckles to his mouth and kissed them before he held my hand to his chest and asked, “Can we wait until our third date for you to tell me why that relationship was complicated?”
“If I tell you my story, what will you tell me in return?”
“I’ll tell you why I’m terrified of women named Lindsay.”
“All Lindsays, or just a particular few?” I asked.
“So far, we’re four for four in the terrifying Lindsay category, so I’m going to go out on a limb and say all of them.”
“Third date, huh? You’re an optimistic man.”
“The first and second are when we learn the basics about each other and start to loosen up and laugh, so by the third date, we’ll have come to understand each other and be ready to dig in deeper. I’m excited for the ninth.”
“Wow. That is optimism at its finest.”
“See? You’re learning things about me already.”
I heard laughter inside the house behind us and realized he was still holding my hand against his chest. He squeezed it gently and said, “Even though I’m an optimistic planner who is ready to see what the future holds for me, I’m occasionally impulsive too.”
“Occasionally isn’t bad. I’m not a very impulsive person at all.”
“Humor me just this once, okay?” Rin asked.
Before I could answer him, he dropped our hands to his side, which pulled me closer to him.
I rested a hand on his chest to catch my balance and, without thinking, slowly rubbed it over the muscles there.
When I looked up, I found him staring at me with a sexy grin and somehow knew that this man was going to change my life.
I wasn’t sure how, but I hoped like hell it was in a good way.
When his lips touched mine in a whisper-soft kiss, I almost melted into his firm chest. The only thing holding me up was our joined hands that he had settled on my lower back.
I took a step closer as he deepened the kiss, and when my body molded against his, fireworks went off within me.
I felt my entire body flush with radiant heat.
I had experienced physical closeness with men before - not many, but enough to make comparisons - and knew that nothing I’d ever felt before could come close to measuring up to one kiss from Rin Martin.
I was lost when his tongue touched mine.
When he pulled away to look at me, it took all I had not to beg him to kiss me again.
I could tell by his harsh breathing that he felt it too. That was made evident when he said, “I don’t know what that was, but I want more of it.”
I couldn’t manage more than a whisper. “Me too.”
He was just about to kiss me again when someone cleared their throat behind us.
Rin’s eyes narrowed before he said, “The only thing stopping me from throwing whoever the hell is interrupting us over the damn rail and watching them bounce all the way down that mountain is knowing that if I’m in prison, I won’t get to kiss you anymore. ”
“That’s the only thing stopping you?” I asked.
“Well, that and the fact that I’m almost positive they never have fresh donuts.”
I burst out laughing and the spell was broken. We turned to find that there were at least half a dozen people watching us. One of the cousins - Parker, maybe? - lifted his hands and started a slow clap, and was immediately joined by the rest of the group.
I looked back to Rin before I said, “My family’s got some pull, and I’m pretty sure I could arrange for fresh donut delivery every Saturday morning for the duration of your sentence.”
“You’ve got a deal.”