Chapter 51 – Remington
CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
The love eyes
Remington
“Why am I nervous?” Mindy asks, smoothing down her black pants for about the hundredth time. The January evening wind whips around us, and I pull her black wool coat more tightly around her, using the lapels to tug her closer for a reassuring kiss.
“I don’t know. You’ve already met them all, and you literally worked for my dad. They all love you.” Clicking my key fob, I lock the McLaren and guide Mindy up the long sidewalk to Phoenix and Jordie’s mansion.
“Yes, but now we’re dating,” she explains, like I’m not fully aware of that. “I’m probably not the kind of woman they’re accustomed to you bringing home.”
Bending my knees so we’re eye to eye, I lock our gazes.
“First of all, I’ve never brought a woman home to my family.
Second, don’t piss me off with that ‘kind of woman’ mess.
You are my kind of woman because you’re the only one I’ve ever loved.
Third, if anyone has a problem with who I date, they can fuck all the way off, but I can assure you, they won’t. ”
Mindy taps my nose. “See? That’s exactly what I’m worried about. I won’t let you alienate your family because of me. You’re a stubborn man, Remington Hale, and if the people who know you best have concerns, don’t go flying off the handle.”
“My family does indeed know me well, which means they have more sense than to try and dissuade me from doing exactly what I want. And what I want is you.”
A smile hooks up the corners of her lips. “So you want to do me?”
I pop a wink her way. “Always. Now relax and come inside before our noses freeze off.”
We’re greeted at the door by my niece, Reece, her dark curls bouncing with excitement as she jumps at me. I catch her and lift, pulling her onto my hip. “How’s my little chickadee?”
“I’m good, Uncle Remi. I just turned seven.”
I chuckle. “I know. I was at your birthday party in December, remember?”
She nods, and her blue eyes brighten when she sees who’s with me. “Mindy! You’re at my house!”
“I am,” Mindy says enthusiastically, reaching out to receive Reece’s exuberant hug. “I think you’ve grown since September.”
My niece beams, pleased that someone noticed her recent growth spurt. “Mommy and Daddy had to buy me all new clothes and shoes for Christmas because I got so big,” she announces proudly.
“So you met Mindy when Grandpa was still working?” I ask.
Reece nods. “I went to work with Daddy, and then he had a meeting, so I went to sit in Grandpa’s office, but he was being boring, so I hung out with Mindy,” she replies in one long, run-on sentence. “She let me help her.”
I hug my niece again. She’s so fucking cute. “I bet you were a big help.”
Her little round face is the picture of earnestness. “Mindy let me do bedsheets.”
My brow creases in confusion. “Bedsheets?” I’d like to do some bedsheets with my gorgeous woman, but I keep that to myself.
“Spreadsheets,” Mindy corrects, barely managing to keep a straight face. “I put Reece in charge of all the financial decisions for Hale Cosmetics for the afternoon.”
I tweak Reece’s button nose. “I didn’t realize we had a new Chief Financial Officer.”
“Oh, Reece is a good one,” Mindy says. “I think she allotted an entire thirty-two dollars to research and development for the quarter.”
“Ahh, I’m foreseeing record profits in the next year,” I tease. “Will you be at the budget meeting in a couple weeks?”
Reece scowls. “I don’t like meetings. They’re boring.” Dismissing me and my mundane ideas, she turns her attention to the redhead beside me, her voice turning sweet and hopeful. “Do you still make those chocolate cookies, Mindy?”
“I do and…” Mindy inhales a little gasp and looks up at me, hazel eyes wide. “We left the cookies in the car.”
“I’ll get them,” I assure her, kissing the top of Reece’s head before setting her down.
When I return with the two bakery boxes in my arms, I find that Reece has dragged Mindy into the large living room, where the rest of my family is greeting her. Crap, I wanted to be with her when we walked in so she’d feel more comfortable.
She seems okay though. My family may be a lot, but they’re always welcoming. Dad seems especially delighted.
“Mindy, what is my favorite assistant ever doing here?” He rises and gives her a warm hug.
“Oh, well, I came with… um, Remi, or Mr. Hale,” she rambles nervously.
“She’s my guest,” I announce firmly.
“Fantastic,” Dad says, without further question, though he eyes me with a raised brow. “Son, good to see you.”
“You too, Dad.”
“Hey, Remi,” Jordie greets, taking the boxes from me while pressing a kiss to my cheek. “What did you bring us?”
“Cookies!” Reece announces. “Mindy makes them.”
“Hell yes,” Nicolette says, standing from the couch with the help of Helix. She rubs her growing belly, eyeing the boxes with the kind of hunger only found on women entering their final trimester. “The baby wants one now.”
