Shayne kisses her cheek. “Thank you, but I’ll just have some coffee.” She peers around the kitchen.
“We’ve got plenty.” Emma holds up the pot and I grab a mug out of the cupboard for Shayne.
As she makes her coffee, I step closer. “We wanted to talk to you about something.” Maybe bombarding Shayne with my family in the kitchen isn’t the best way to promote her, but I want to get this over with so Shayne knows we’ve got her back. “I’m sure this comes as no surprise to you since I told you when you moved in, but we would like to hire you to do our website and social media. That way you don’t have to kill yourself working multiple jobs.” My words finally get her to look at me. The fire in them makes me wonder if I said something wrong.
“I appreciate the offer, but no thank you.”
“Umm, why don’t we go outside?” Emma takes Felicity’s hand. The rest of my family follows her.
“What do you mean no?” I cross my arms over my chest.
“I’m not your charity case for you to fix, Damien.”
I suck in a deep breath. “I’m sorry. You’re right.” I sit down on a bar stool as I watch Shayne flutter around the kitchen to make her coffee. “I’m a fixer. Always have been.”
She smiles at me and it takes my breath away. “I get it. I really do, but you’ve already fixed so much for me.”
The need to touch her overwhelms me. “Shayne, this isn’t one of those things.”
“What do you mean?”
“Clara wanted to hire you first,” I tell her. “We only hire the best. And if you weren’t the best, I wouldn’t be offering you this job.”
“I don’t need your money.”
“Good, because I’m not giving it to you. My business and my business partners have decided we want you to work for us. This has nothing to do with charity. It has everything to do with your talent.”
“I don’t know.” She bites her bottom lip.
“You’re the best for the job. I’m not losing you.” I don’t tell her Emma wants to hire Shayne to do her yoga website. I’ll let Emma do that.
“I don’t know what to say.”
My heart beats fast when I see the tiny smile on her face. “Say thank you. I have to go workout soon, or my brothers are going to roast me all day.” I can’t help myself. I lean in and plant a kiss on her forehead. “Don’t be late for your first day of your new job.”
“I don’t know how to thank you.”
“Just do what you do, that's all I need.” I smile at her.
“I’m cooking dinner tonight. It’s the least I can do.”
My blood rushes through my system at a quick pace as I think about a small intimate dinner with just the two of us. It’s both our night off from the club.
“Tell your brothers when you go out to the garage, and I’ll tell the girls before I go grocery shopping. Don’t worry boss, I won’t be late.”
All thoughts of being alone with Shayne are swept away at the mention of everyone joining us tonight.
“Thank you so much for dinner.” Clara lifts her plate and carries it into the kitchen.
“It was delicious.” Ben stands to help Clara.
“We need to get this little one home.” Emma glances over at Felicity passed out on the couch. Her little arms are thrown over her head and she’s snuggled tight in a princess blanket.
“Thank you for dinner. See you tomorrow,” Axel whispers, picking Felicity up from the couch.
Axel and Emma leave with Felicity as Ben and Clara clear the rest of the table.
“I’ve got the dishes,” I tell Ben and Clara, hoping they get the hint to leave. I’m not normally a rude guy who likes to kick out dinner guests, but damn, I’ve wanted Shayne alone since the minute she started cooking tonight.
She’s wearing this little black sundress that shows off her long, tanned legs. I’ll admit it, I’ve been staring a little too hard at her.
I swear everyone could read the dirty thoughts I had running through my brain during dinner, but no one ever let on if they did. Hell, Shayne probably knows what I want to do to her.
Shyane stands, grabbing her own plate off the table.
“Seriously,” I stare at her, “I’ve got the clean up.”
Shayne blushes. “Thank you.”
I take the dish from her hand and head off into the kitchen. Ben and Clara are clearing off plates.
“I like her,” Clara says quietly, not wanting Shayne to overhear.
“I like her too. You two seem good together.” Ben swats me with a dish towel.
“Alright, I’ve heard your guy’s opinions. You sound like broken records. It’s not new that you two like her. Get out of here so we can be alone.”
After way too many goodbyes from my brother and his fiancée, I’m finally left alone with Shayne.
Her head leans against the couch, her eyes heavy with sleep.
“Thank you for dinner.” Guilt claws up my spine. I want to be alone with her, but the exhaustion on her face shows. She’s not in the best state to stay up. “You should go to bed.”
Shayne blinks her sleepy eyes, a softness to her face. “I don’t mind staying up with you. Now that I only have one job I’m going to get more sleep than I know what to do with. Thank you, by the way.”
“You already thanked me, and like I said before, thank your talent.” The guilt vanishes as I sit down on the couch next to her.
Shayne snuggles her feet under my legs. The familiarity of her movement warms me. Her head rests on the couch and she appears completely at home. I pull her feet out from under my leg, pressing my thumb into the arch of her foot.
“Oh. My. God.” She releases a low moan, reminding me of the time we spent in the back of my Rover. “That feels so good.” I push her legs down my thigh so she doesn’t feel what her moans are doing to me.
When her body is melted onto the couch, I continue rubbing up her legs. The TV is playing some mindless movie in the background that neither of us are paying attention to.
“I like your family.” She’s tired and slurs her words together.
“I like them, too.”
“Do you miss them?”
Even though we’re around each other all the time at the club, I still feel this division happening. Like my brothers have both grown up and moved on and I’m left here all alone. “I do.”
She pulls her legs back and moves to wrap her arms around me. “I didn’t know you were such a softie.”
I grin and run my hands through her hair. “We’re triplets. We’ve always lived together even in the womb. Now they’re moving on and moving out. I miss the connection we share, but I’m happy they’re happy. That’s all you can hope for with the people you love.”
“They miss you, too. You can see it by the way they linger at work, and when they’re here. They want you to be happy, too.”
That makes me smile. I think about all the times my brothers would say they were leaving, but ended up staying longer. She’s right and it warms my chest. “Thank you. I needed to hear that.”