Chapter 18
Eva
The next afternoon, I was staring out the window, marveling at the sunny cool day. It would be snowing back home by now. It was close to it when I left, so I knew my family was having a white Christmas. The sun was shining here, with not a speck of moisture on the horizon.
The phone I was holding buzzed in my hand. Thomas had told me yesterday that he'd be calling today. "Hello?"
"Good afternoon, Eva."
"Hi, Thomas. What did you find out?" The day after the attack, he'd run a background check on Idaho. He used a company that had ties to my father, so they were willing to get him the information immediately.
"He wasn't lying about being in the special forces.
He also wasn't lying about being a businessman.
His company has its fingers in a lot of different pies and one thing he wouldn't be after would be money.
He has plenty of that. His net worth ranges in the tens of millions.
Possibly in the hundreds of millions, though it's hard to calculate. "
Sighing, I rubbed my fingers on my right temple. I wasn't sure I wanted to know all this. At least, not from Thomas. But he already ran Idaho and it would be stupid of me to stick my head in the sand. "Anything else?"
"There is one odd thing. Most of his wealth is tied up in ownership of other companies. Not that he doesn't have plenty he could liquidate. He keeps enough to live, and live well by most standards, but he doesn't have millions just sitting in his bank account."
"What does that mean?"
"I'm not sure, but it seems that he's less interested in actual money and more interested in business dealings."
"Strange. I'll have to think about that. Any legal troubles?"
"No real criminal record. Our guy wasn't able to find anything incriminating. Looks like he checks out."
I already knew he would. After only a couple days of being here, I knew I was safe. The trust I had in him was probably naive, but it was there. "Thank you, Thomas."
"I'll see you after the holidays, Eva."
Hanging up the phone, I pushed the guilt down.
Idaho told us flat out that he was going to be looking into both of us.
Running background checks was just the first step of that.
It was only fair that we do the same. Still, I wish I'd asked him about himself first. Only, we couldn't seem to stay in the same room, alone, for long periods of time without either kissing or fighting.
"You almost ready, Duchess?"
Wiping all emotion off my face, I turned and nodded.
"Yes." I was in a dress and heels, since the Christmas Eve dinner was going to be inside the clubhouse.
The guys spent all day moving furniture aside so tables could be set up for everyone.
My dress was red, skimming close to my body and my waist, then flaring out to just above my knees.
It was a father-approved outfit, so the neckline went up to my collarbone before streaking over to the little cap sleeves.
Idaho paused, looking me up and down as I stood there, waiting. My red heels gave my usual five-seven frame three extra inches. It made me feel powerful and confident that he wasn't looking quite so far down at me. He still had another four inches on me, but we were closer in height.
"You look beautiful." I opened my mouth to thank him, but he beat me to it. "Now hurry up."
Frowning at him as he turned and walked to the door, I shook my head.
Yesterday he showed a very kind, giving side to him.
Not only had he provided a playground for those children, he'd invited Thomas to our breakfast. I had a feeling he understood that I was homesick and having someone from back home there helped ease that.
I stepped outside into the hallway as he held open the door.
He shut it behind me and used a hand on my lower back to lead me downstairs.
It was all very gentlemanly. This man knew all the games that the wealthy and powerful played.
He knew how to behave himself, yet he lived his life very differently.
I couldn't blame him. I'd choose this life over mine back home, too.
I didn't need the money, and I didn't care about the social status that came with it.
"Oh, Eva! You look gorgeous," Jordan said, rushing forward when we got to the bottom of the stairs. All the women were dressed up, looking beautiful in their dresses.
"We never get to dress up anymore," Seek said with a smile, twirling in her floor length blue dress. Her usual shadows were there by her side. The older of the dogs came over and looked up at me, as though inspecting me.
I patted his head. “Oh, his fur is so soft.” I smiled down at him when he moved to my side and leaned against me.
The men were all in their usual, but Toxic had a t-shirt with a printed-on bow tie. It made me laugh when he walked into the main room and stood next to Butcher. The two men were so different, yet they fit together like puzzle pieces.
"Come on," Idaho said, taking my hand. "Let's eat."
I let him lead me over to one of the tables and pull out my chair.
I sat down, then watched as he went around to his own seat.
For whatever reason Auron seemed to appoint himself my guardian for the meal and flopped down under the table, on top of my feet.
