Chapter 10
CONFESSIONAL 1166
Yang, Dal (Head Chef, Serenade: Juniper Ridge)
I always loved food. Making it, eating it—just the whole sensory explosion.
The pleasure of touching ingredients with your own hands. The texture of something soft and delectable. The way it hits your tongue and bathes your mouth in the most exquisite?—
What?
Why are you staring like that?
* * *
I’ve never wanted anyone the way I want Lana Judson right now. “I can’t fucking believe you’re here.” I know we’ve fooled around already. That I’ve had her naked on a kitchen counter, been poised at her entrance in the seat of my car.
But this feels different. We’re connected in ways we’ve never been before. Something about her revelation took things to a new level.
“What?” she breathes, palms coming up to cup her breasts. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
“You are so fucking hot.”
She smiles and keeps her hands where they are, splayed fingers hiding pert nipples. “I can’t decide if I feel more awkward covering up or lying here with my tits out while you stare.”
“Awkward?” How can she not realize how sexy she looks? “Touch yourself.”
“I am.” Lana bites her lip. “Do you need your eyes checked?”
Sliding my hands from her hips, I cup her ass cheeks and squeeze. Lana gives a yelp. “What was that for?”
“Let me see you tease those pretty nipples.” I can’t believe I’m being this bold with her. With a woman I haven’t slept with yet.
But she must feel it too, this sense that we’ve already crossed some line. We might be on the brink of our first time, but it feels like we’ve been here before.
Still biting her lip, she obeys. The heels of her hands slide down to her ribs, leaving fingertips to play. Her nails are painted pale pink and silver rings adorn her thumb and both pinkies. As the pads of her fingers stroke her nipples, I give a low growl of approval.
“Good girl.”
“God.” She groans and rolls both nipples between her thumbs and pointer fingers. “That shouldn’t be a thing.”
I grin because it’s her thing. Or maybe our thing, since it seems to surprise her. Like maybe it hasn’t been her thing with anyone else.
I’m good with that.
Cupping her ass, I pull her to the edge of the couch. Lana squeaks with surprise, lifting her hips as I drag her panties and shorts down her legs.
Her mouth forms a soft Oh as she touches her nipples. Hooking her thighs over my shoulders, I spread her wide as my mouth starts to water. She’s watching me, waiting to see what I do.
Waiting to feel me.
“So fucking pretty.” I dip my head for a taste. Just one little lick, that’s all.
But the second I taste her, one taste could never be enough. Lana gasps as I trace my tongue around her clit. She’s so slick and ready, so lush and hot and wet. Even hotter than I remember from the kitchen counter back at her parents’ place.
I push thoughts of her family from my mind and focus on Lana. Only Lana. It’s about fucking time someone did.
“You’re delicious,” I whisper, dipping my tongue inside her. Her hips arch up and I press a hand to her belly. “Lie back like a good girl and take it.”
She shudders in my palms, her sex spread out for me like the sweetest buffet. I devour every inch of her, hungry for her soft cries and the clutch of her hands in my hair.
When she tenses beneath me, I know she’s close. “Let go, baby,” I command as I lick her again. “I’ve got you.”
That’s all it takes. She explodes as I sink two fingers inside, her back bowing off the couch as she flings out an arm and knocks a throw pillow to the floor. Her cries fill the living room, fill my ears with the thunder of her pleasure. Her sex squeezes my fingers as her voice fills my ears.
“Bedroom.” She struggles to sit up, hair falling over her face. “I want?—”
“I know.” Because I want it, too. I get to my feet and try to pull her up, but she doesn’t need my help. She’s not dissolving in a puddle, so weak in the knees that I need to carry her through the living room. She’s already halfway down the hall.
As she reaches my bedroom, she turns with a devilish smile. “There’s a bonus to knowing everyone’s exact floor plan.”
“What’s that?” I’m distracted by fixing the bulge in my shorts as I trail her to the bedroom.
“Efficiency.” She grins and throws her arms wide, falling like an angel onto my dark red duvet. “I’m naked in your bed before you’ve even got your shorts off.”
“That can be remedied.” I reach for my fly and her eyes drop. My ego soars as she licks her lips. “Lana,” I murmur, so her gaze bounces to mine. “Tell me how you want this.”
“Let me taste you.” She’s already crawling to the edge of the bed, so sexy I nearly pass out. “Please, Dal. You’ve had your mouth on me.”