“You better give her one unless you want to lose an arm,” Helix warns. Jordie promptly opens the top box and holds out the offering.
Nic selects a chocolate chip one and groans at the first bite. “Oh my god, that’s so good. Little Nicholas loves chocolate,” she says around a mouthful.
Phoenix approaches, looking excited. “Ooh, I want one too.”
His wife promptly closes the box. “Not till after dinner.”
“Come on, Jordie,” he whines. “You let Nic have one.”
She shakes her head and narrows her eyes. “When you’re growing an entire human inside your body, you can have cookies before dinner. Why don’t you take Mindy and Remi’s coats and then show everyone to the dining room?”
I love these two. Phoenix may be nine years older than his wife, but Jordie McNamara-Hale can hold her own with anyone.
She’s the best tight end in the Women’s National Football League and a two-time Super Bowl winner.
The Houston Dragons won the title during the league’s inaugural year, missed out the next year due to some key injuries, and then reclaimed the title this past December.
A few minutes later, we’re all seated around the enormous dining table.
Reece is on my right and Mindy is on my left, with Helix and Nicolette on her other side.
Phoenix is at the head of the table with Jordie on his right.
Perri, Dad, and his wife, Rebecca, are across from us.
I look over at Mindy to see her smiling into her bowl.
Placing my hand on her knee, I tilt toward her.
“What’s that look for?”
Her eyes dart around the room, taking in the ornate furnishings and the crystal chandelier over the table before meeting mine. “I was just thinking how weird this is. This room looks like it’s made for royalty, and yet we’re eating chili and cornbread,” she whispers.
“My family may have money, but we’re just regular people who enjoy regular food.
It’s not all champagne and caviar.” I give her leg a squeeze and decide it’s time.
Turning my attention to the people around us, I raise my voice over the din of easy conversation.
“Can I have everyone’s attention, please? ”
All eyes turn to me, and I lift my arm and drape it along Mindy’s shoulders in a display of possessiveness. “I just wanted to let you all know, Mindy and I are a couple now.”
We’re met with a few looks of surprise and a lot of smiles. “I called it,” Phoenix crows, pointing at Helix. “I said they would get together within six months, and you guessed Remi would hold out for at least eight. You owe me.”
Helix grumbles and pulls a ten dollar bill from his wallet, passing it down. Nicolette produces a bottle of hand sanitizer from seemingly nowhere and makes everyone who touched the money clean their hands.
“I already lost,” Perri laments. “I predicted you two would get together after only two months.”
“You were betting on us?” I ask incredulously, though I shouldn’t have been surprised. My siblings will bet on virtually anything.
“Duh,” Phoenix says, shooting an apologetic look at my girl. “Sorry, Mindy. No disrespect toward you. It was just obvious to us all that you two were meant to be together.”
“It’s okay,” she says easily.
“I think it’s ironic that you two started with a bet, and now it’s ending with one too,” Helix muses.
Mindy turns her head oh so slowly toward me, lifting her eyebrows. I shift uncomfortably in my seat and rub the back of my neck, praying to god I’m not screwing up our relationship already.
I explain the bet from seven years ago, filtering some of it since little ears are listening, and to my utter shock—and relief—Mindy thinks it’s hilarious. Reason 537 of why I love this woman.
“So that’s where the name Joe came from,” she says, dabbing her eyes with her napkin.
“Joe Blow, at your service,” I reply, tipping an imaginary cap at her.
“I already knew Mindy was your girlfriend,” Reece announces, adding more cheddar cheese to her bowl. “Cuz you did the love eyes at her when you got here.”
“The… love eyes?” I ask, amused by my niece.
“Yep, like this.” Reece looks up at me, eyes wide, head tilted, and mouth smiling goofily. Then she bats her eyelashes at me, and the entire table bursts into laughter.
“I don’t look like that,” I protest, but Helix waggles his pointer finger at me.
“Yeah, bro. You kinda do.”
Our niece calls him out. “You do too, Uncle Helix. When you look at Aunt Nicolette.” She lets out a little gasp and looks around me toward Mindy. “Does that mean I can call you Aunt Mindy?”
Mindy stammers as her pretty face flushes. “Oh, um, I d-don’t…” She looks at me and then back at Reece, her voice soft. “You see, we’re just dating, Reece. We’re not married or anything.”
Reece shrugs. “You will be. I know because this guy,” she jerks a thumb at me, “was doing the love eyes, remember?”
Everyone laughs again, but I simply smile because I’m pretty sure my niece is the smartest person in the room. Because I will make Mindy Espinoza Mindy Hale as soon as she’ll have me.