Chapter 22 #2
"Wait, what?" Megan asked, and I groaned.
Travis happily explained. "Before the trip, I asked him if he wanted me to be his wingman or a cockblocker. He just told me to fuck off, so I had to take matters into my own hands. Though I didn't do much. You just reacted to me being me, charming and good-looking."
"Don't forget humble. Anyway, yeah, you did seem to bring out the Neanderthal in him," Megan said with a teasing tone in her voice.
I was going to show her just how Neanderthal I could be later on.
Travis burst out laughing. “I bet I did.” He looked over my shoulder. “Declan’s coming this way. Any guesses on how this is gonna go?”
“He’ll probably find something to warn you about,” I reasoned.
"Are you ready to meet my parents?" I asked as Travis moved on to talk to Declan.
"Yes, I am."
Mom and Dad were looking at us with curiosity.
"Megan, darling," Mom said. "I'm so happy you could be here today."
"So am I. I'm glad to meet both of you."
"We have so much to talk about." Mom put an arm around her shoulders. Megan just seemed to go with it. I appreciated that about her more than she could know.
"This is such a happy day, isn't it?" Dad said. "We’re happy Travis found a direction."
"Mom, Dad, give it a rest."
"Hey, we did," Dad replied. "We were concerned. We just didn't voice it. That's why we have Declan."
"True." One value our parents always brought up was that everyone needed a purpose in life or they drifted away. They emphasized that that purpose didn’t have to be work; it could be a hobby, or philanthropy. Just something that gave you a reason to get out of bed every day.
I couldn't figure out why they were worrying about Travis, to be honest. He'd always had a good head on his shoulders.
"I'm going to introduce Megan to everyone, and then we can catch up later," I told my parents. Mom stepped aside, and I grabbed Megan’s hand.
"Sure, but don't be too long,” Mom said. “I want to get to know Megan better."
"Your parents are so nice," Megan said once we were out of earshot.
"They're great."
Lexi, Tyler, and Kendra came up to us as well, and I could see that Megan was already confused, trying to keep track of names. But that was to be expected with a family this big. Then Paisley came over, and I introduced her too.
"Paisley, I've heard so much about you," Megan said.
Paisley's eyes widened. "You have?"
"Yes. Do you want to be friends?"
"Cool. An adult wants to be my friend." Paisley was enthusiastic.
"I do."
She moved a few steps away with Paisley while my brothers and I spoke about Travis.
I couldn't help but overhear them. She wasn’t smooth about interrogating Paisley, but she was very successful.
She kept asking her favorite color, if she had friends over to play often, if she liked to eat with her friends in her room.
My woman was on recon to build Paisley the perfect treehouse.
"Darling, can I steal you away?" Mom asked, appearing at my side. "I see Megan is already busy."
"She's helping me with the treehouse for Paisley's birthday and is getting some information I had no clue about."
"That girl already won me over, just in case you were wondering."
"Thanks, Mom. It's good to know."
"I'm glad you're giving love a chance," she said as we walked toward the bar. "I thought you’d be closed off for much longer."
I was stunned. Mom had only met Cammy a few times. She didn't even know about the property.
"Oh, don't look so surprised," she said. "I know things. I just don't talk about them. You've got brothers and cousins for that. I think you've got more than enough opinions about everything."
"You're right about that."
"Besides, some things need time, and finding the right person. No amount of advice, no matter how well meaning, will help. Now, if you'll excuse me, I’ll help Megan. Paisley can sometimes be hard to read, but I know just how to get all the information out of her."
"Sure." I ended up going by myself to the bar, ordering a gin and tonic.
First Reese, and now Mom. But they had it all wrong. I didn’t need to recover from anything. I’d put Cammy behind me a long time ago.
I got a Spanish gin. The bartender added a huge ice cube that had berries inside.
"That's good, thanks." I tipped him generously.
Turning around, I leaned against the bar, looking around the terrace.
Fuck, the more I thought about it, I knew my family was right.
Cammy had been out of my life for years, but the experience did leave a bitter taste in my mouth.
I'd only had some random hookups for years, with no intention of settling down.
Not until Megan. She consumed my thoughts.
I wanted to please her every day, in and out of the bedroom.
Scanning the crowd, I saw her with Reese, Kimberly, Liz, and Kendra. Walking up to them, I put an arm around Megan and asked, "What are you ladies talking about?"
"I was just saying that we usually do a girls’ evening when I'm here. We should make that a tradition," Kimberly said.
"Besides," Reese added, "we need to plan a bachelorette for Lexi. We hear the bachelor party is already being talked about."
Kimberly nodded. "We need to make it memorable. And we do our best brainstorming in person."
"I'm in," Megan said. "I once organized a bachelorette party for a friend. It was epic."
I was definitely going to inquire later on just how epic that was.
"Good. We’re going to need all the ideas we can get," Kimberly replied.
We spent a whole afternoon and evening on the terrace with the family. We even got back with Gran and enjoyed hearing her tales of London. I was happy she’d had such a good time, and Megan was enthralled with Gran’s storytelling.
I managed to catch up with Kimberly once the chefs moved on to prepping dessert. She was standing in front of the ice cream cart.
“Kimberly, all good?”
She laughed. “You and Travis are on the hunt today, huh?”
“Just checking in on you.”
“I’m fine, cousin. Just questioning my life choices and my taste in men. The usual.”
She obviously didn’t want to talk about it, so I changed the subject to her job. Her body language instantly changed as she spoke about the latest trip she organized. I did notice she sounded less enthusiastic than usual, though. What was up with that?
For the rest of the day, Megan and I made the rounds, making sure I introduced her to everyone, but without taking the spotlight off Travis. It was my brother’s big day after all.
Megan and I left later in the evening after dinner.
"This was so amazing. By the way, how much stuff do you know about Lexi?" she asked as I opened the door to the car.
"Why?"
"I wonder if she likes strippers."
I stopped right there in the middle of the sidewalk. "What? There are not going to be any strippers."
"If she likes them, there will be."
My woman was challenging me? I needed to make her understand.
I cleared my throat. "Let me rephrase. You are not going anywhere where there are strippers."
She grinned from ear to ear. "Ah, your Neanderthal is coming out again."
"Megan, I mean it."
She giggled, wiggling her eyebrows. “I’m so enjoying this side of you. It’s like something unleashes inside you.”
“Yes, it does.”
The thought of her even looking at a naked dude was making me see red. She was mine. I wanted to be the only man she ever saw bare-assed again.
“I’m sensing you’re planning extra-sexy things tonight.”
I growled. “You’re sensing right.”