Like I’m going to argue. “Jesus,” I hiss as she shoves down my shorts in one quick stroke before curling her fingers around me. I wasn’t expecting her to be this bold. As she takes me in her mouth, I almost lose it. “Lana.”
That’s the only word I manage because holy Christ—that feels good. Her tongue glides like liquid velvet, stroking me from root to tip. The sight of her perfect pink lips wrapped around me, wide blue eyes flicking to mine—it’s almost too much.
“Baby, I can’t—” God, I can’t even form words. “You’ll make me lose it if you don’t slow down.”
But I don’t want her to. I want to feel this tight heat forever. To watch her eyes glint with mischief as she slows to a languid pace. She’s making a show of the tease, swirling her tongue down and back, licking the head before sliding back down.
“Say it,” she says, and I don’t have to ask what she means.
“Good girl,” I groan, threading my hands through her hair. “The fucking best.”
She laughs around me, taking me deep in her throat. That’s it. I can’t hold out much longer.
“Lana,” I say, but she doesn’t hear me. Or maybe she’s just too lost in her effort to tease me.
Time to pivot. Shifting my hips, I pull out of her mouth with an audible pop. As she looks up with wide blue eyes, I hook my hands beneath her arms and pull her up. I’d planned to press her back against the bed but can’t resist that lush mouth.
“So fucking perfect.” I growl as I kiss her, stroking her tongue with mine.
And she is mine, at least for the next few hours. I’m already half in love with her, so getting possessive might be a bad move.
That doesn’t stop me from using my body to push her back, spreading her out beneath me. I fumble in the nightstand for a condom, never breaking our kiss as I sheath myself.
Drawing my cock through her slick folds, I smile as she grips my ass.
“Dal,” she groans and arches to greet me. “Tell me that’s not the same condom from last night.”
“It’s not.” I keep my eyes locked on hers as I ease inside. She’s so fucking tight. I’m trying to go slow, to let her adjust to the intrusion.
But Lana’s not having it. She anchors her heels at my thighs and drags me in deep so I’m rooted inside her. It’s my turn to gasp, though she does it, too. For a second, that’s all we are. Not two bodies, but one fused together with soft sighs and sharp groans of pleasure.
Then I start to move, and fuuuck. “Baby, you feel so good.” Like nothing I’ve felt before. “Look at me.”
As her lashes flutter and her eyes find mine, there’s a connection I can’t describe. A bone-deep sense that we’re linked beyond our flesh, beyond anything between us so far. This is new territory.
“Dal!” she cries out, hips lifting off the bed. “How are you—how is this?—?”
“I don’t know.” Because I have no answers. Not anymore. All I know is that we’re finding our way together. “That’s it,” I murmur when I feel her tense around me. “Let go.”
“But—” Her protest cuts off as I drive deep inside her, moving faster now. When she cries out again, I know I won’t last long.
“Lana.” Her name falls from my lips like a prayer, like a battle cry, like a song. She’s everything, this girl. “Yes!”
There’s a sharp cry as she shatters beneath me. I’m one breath behind her, shouting my bliss as her nails rake my back and her thighs grip my hips like we’re meant to fit together. Like we’ve raced toward this moment forever.
As I feel her go boneless beneath me, I roll to my side. Pulling her tight against me, I brush some blond hair from her face.
Her eyes flutter open and she smiles. “Hi.” There’s an unexpected shyness in her eyes. “That was amazing.”
“I love you,” I blurt.
Her mouth falls open and blue eyes go wide. “Holy shit.”
Not the response I expected.
But then she laughs, and it’s somehow better than if she’d said it right back.
And just to be clear. “I didn’t say that expecting you to respond,” I continue, since she’s clapping a hand over her mouth. “You don’t have to feel the same way I do. I said it because it’s the truth and speaking the truth is?—”
“Shut up, Dal.” She kisses me hot and fierce and makes me forget my own name. Then she draws back and grins. “I love you, too.”
“Yeah?” I search her eyes, looking for truth. It’s unmistakable. “God, I love you. I really love you.” I can’t stop saying it or drawing my hand down her back to feel her shudder. “You’re something else, Lana Judson.”
“Something good, I hope.”
“No doubt.” Something way beyond good or great or even magnificent. “The absolute best,” I say, then kiss her again, wondering what took me so long to get here.
* * *
“Want the last piece of bacon?”
