Chapter 27
Matti caught Ryan looking at her and she smiled.
A strange expression appeared on his face, as if something had bemused him.
What was going on in his mind? She sighed as her gaze traveled over him.
He was so pretty. She choked on a giggle thinking he probably wouldn’t appreciate her thinking he was pretty.
But he was. And just plain nice. And sexy. Yes, that last one for sure.
“You okay there?” Cal said.
She waved him away. “Just swallowed wrong.” While thinking about the very pretty and very sexy man sitting next to her, but she wasn’t about to share that with her brother. “I thought Jules would come with you tonight.” Jules was his new girlfriend, one he seemed to be pretty serious about.
“She wanted to, but she had a thing at the university tonight.”
“Maybe next time.” She liked Jules, and she was happy for her brother.
“And finally, I can have a beer,” Wyatt grumbled as he stared over her shoulder.
She waved when the twins reached them. Dylan and Aiden settled on stools at the end of the barrel tables.
Dylan’s gaze jumped straight to Ryan. “The friend?”
“Guilty,” Ryan said.
Matti glared at her brother. “Don’t start, and no running a background check on him, Mr. FBI.”
“He does that?” Ryan asked.
She was surprised to hear amusement in his voice instead of the alarm she was expecting. “Oh, yeah. Told me the last guy I dated got busted for buying beer with a fake ID card when he was fifteen. Said he wasn’t suitable for me.”
“Well, I can safely say I never bought beer with a fake ID at fifteen or any other age.” He stood and reached across the table with his hand out.
“You must be Dylan. I’m Ryan Palmer. I met Matti and Sam when he was brought to my emergency room.
Feel free to background-check me. I’d give you my Social Security number but I figure getting it is child’s play for a superagent. ”
Matti grinned when Dylan’s lips twitched. Her FBI brother wasn’t easy to impress, but it seemed Ryan was doing just that.
“I’ll hold off on doing that for now, Dr. Palmer.” Dylan shook Ryan’s hand. “Nice shiner you got there.”
“Just Ryan. And you should see the other guy.” He nodded at Aiden. “And good to see you again, Aiden.”
“Back atcha, Doc. Where’s Sam?”
“If you’d gotten here on time, you’d already know that,” Wyatt said. “He’s with Mom. Can I get a beer now?”
Aiden shrugged. “I’m not stopping you.”
“Yeah you were. I was told I couldn’t get my beer until the twins were here, which you are now, so I want my beer.”
“Oh, jeez,” Kelly muttered. “You boys are ridiculous.” She slid off the stool and walked away.
“I’m not a boy and I’m not ridiculous,” Dylan said.
Aiden watched her a moment. “Too intense, that one.”
“It’s her job,” Matti said. “She doesn’t want us to worry about her, so she tries to hide it, but she’s stressed out.” She was a defense attorney at a small three-lawyer firm and worked long hours with very little playtime.
“Aren’t we all?” Dylan said.
Kelly returned, bringing a waitress with her. She waved her hand toward the woman. “This is Stephanie. Stephanie is going to take your beer orders.” She pointed at Ryan. “You’re our guest. You go first.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Ryan quipped with a grin at her bossiness. He bet she was a force in the courtroom. “I want to try out some of your beers, so I’ll have a flight. Three darks and one light. You choose for me.”
“Can do,” Stephanie said.
Once all their orders were taken, she said, “Food now or later?”
“Now,” Dylan said. “I might have to split soon.”
Stephanie went around the table again, taking their food orders. “Back with your beers in a minute.”
“Make it half a minute,” Dylan said, and when Stephanie narrowed her eyes at him, he added, “Please.”
Stephanie grinned. “That’s better.”
Kelly waved her hand in the air, getting everyone’s attention. “Okay, Colton peeps, catch me up with this case that every one of you seems to be involved in one way or another except for me. Who starts first?”
“That would be me,” Cal said.
As Cal shared how it had all started with a murder on the Enchanted Highway, all of which Matti already knew, she shifted on her stool to face Ryan. “Feel free to ignore my brothers if they smack-talk you,” she quietly said.
He chuckled. “They can bring it on. I’m not scared of them.” His gaze scanned around the tables that had been pushed together. “Although they are big, and if they decide to gang up on me, I’ll revise that statement.”
“Smart man.”
“I never would’ve guessed Dylan and Aiden are twins.”
“They’re fraternal twins, but they’re close. They balance each other. Aiden’s the fun one and Dylan’s the quiet one.”
“All of you seem really close,” he said.
“Yeah, I guess we are.” Short of breaking the law, she’d do just about anything for her sister and brothers.
“What about your foster brother, the mayor? He doesn’t do your secret dinners with you?”
