over her sunny yellow top and flicked her eyes to mine. Even unsure, she was stunning, taking my breath right out of my lungs in her ripped jeans that hugged her ass and a flowy top that showed a lot of tattoos and a peek of cleavage. She’d left her hair down at my request, and it was all I could do not to shove my fingers in it and gather it in my fists.
While I was drinking in every beautiful inch of her, she was worrying her lip and working herself into an anxious dither.
“Are you sure I should come with you? Won’t it be weird?”
I took her hand and tugged her against me, giving her ass a hard squeeze. “I’m not going if you’re not with me. And if I don’t show, my sister will beat my door down since I’ve missed the last few brunches.”
“Because of me.”
Because I’d chosen to spend my precious free time with her and Josephine. It wasn’t a difficult choice. Now that Catherine had signed the contract and we’d settled into our relationship, sharing her with the other important people in my life was the next logical step.
I touched her lips with mine. “Because I’ve been busy, which my friends are used to. Now I’m available, and so are you. No more excuses.”
We were already in the parking lot of the restaurant anyway. There wasn’t a chance I was letting her get back in the car to go home.
I grabbed Jo’s car seat from the back and slipped Catherine’s diaper bag from her shoulder. She grumbled a protest, but there was no need for her to carry either while I was with her. Eventually, she would get used to being treated the way she deserved, but we were still getting there.
The day was mild but still held a winter chill, so we were inside instead of the patio. I flagged down a server before we got to the table.
“We’ll need another chair, please,” I told her. “And a sling for the car seat.”
Catherine looked at me with alarm. “They know I’m coming, right?”
I hadn’t felt the need to announce I’d be bringing Catherine and Josephine with me, the same way Weston never forewarned us when Miles was tagging along. He just appeared, and we accepted it. Admittedly, the others more readily than me.
Of course, this had to be one of the days Miles showed for brunch. Happily sitting at the large, round table between Elise and Saoirse, he was the first to notice our approach, pointing us out to everyone else.
“They do now,” I muttered.
With my hand on Catherine’s lower back, I steered her to the table. Elise hopped out of her seat first, pressing her hands together beneath her chin.
“You still exist. If West hadn’t told me he saw you at the gym, I would have thought you had disappeared off the face of the earth.” She arched a brow at me, then swiveled to Catherine. “I had no idea you were coming, but I’m so pleased to see you.”
“Elliot forgot to tell me no one knew I was coming with him,” Catherine whispered, her cheeks glowing a pretty pink.
In true Elise style, she wrapped Catherine in a hug. “That’s very Elliot. But there’s plenty of room at the table for you.”
Next, Saoirse hopped up to greet her while Weston and Luca exchanged glances with each other, then me. They were probably wondering why Catherine was with me since I hadn’t told them she was with me.
An extra chair and sling to prop Joey’s car seat at the same height as the rest of us were brought to the table. She was awake, bright-eyed, looking around at everything, content to observe for now.
Elise and Saoirse were bent over her, cooing and talking to her. I sat beside Weston, who stared at me expectantly.
“Is there something you’d like to say?” Weston prompted.
“Sure. A lot of things,” I replied.
Luca rolled his eyes. “Come on, man. We saw you three times this week. What is happening right now?”
Miles pointed his finger back and forth between Catherine and me. “I might be slow on the uptake sometimes, but I think it’s pretty clear there are only two options. One, Elliot made his assistant give up her weekend to follow him around and take notes during all his meetings, including brunch. Or two, Elliot and Catherine are together, and he didn’t bother telling anyone.” He scratched his chin. “Since this is Elliot, it could go either way, but I’m going to go with option one. Just seems the most plausible.”
Catherine’s laugh was rich and genuine as she slipped into the chair beside me with Joey in her lap. “Or the third option. We ran into each other in the parking lot and Elliot insisted I join him for brunch. Since I skipped breakfast, I accepted.”
Miles nodded. “Yeah, that makes more sense.” Then he stuck his hand out to her across the table. She slid hers into his and they shook. “Miles Aldrich. The food here is incredible, so the spontaneous kidnapping worked in your favor. Cute baby, by the way.”
Her blush deepened, and it was all I could do not to knock his hand off hers. Flirty bastard.
“Catherine Warner, but everyone besides Elliot calls me Kit.” She patted Jo’s stomach. “This little girl is Josephine. Everyone calls her Joey.”
Saoirse chimed in. “Even Elliot?”
Catherine slid me a sidelong glance. “Usually, it’s Josephine, sometimes Jo. Occasionally Joey.”