“Nah.” Dropping my fork, I scrape my chin with a red cloth napkin. “I’m stuffed.” I pick up the tray tucked between us in bed, stacking our plates still sticky with syrup. “You can have the bacon.”
“I wasn’t offering it to you.” Clutching the bacon, Lana leans over me to hand Mouse her treat. “That’s it. Nice and gentle. Good pup.”
My dog—who is indeed a good pup—takes it gently and with a reverence reserved for sacred offerings. Mouse groans as she chews while Lana scratches under her collar. My dog keeps one eye squinted hopefully in case there’s more salt-cured pork.
“That’s all,” I tell Mouse as I ease out of bed and start toward the kitchen with our breakfast things. “Ready for a walk?”
Mouse springs into action, bacon forgotten. She prances by the basket at my bedroom door, where I keep one of her many leashes. Lana sits up and stretches, hair tumbling over her shoulder. As the sheet slips off her breasts, I reconsider my plan. We don’t need to walk right this second. “Actually, we could?—”
“Give me five minutes to splash water on my face.” Lana bounds out of bed and strides toward the bathroom. Admiring the view, I grip our tray so I don’t pounce on her. “Actually, that’s a figure of speech. I just need to pee.”
“Sure.” I’m only half listening, fixed as I am on her perfect bare ass. “Have you ever said that to a guy before?”
Lana stops short and cocks her head. “Said what?”
“Peeing.” This is one of those blunt things I shouldn’t ask out loud, but what the hell? “Just curious.”
She laughs as a shock of hair falls over one breast. “I suppose I haven’t.” Patting my butt as she slips past, she calls out as the bathroom door closes, “Guess you’re rubbing off on me.”
“I love rubbing off on you.” I’m not sure if I mean it as a dirty joke or that I’m liking this version of Lana. The one slipping into my habit of blurting the truth. Speaking her mind, no matter what. “Have I mentioned I love you?”
“You have,” she shouts through the bathroom door. “But I’m going to wait ‘til I’m done peeing to say it back.”
I’m chuckling as I carry the tray to the kitchen and start rinsing off dishes. Seconds later, warm, bare arms wrap around me from behind as her hair tickles my elbow. “I love you, Dal.” She squeezes tight. “I can wash those later. Let’s walk.”
“You’re not washing the dishes.” I shut off the water anyway because she’s right. It’s a beautiful day and Mouse stands wagging by the door, ready for the promised walk. Clipping her leash in place, I open the door. “Where to?”
“Let’s walk around the pond.” Her gaze drops to the front of her shirt and she laughs. “Maybe I can stop by my place for a bra first?”
“No can do.” I force myself to hold a serious look. “I need to see your nipples at all times.”
She laughs and smacks me in the chest. “Nice try.”
We set out walking toward the water, veering west because I’m not a total asshole. We’ll grab her bra.
But before we make it to Lana’s, we spot Gabe and Gretchen up ahead. They’re pushing a stroller, Lana’s brother pausing to put a hand on his wife’s low back as he whispers something in her ear.
“Hey, guys.” Lana skips ahead to peer in the stroller. “Look at you, little cutie pie. How’s Taylor Tiger this morning?”
Gabe looks at Lana, assessing. Then his gaze shifts to mine. No words are exchanged, but he surveys his sister, then nods once. “Congrats, Lana Banana,” he says gruffly. “It’s about damn time.”
“Gabe!” Gretchen elbows him in the ribs. “Don’t be a pig.”
“What?” He’s feigning ignorance, but Gabe’s grin gives it away. The man looks at his wife like he remembers how things are at the start of a romance. Like he’s not so far removed from this bliss-soaked buzz. “Just pointing out that it looks like my sister hasn’t been home.”
“Which is Lana’s prerogative and none of our business.” Gretchen’s not backing down on this one. With a hand on her belly, she steps close to her sister-in-law. “Might want to get some concealer on that love-bite if you’re doing any on-camera stuff today.”
I expect her to blush, but Lana just smiles. “Thanks for the tip.” She turns back to me and I fucking love how unfazed she is. “Can we hustle along to my place?”
God, she’s something. “Let’s go.”
With Mouse leading the way, we make a quick pit stop so Lana can grab her bra and change shirts, because apparently we got whipped cream on her other one. I admire the view as she emerges onto her front porch. “I was kinda hoping the braless thing would stick.”