“He kind of distanced himself from us when he went away to college. He’s always invited and welcomed at family get-togethers. Sometimes he comes, sometimes he doesn’t. He does have a lot going on, so his excuses are legit.”
He looked around at her brothers and sister. “I kind of envy you having a big family.”
“They can drive you crazy sometimes, especially the boys, but I wouldn’t change a thing about my family. Lately, it doesn’t seem like we’re spending much time together with everything going on, so I’m really happy right now having them all here.”
He reached for her hand under the table. “I like seeing you happy.”
“And that’s how I met Jules,” Cal said, bringing her attention back to him.
She’d never seen such a soft smile on her brother’s face as the one that appeared when he said Jules’s name. She was pretty sure he was in love, and it was great to see him happy.
Their drinks came and, soon after, their food. As they ate, she told Kelly about getting called to pick up Sam at the police station, that he’d been shot and taken to the emergency room. “And that’s how I met Ryan.”
“I thought she was a neglectful mother and got on her case.” Ryan grinned at her. “She didn’t hesitate to put me in my place.”
“She never hesitates to put me in my place,” Dylan said.
Cal lifted his hand. “Same.”
“She never goes off on me,” Aiden said. “Must be because I’m perfect.”
Wyatt threw a French fry at him. “You’re delusional.”
“Your family’s…” Ryan’s gaze scanned over her siblings. “Interesting?”
“That’s a nice way of saying we’re a bit on the crazy side.”
He chuckled. “Yeah, but I like them.” He leaned over and kissed her.
“No, no, no!” Dylan called out. “Dude, no kissing my sister in front of me.”
“So I shouldn’t tell you what we’ll get up to later?” Matti said, egging them on.
“Please don’t,” Dylan said.
“Stop!” Wyatt yelled.
Cal put his hands over his ears.
“I want to know,” Aiden, always the mischief-maker, said.
His other three brothers threw French fries at him.
And so it went through the meal, the boys razzing each other and her and Kelly rolling their eyes. Ryan seemed to be just taking it all in, and when they finished and Stephanie brought the check, he grabbed it.
“Hey, you don’t have to buy all our dinners.” She tried to take the check from him, but he held it up high, out of her reach.
“I know I don’t have to. I want to.” He handed Stephanie a credit card.
“New Colton rule,” Aiden said. “First time one of us brings a new date to our secret dinners, the newbie gets the check.”
Matti rolled her eyes for the three hundredth or so time since sitting down. “Why would we do that?”
“So we can see if they pass the test. If they do, we’ll keep them.” He lifted his beer glass toward Ryan. “We’re keeping the doc.”
“I like it,” his twin said. Dylan finished his last swallow of beer, then stood. “Gotta go. Thanks for dinner, and welcome to the madhouse, Doc.”
As he walked away, Aiden kicked Dylan’s butt.
Dylan turned and glared at his twin. “The hell, man?”
“You forgetting something?”
Dylan glanced around. “No?”
“Yes,” Aiden said, then sighed. “Me. You’re forgetting me, twinnie. I rode with you.”
“So you did.” Dylan laughed. “Come on, then, time’s a wasting.”
“It’s been fun, kids,” Aiden said, then hurried after Dylan.
“And that’s your initiation into the family, Ryan,” Kelly said. “Hope we didn’t scare you away.”
“Not even close, but I will say that as an only child, I find you all fascinating.”
“I’m often fascinated myself,” Kelly said. “I’m pretty sure I was adopted.”
“She started saying that from the time she was seven years old,” Matti said.
Wyatt nodded. “She just can’t believe she shares the same DNA as the rest of us screwballs.”
“I offered to give her a DNA test to prove she belongs to us, but she refused,” Cal said. “Think she’s afraid to find out she’s not adopted.” He gave Kelly a smack on her cheek.
Kelly laughed as she pushed him away. “Stop it, you fool.”
“It’s been fun,” Wyatt said. He stood and moved behind her and Ryan, putting a hand on each of their shoulders. “You two stay aware.” Then he stepped to Kelly. “And you, you’re working too hard. We need to see more of you.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Kelly said.
Cal pushed away from the table. “I’m outta here, too. We really need to do this more often.”
Matti thought so, too. “I’m all for that.” She and Ryan walked out with Kelly. “Wyatt’s right, you do work too hard. You need to take some time for yourself.”
“And what? Sit around and watch TV? I’d be bored to death.”
“You need a boyfriend.”
Kelly snorted. “I’ll pass, thank you.” She smiled at Ryan. “It was great meeting you.”
“The pleasure was mine, Kelly.”
Kelly hugged Matti and whispered, “I like him. I think he’s a keeper.”
If only he wasn’t a doctor.