Elise eyed us both then turned her attention to Catherine. I braced myself for what she might ask. Coming here, I’d prepared myself for an inquisition, but I hadn’t considered Catherine might be uncomfortable being the center of attention. That was the last thing I wanted.
“So, what’s it like being a mom?” Elise asked.
Catherine sighed with what seemed like relief. She’d been bracing too. “It’s strange, but I barely remember what life was like before she got here. Don’t get me wrong, it was rough being completely on my own, but now that I have help and I’m back at work, it’s just…lovely.”
Miles cut right to the chase. “Where’d the dad go?”
Weston groaned at his brother. “Jesus. Have some couth.”
Catherine scrunched her nose. “Australia.”
Miles jerked his chin. “Loser.”
She nodded. “My sentiments exactly. I got the cute baby. He got the continent with the most poisonous snakes and spiders in the world.”
Miles raised his glass of what looked like lemonade but undoubtedly contained hard liquor…at eleven o’clock in the morning.
“Cheers to that. I’ve always said kangaroos aren’t even that cute. Have you seen their pouches?” He shuddered. “Nightmares.”
Saoirse propped her elbows on the table, chin on top of her fists. “Levy, you never did confirm which of Miles’s options was true. One, two, or three?”
“While I can’t claim I haven’t asked Catherine to work on weekends, she’s not here as my employee.” I reached for her hand and wove our fingers together. “Option two.”
Weston slapped me on the shoulder. “You’re kidding.”
Elise shook her head. “He isn’t kidding.”
Luca’s cheeks puffed up, and he blew out a heavy breath. “I’m going to guess this didn’t happen in the time since we saw you on Thursday.”
“No.” I turned my head to look at Catherine, who already had her eyes on me. She nodded, giving me the go-ahead to tell them. “We’ve been together around a month.”
More if I counted the time since she moved in with me. I did, but she wouldn’t.
Elise held out a hand, her expression falling. “You didn’t tell me.”
Weston curled his arm around her. “He didn’t tell anyone. I had no idea.”
“But he’s my brother,” Elise murmured.
“I could have called you,” I started. “I could have told Weston and Luca at the gym or over drinks. But it was far more efficient to tell all of you together, and now you all know. Can we move on?”
Catherine squeezed my hand, laughing under her breath. “I think we were pretty surprised ourselves that this happened.”
Miles nodded like he heard a beat no one else could. “Yeah, I’m into it. You guys are cute. Like grumpy sunshine on crack.” He pointed at me. “He’s the one on crack, by the way.”
Weston cupped his forehead. “Why? Why?”
Miles sipped his drink, utterly unperturbed by his brother’s annoyance. “Relax, Westie. I’ve heard you tell Elise you’re concerned about Elliot spending so much time alone. Now you don’t have to be worried anymore.”
Elise flicked his ear. “Your key is revoked. You’ve listened in on too many of our conversations.”
Weston shot a glare at his brother. “This is why he shouldn’t have had a key in the first place. He can’t help himself. He’s trouble.”
Miles grimaced and met my eye. “They talk about me too. We never should have let them happen.”
“I wasn’t asked for my opinion, unfortunately,” I deadpanned, then turned to Weston. “You’re worried about me?”
He chuffed, running a hand through his hair. “You’re on my mind sometimes, yes. Especially lately, when you’ve been showing up less and less. It makes sense now, but Elise and I were scrambling for answers while you were off falling for your assistant.”
“Catherine. Her name is Catherine…Kit. Being my assistant is the least important thing she is to me, and I barely functioned when she was on maternity leave.” I brought her knuckles up to my mouth and pressed my lips along them.
Saoirse took Luca’s jaw in her hand. “Have you ever met one of Elliot’s girlfriends?”
“Not since college,” he replied.
I scoffed. “I’d hardly call any of the girls I wasted time with girlfriends.”
Anything that happened in college had fizzled out pretty quickly. And once I’d moved home to become Elise’s guardian, my personal life had been set on the back burner. West and Luca wouldn’t have met any of my girlfriends because there hadn’t been one until Catherine.
Saoirse’s eyes flared at her husband. “See? Chill out and be cool, so he keeps bringing Kit back to hang out with us. We need another woman in our mix. The testosterone is way too thick.”
Miles gave a lazy wave. “Sorry about that.”
Josephine got tired of being ignored and released a rebel yell while arching her back and raising her chubby fists. All eyes went to her. Catherine was unfazed, spinning Jo around in her arms and giving her kisses on her cheeks. She was so fucking natural at being a mother. There weren’t many things more attractive than watching her at ease with her daughter.