“Maybe later.” We set out walking again, not holding hands or anything. But our fingers brush every now and then as we stroll the wide pathway at the edge of the water. For this early in the day, there’s a surprising number of families on the shore. Two dads with a toddler smile at each other, giving me the strangest urge to ask Lana if she wants kids someday.
But before I can blurt it, we spot another one of Lana’s brothers. Dean’s jogging with his wife, Vanessa, but he slows his pace. There’s a protective furrow in his brow as we approach.
“You’re out early.” He stops running as Vanessa skids to a stop beside him.
“Oh, hey!” Vanessa gives Lana a hug, then looks at me with a smile. “I didn’t know you two were hanging out.” Those last two words drip with meaning, and there’s a question in her eyes.
Dean frowns. “Wait. Hanging out hanging out, or just…hanging out?”
I glance at Lana, not sure how much she wants her family to know. “We’re just—” I begin, but Lana cuts me off.
“Well, Dean.” She plants both hands on her hips. “We’ve only been sexually active for about twelve hours, but considering we did it three times last night, I’d call that hanging out. Would you?”
Vanessa bursts out laughing, holding a palm up for Lana to slap. “God, I love you, girl. We still on for book club?”
“You know it.” Lana’s completely unruffled. “My place at ten on Tuesday. I’m doing sort of a brunch theme.”
“Can I bring anything?” Vanessa’s all lighthearted cheer, but Dean’s still giving me a guarded look.
When I meet his eye, he stops frowning. “Be good to her.” He growls it so low that I’m not sure the women hear.
I nod so he knows I get it. That I’ll never let anything hurt her.
Lana and Vanessa wrap up their chat about the book club menu. With one more hug, we’re off again, walking the path as Dean and Vanessa resume jogging.
I look at Lana once they’re out of earshot. “Wow.”
“I know, right?” She grins as we start walking again. “It feels pretty good to blurt out the truth. Much easier, right?”
“Mostly.” I study her from the corner of my eye. “You put concealer on the love bite. How did they know?”
There’s a bounce in her step as she strides beside me. “In the whole time you’ve lived at Juniper Ridge, have you ever gone for a morning walk with a woman?”
“No.” I don’t have to ponder that too long.
“Well, there you go.” She stops to help Mouse scratch an itch beside her collar. “I’m not exactly in the habit of taking Saturday morning strolls with guys. Plus, there’s the glow.”
“Glow?” I glance at myself in case I missed something.
“The post sex glow.” She shrugs and keeps walking. “We both have it.”
“Huh.” We continue on the path, pausing to wave to more community members. Some I recognize from Juniper Ridge social events, and others from the restaurant. It’s nice, this small-town vibe. Much different from how I grew up, but the same in some ways.
“I guess we’ve both spent most of our lives being recognized wherever we go,” I say. “Not so different from here.”
She cocks her head. “You’re comparing small-town life to being famous?”
“Kinda, yeah.” I’m honestly just rambling, but Lana looks like she’s considering it.
“It’s a solid point.” The thoughtfulness in her smile squeezes my heart. “The Judsons fled Hollywood looking for small-town anonymity, and instead we made a place where everyone knows each other.”
“In a good way, though.” I never thought I’d like that part. “You’ve even got a book club, huh?”
“It’s new. This is only our second meeting.” Her hand brushes mine as she moves to make room for a family cycling the path toward the lodge. “It’s one of those things I always wanted to do.”
“Like car sex?”
“Kinda.” She shrugs a little sheepishly. “It’s hard to have a normal social life in Tinseltown, but here it’s just so natural.”
“What are you reading?”
“Last month was Crying in H-Mart—the one I told you about in the car?” When I nod, she continues. “Now we’re doing The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society.”
“Didn’t they make a movie of that?”
“Yeah, the book’s been out a while.” She shrugs again. “I never had a chance to read it before.”
“Guess it’s your season for getting to do things you’ve had on your list.”
She looks up at me and grins. “I guess so.”
Before I can ask more about her book club, Cooper comes loping around the corner. He’s flanked by Police Chief Amy Lovelin, who looks poised to give birth at any moment.
“Ha!” Cooper stops walking and turns to his wife. “See?”
Amy assesses us, cop eyes missing nothing. “Well, I’ll be damned.”
“Told you.” Cooper holds out his hand to his wife. “Pay up.”
With a sigh that doesn’t sound very exasperated, she fishes in her pocket. “Let the record show, I didn’t make that bet when I was of sound mind.” Amy sounds like a cop, but she’s blushing a little as she hands twenty bucks to her husband.