I didn't mind at all. I already loved Seek's dogs.
Jordan sat next to me while Sloane sat on Idaho's other side. Her face was a little pale and she looked exhausted, but she smiled and spoke with everyone.
"When are you due?" I asked her, leaning around Idaho to speak to her.
"A week ago," she told me with a wan smile.
"Oh, my," I replied.
"Maybe she wants to be a Christmas baby," Riptide told his wife with a grin.
"That would be amazing," Sloane said. "The best Christmas gift I could receive."
"Because you get to see your baby?" I asked.
She chuckled. "Yeah, that too."
"She's ready to be done being pregnant," Riptide confided with a grin.
Stomping feet interrupted the conversation as a horde of children raced into the dining room, each holding a present close to their chests.
Dex ran over and climbed onto the chair next to Susie.
Tori's son climbed into her lap, and Priest's girls circled around him.
Sean and Grace moved slower, but still had excited smiles on their faces.
"I'm so excited," Dex said, bouncing in his seat.
Susie laughed. "Me too."
"Quit moving," Dash told his son. "You're going to fall off that chair."
"What's going on?" Jordan asked.
"We told the kids they could pick one gift each to open up tonight," Jenny told her.
"Can we open them now?" Cassie asked.
The parents all looked around at each other and ended up nodding.
The sound of ripping paper and happy squeals filled the air.
Something heavy touched my shoulder and I looked over and saw that Idaho had wrapped his arm around the back of my chair and his hand was brushing me.
I bit my lip as I looked at him, but he didn't look down or acknowledge me at all.
His eyes were on the children as they opened their gifts.
"I got a new dolly!"
"A truck!"
"I got an iPad!" Gabby gasped, eyes wide. She held it up for everyone to see.
"There will be rules with that, Gabby," Priest warned.
"Yes, Daddy." His threat didn't dim the grin on her face a bit.
"Want to see a neat trick?" Toxic asked her, holding his hand out for her gift.
Nodding, she handed it over without hesitation.
My heart squeezed seeing that. It was obvious how excited she was for her new gadget, yet she gave it to Toxic without even thinking.
It showed the level of trust these kids had in these men.
If there was any lingering worry or doubt in my mind about whether I could trust them to protect me, that would have extinguished it.
Toxic looked over and gave Hellfire a malicious grin. "Hey, Hell. Show the kid the trick."
Hellfire scowled at him. "I'm not a damn circus monkey. Fuck off."
Kit smacked his chest with the back of her hand. "One, children are present. Clean up the language."
"Like they don't hear worse every day," he muttered.
"Two, it's Christmas Eve."
Toxic nudged Gabby. She shifted in her seat and adopted the cutest puppy dog eyes. "Please, Uncle Hellfire? Will you show me the trick?" Her voice was soft and pleading.
"Her father is in so much trouble," I whispered to Idaho.
"No shit," he said in a low voice so as not to get yelled at for cursing. "How do you say no to that face?"
Hellfire sighed and held out his hand.
Grinning, Toxic asked the table, "Want to see how an iPad gets turned into a cell phone?"
Everyone frowned, unsure of how that would be possible. The kids were watching with rapt fascination.
Toxic held up the iPad, showing it off, then he passed it over to Hellfire.
I covered my mouth with my hand to stop the laughter.
None of these men were small, but the gadget had looked perfectly normal in Toxic's hands.
Now with Hellfire holding it, the thing looked like it shrank.
He was palming it easily with one hand, and it really did look like it could be the size of a cell phone.
Hellfire shook his head, then handed it back to a giggling Gabby. The look he shot Toxic promised retribution for making him perform. Toxic just grinned at him and shrugged.
"That was so cool!" Dex exclaimed. "Can you teach me how to do that?"
"I think you have a ways to grow before you'll be able to perform that trick," Susie told him.
"Poor Hell thought for years his dick was just tiny," Butcher added.
I nearly spit my water out at that remark. Idaho rubbed my back while I sputtered and coughed, because I'd inhaled the liquid on a laugh.
"Still bigger than yours," Hellfire replied, narrowing his eyes on Butcher.
"Boys," Kit called out, calming everyone down.
"If she doesn't stop it now, they'll all be whipping their dicks out to measure," Seek said with a grin.
"Oh, no," Gwen said, holding up her hands. "My brother is sitting right there. I don't need to see that."