Our server came by to take our orders, further removing the spotlight from Catherine and me. That was good. There was nothing more to say. We were a couple. It was what it was and didn’t need to be discussed to death.
While we waited for our food, Josephine got passed between Elise and Saoirse, then Miles held his hands out to her.
“Give her over. Babies really like me.” He wiggled his fingers at her, and she snagged one, wrapping her hand around it and gazing up at him from Saoirse’s lap.
“Tell him no,” I murmured to Catherine.
She laughed softly. “Why would I do that?”
“He’ll drop her.”
She patted my cheek. “I really doubt that.”
Saoirse transferred Jo into Miles’s arms. He held her in the crook of his elbow, so she was facing her mom and me, but she kept twisting to look back at him.
Catherine grinned. “She must like your face.”
He booped her nose. “I like your face too, angel. You’re very cute and round.”
Little by little, I relaxed. It seemed Miles was actually competent when it came to holding a baby. If I was honest with myself, he was more than competent in other arenas too, but I had a difficult time getting past his years spent happily living as an out-of-control man-child and mooching off Weston.
People changed. A year ago, I never would have imagined I’d have a woman and baby I adored down to my bones, but here I was. Happy about it. So fucking happy.
I could do better about giving Miles the benefit of the doubt.
“Do you have any trips coming up?” Elise asked.
“Yes.” I slid my hand along Catherine’s thigh beneath the table and settled on her knee. “I have to go to Dubai in a couple weeks.”
“How does that work?” Weston asked Catherine. “Will you go too?”
She leaned around me to address Weston. “Right now, it doesn’t make sense for me to travel with him. I’d have to take my nanny with me since I don’t have anyone else to watch Joey.”
Weston flicked a glance at me. “It’s a good thing your boss likes you.”
“If he didn’t, I would figure it out. But yeah, I’m pretty lucky Elliot likes me for many other reasons—especially since I like him so very much.”
Elise made a gasping kind of sigh, drawing my attention. She quickly clamped her mouth shut and shook her head. But it was too late. My sister was pleased at what Catherine had to say. It ran in the family because so was I.
Our food was delivered, and Catherine reached for Josephine, who was still hanging out with Miles.
“I’ll put her in her car seat so you can eat in peace,” Catherine offered.
Miles picked up his fork with his free hand. “Don’t worry about me. I’ve got this. I only need one hand to eat pancakes, but if I needed both, I’d keep her until you were done eating. You deserve a meal in peace.”
She hesitated then laughed a little. “Thank you, Miles. You actually sound just like Elliot. When we first went to stay with him, he held Joey while I had dinner and wouldn’t eat until I was done. It’s only been in the past few weeks I—”
She cut herself off when she noticed all eyes were on her.
“You’re living together?” Elise squeaked.
“What the fuck?” Luca hissed.
Catherine turned to me, panic in her wide eyes. Wrapping my arm around her shoulders, I dipped my head down to whisper in her ear.
“You did nothing wrong, sweetheart.”
Then I addressed the rest of the table. “Catherine and Jo are staying with me and have been for a couple months.”
Catherine was quick to add to my statement. “Elliot caught me at my worst. It’s so fudging embarrassing and a really long story. Basically, Joey’s dad left me in a major lurch. My house was almost unlivable, and I…well, let’s just say it was a bad situation. Elliot refused to let us stay there, so we’re living at his place temporarily.”
Silence followed for several moments. Elise, my favorite sister, was the first to break it.
“Well, of course he did. Elliot would take the shirt off his back for people who are important to him.” Elise patted Weston’s arm, no doubt sending a silent message to keep his mouth shut. He did, but I knew I’d be hearing from my oldest friend sooner than later. “I’m glad you’re in a safe place now, Kit.”
Saoirse angled toward me. “I’m miffed I’m still the only one who hasn’t been to your place.”
“Not the only one,” Miles chimed in. “I’m down for a house party at Elliot’s.”
I huffed a laugh. “Not happening.”
“My brother doesn’t enjoy parties,” Elise added.
“Untrue. Parties in places I can leave when I’m done are fine.” I stroked Catherine’s arm with my fingertips, more to calm myself than to comfort her. “We’ll have you over when I get back from my trip.”
“With a time limit?” Luca asked.
“Hell yes. If I don’t state an end time, I won’t be able to get rid of some of you.” I sent a pointed glare at Saoirse and Miles. They would be the ones I’d have to evict. Miles because I had the feeling he wouldn’t know when he had overstayed his welcome, and Saoirse would just stick around to fuck with me.
The rest of brunch went smoothly. The topic moved off Catherine and me to Saoirse and Miles’s business. Inevitably, Luca brought up his cat, and Miles informed everyone he was thinking about adopting a goldfish.