“Keep it.” Cooper curls her fingers back around the bill as he bends to kiss her. “And for the record,” he murmurs between kisses, “being naked doesn’t mean you’re not of sound mind.”
Amy’s blush grows deeper as her hair falls over her face. “It does when you’re?—”
“Hey now!” Lana waves her arms. “Children present.”
Amy looks up, confused. “Where?”
Cooper lets go of his wife to rope an arm around Lana’s shoulders. They’re both laughing as he attempts a noogie.
“Cut it out, asshole.” She squirms away and slugs Cooper in the gut, but they’re both laughing.
“Assault,” Cooper yells to his wife, but Amy steps back.
“You’re on your own with this one.” Amy’s smile shifts to mine and I smile back.
My brother and I used to roughhouse like this. Would we still be doing it now if?—
“Brat.” Cooper steps back with a grin, smoothing his shirt as he looks at me. “When you’re the second-to-last youngest of six, you take what you can get.”
“Noted.” I never considered the pecking order in such a big family.
“Anyway, congrats.” He solemnly looks from Lana to me. “Couldn’t have happened to a nicer couple.”
I frown at them all, struggling to grasp what’s going on here. “Can someone please explain how everyone seems to know we had sex?”
Amy laughs as the other two look startled. “I mean, just to be clear,” she says, “I think we were all just betting on whether you’d wind up dating.”
Oh.
“I wasn’t.” Coop’s eyes glint with mischief. “I don’t need details, though.”
Lana blows a shock of hair off her forehead. “If I thought it would bother you enough to offset my own discomfort, I’d give you all the gory details. So many details. More details than you could possibly?—”
“Congratulations.” Cooper looks serious as he meets my eye. “Lana’s great. I knew you’d eventually notice.”
The blessing touches me in ways I don’t expect. “Yeah.”
“Come on, Coop.” Amy steers him gently to the side. “We’re running late and Nick’s going to eat all the lemon-lime vegan muffins you’ve been going on about.”
Coop tips his head toward the bakery. “Want to join? We’re meeting Lauren and Nick for breakfast.”
“Some other time.” Lana loops her arm through mine, which feels better than holding hands. Call me a pig, but I like the feeling of a beautiful woman on my arm.
This beautiful woman in particular.
“So,” I say when her brother’s gone. “Looks like Lauren and Nick will know in the next five minutes that you and I are sleeping together. Do you need to stop and call Mari?”
She laughs and stops to uncoil Mouse’s leash from the tree she’s managed to wrap it around. My big dog wags and licks Lana’s face. “Oh, don’t worry—I’m sure someone’s texted her by now.”
“Huh.” I’m not sure how I feel about that. “Guess it’s good to have everything out in the open. No secrets.”
My words hang heavy between us. I don’t even realize what I’ve said until Lana looks up at me. “You think I should tell them.”
It’s not a question, and she’s not talking about the sex thing. “What you shared last night?” I shrug and watch Mouse sniff a dandelion. “Seems like something they might want to know.”
Lana doesn’t answer right away. We’re alone on the path, but still. I understand secrets like this one call for discretion. I do have some tact.
“I don’t want to hurt them.”
“Hurt them or your mother?”
She bites her lip. “Them. If they find out I’ve known this long and never told them?—”
“They’d understand.”
She looks up sharply. “How can you be so sure?”
“Because they love you.” I wave in the general direction her siblings all vanished, a gesture meant to encompass them all. “They know you. It doesn’t matter if you all share the exact same bloodlines.”
“I know that.” She looks at the path, eyes cast down as she considers my words. “Secrets don’t make people love you any less,” she says softly, conscious of cameras even though none are nearby. “But they can make them see you differently.”
“I get that.” I really do. “But maybe that’s okay.”
“How do you mean?”
I’m treading in none-of-your-business territory. Or maybe last night changed things? “You’ve said yourself they’ve always treated you like the baby of the family. What if this could shift things?”
“For the better, you mean.”
“Maybe.”
Lana stops to grab a gum wrapper on the walkway. She does this without comment, pausing to toss it in the trash ten feet ahead.
“That,” I say without meaning to.
Blue eyes swing to mine. “What?”
“That’s one of the things I love about you.” I gesture to the trash can, drawing a look of puzzlement. “You’re always looking out for everything and everyone—your siblings, your community. Even Mouse.” My good dog wags her tail, happy to be included.