Eventually, plates were emptied, and the bill was paid. The three women went to the bathroom together to change Jo’s diaper, and the four of us ventured outside to wait for them by the fenced-off patio.
Miles addressed Weston. “I’m going over to Mom and Dad’s. Any interest in joining me?”
Weston grimaced. “Not the slightest. You should skip seeing them too for your own well-being.”
Miles shrugged. “Nah. Gotta do it.”
Their parents were shitty to each other and their sons but refused to divorce or remove their claws from either of them. Weston had extracted them himself, but Miles hadn’t gotten there yet. I got it. I’d had a mother who I’d tried to help until her last day. Some people just didn’t want to be helped, though.
Once Miles was gone, Luca and Weston rounded on me.
“What the fuck, Levy?” Luca started.
I crossed my arms over my chest. “What’s the problem?”
Weston was stony-faced. “What is going on with you?”
They were pissed I’d kept my relationship with Catherine from them, and I got that. But from my point of view, neither had a leg to stand on.
“Just spit it out. Say what you want.” I pointed at West. “But remember, I didn’t find out about you and Elise until you were outed.” Then I swung my finger to Luca. “And you showed up married to Saoirse. Don’t act like the three of us are in a knitting circle, spilling every detail of our lives to each other. That’s not what we do.”
Weston put his hands on his hips, nodding slowly. “No, I understand that. But you’ve worked with Catherine…Kit for over a year without paying her any interest.”
Luca scoffed. “I had to tell you she was pregnant.”
Weston went on. “Then suddenly, she has a kid and needs a place to live. Have you examined why you suddenly jumped into action? Is it really about her?”
I looked at my two best friends, who’d been with me through thick and thin, who I cared about like brothers, and all I wanted to do was rip their fucking heads off.
Through gritted teeth, I asked, “Why would you think this would be about anything other than her?”
Luca and West looked at each other briefly. They were on the same page. Sharing the same thoughts. I didn’t want to hear it but fuck it, they were going to say it.
Weston stepped forward, bracing his hand on my shoulder. “Think about it, Elliot. Did this start because you have real feelings for her, or was it because you saw another mother in crisis and this time you could help her?”
I knocked his hand off me, seething at his audacity. I wasn’t a violent person, but right now, it was strumming through my veins. “The fuck did you just ask me?”
I craned my neck to check the front door. No sign of Catherine yet, thank Christ.
Weston held his hands up. “I’m not trying to insult you or Kit, I swear.”
Luca edged between us. “We’re looking out for you—and her.”
“It seems to me like you’re insulting us both.” I crossed my arms so I didn’t use them. I was close. So fucking close.
Luca chuffed. “You had no problem questioning my marriage to Saoirse. None of us are ‘yes’ men. We don’t hold back with each other.”
“Your questions are so far out of line it would be laughable if I weren’t furious.”
Weston patted Luca on the arm, moving him aside. “If we’re out of line, then I’m sorry. I hope I’m wrong. But I know you, Elliot. I was there when your mother lost it and you couldn’t do anything to prevent what happened. I saw your gnawing guilt when she died. I wouldn’t be your friend if I didn’t question your motives behind becoming entrenched in Kit and Joey’s lives as quickly as you have. Is this real, or are you—?”
“Enough,” I hissed. “Your concern is so goddamn ridiculous, I don’t have words. I have wanted that woman since the first moment I saw her, and I’m lucky she wants me back. Joey is a bonus, not a drawback. Allow me to set you straight right now. Catherine is nothing like my mother. If I ever hear you say another negative thing about her, we’ll be done.”
Weston flinched, and Luca released a jagged exhale. I might have been harsh in my delivery, but at least the message had been received. My relationship with Catherine was not up for discussion.
“This is concern, not judgment.” Luca sounded more subdued than I’d ever heard him. “She’s really lovely.”
“No kidding.” My jaw flexed. “She makes me feel…she makes me feel.”
Noise spilled out of the restaurant behind me. I spun, spotting Catherine carrying Joey in her car seat over her arm.
“Elliot, look, I’m sorry—” I cut Weston off with my raised hand, walking away from them without looking back.
It killed me that the two of them couldn’t be pleased for me, and Weston’s accusations would be circling my mind for some time. Not because there was any veracity to them but because he believed they might’ve been true.
I slipped the cart seat from Catherine’s hold and wrapped my arm around her shoulders.
Touching my lips to her temple, I held her for a moment, grounding myself in her soft, easy presence.
“Come on, sweetheart. Let’s go home.”