Lana looks baffled, like it never occurred to her not to be a good human. “Well, yeah,” she says slowly, wiping her hands on her shorts. “Sisters and brothers look out for each other. I’m just doing my part.”
I know I risk overstepping here. “I just hope you’re not giving too much. Sacrificing on the altar of putting everyone else first.”
She laughs like I’ve said something funny. “Is that what you’re doing?”
My turn to be puzzled. “What do you mean?”
“Making me breakfast.” She grins and bumps me with her elbow. “Making me come six times before sunrise.”
“It was my pleasure.” Literally. “You deserve the world, Lana. You deserve to be treated as honorably as you treat everyone and everything else.”
“That’s sweet,” she says softly. “Does that make you my self-appointed protector?”
“I can be,” I say, not sure we’re having the same conversation. “If you want that.”
“I want you.” Her earnest tone tugs the strings in my heart. “And I’ll gladly take what comes with the package.”
“Deal.” Do we make this official? “Want to be my girlfriend?”
She barks out a laugh, which I’m coming to learn doesn’t mean she’s amused. Just surprised. “Absolutely. Wait.” She catches my arm with both hands. “Should you pass me one of those notes with checkboxes?”
I frown. “What notes?”
“I forget sometimes you didn’t grow up in this country.” She lets go of my arm and starts walking again. “I was just joking.”
“Explain the joke, please.” I know that’s annoying, but I love hearing how her mind works. “What are the checkboxes?”
“Kids in school used to pass notes,” she says. “Stuff like, ‘Do you like me? Check the box.’ And then there’d be squares for stuff like, ‘yes, no, maybe.’” There’s a pause and a self-deprecating laugh. “I don’t know for sure, because I never got one, but I’ve seen it in movies.”
How funny her life must’ve been. Seeing American rites of passage, not through firsthand experience, but through films produced and starred in by her family. “We didn’t quite manage the car sex.” I feel a bit bad about that. “But I can definitely pass you a note.”
“Deal.” She laughs and grabs my arm again. “Let’s talk about you.”
“What about me?” I feel the rattle of my guard going up.
“You’re the younger brother, so in theory you’d relate to how I’ve felt overprotected.” As she pauses, I sense where this is going. “But given the circumstances with Ji-Hoon, you’ve kinda changed roles.”
“Huh.” That’s a really astute observation. “You’re right. We have.”
“Do you think he feels off-balance?” She looks away from the path to search my face. “Like maybe he wants to take care of you. Or at the very least, not be dependent on you.”
“Yeah,” I say slowly. It’s a little unnerving she reached this conclusion so fast. It’s taken me years to get there. “He said as much the other day.”
“He did?”
I pause so a pair of kids in flip-flops can pet Mouse. She loves the attention, wagging and wiggling and sending them off with a big sloppy lick. “He asked me to give him more space.”
“That’s good, then. That he’s off on an overnight date? It’s awesome you’re hearing him out and respecting what he wants.”
My heart squeezes tight in my chest. “How do you do that?”
“Do what?”
“Manage to see the best in people.” Even when I don’t see it in myself. “It’s a really rare trait.”
She shrugs like it’s no big deal. “Don’t get me wrong—some people are irredeemable assholes. But mostly, I think, humans are good.”
Now I’m curious. “What makes an irredeemable asshole in your book?”
“Someone who’s rude to waitstaff and janitors.” Her answer flows so fast that I know she’s given this plenty of thought. “The willfully ignorant. Not stupid or uneducated people, but the ones who have every opportunity to learn and grow but choose not to.”
“Okay.” Now I’m intrigued. “What else?”
“Anyone who’s cruel to children or animals.” She pauses to pet Mouse before continuing. “People incapable of remorse. Men who call themselves ‘alpha males.’” The air quotes tell me she’s heard this one. “The paparazzi, of course.”
“Of course.” Gotta say I agree with that one. “What else?”
She opens her mouth to answer when a voice behind us calls out. “Lana! Thank God I caught you.”
We spin to see Mari running toward us, mismatched sandals on her feet. A pen flips out of her chignon and falls to the ground, unfurling her hair in a wild tumble. Ten feet behind her, Griffin wheels their stroller like a man chased by zombies.
“What?” Lana says. “What’s wrong?”
“Mom,” she pants, bending at the waist with her hands on her thighs. I watch the color leave Lana’s face as Mari looks up with a grim expression. “They’re here.”