Leo handed her the dress she’d been wearing. “Well, then it won’t be so hard for you.”
He leaned over and pressed his mouth to hers, softening his words.
They elbowed each other, struggling in the small space to get dressed. Leo laughed, falling to his ass as he tried to get his jeans back on. Shelley tumbled into Wolf. They all hit the ground.
“Shhh.” Wolf shoved a hand over her mouth. “Someone’s out there. Listen.”
A masculine voice cut through the silence. “I need to talk to you before I leave.”
“That’s Zane,” Wolf said in her ear.
“All right. What you need to tell? You go to hospital?”
“That’s the Russian,” Leo whispered. “Alexei. Zane’s bartender.”
Damn. The last thing she needed was to get found half-dressed the night before her wedding. What they had done in the closet was probably some sort of health code violation.
“Yes. I just got a call from Callie. I have to go to the clinic. Jen’s having the baby. Nate and Callie are already on their way, but I have to join them. Stef is like Callie’s brother. She won’t let Jen go through this alone,” Zane said.
They all settled down, no one making a move, as though they were all praying the door didn’t open.
“No problem. I take care,” Alexei said. “You don’t to worry about anything.”
“It’s a little more complicated than that.” Zane’s voice was tense. “You need to see what’s in the freezer.”
What the hell was in the freezer? Did they have a bad shipment of beef?
She heard the sound of a heavy door opening. A moment passed and then Alexei spoke.
“What has happened, boss?”
Zane Hollister sighed and then his voice went low. Shelley couldn’t hear most of what he said to his bartender, just a couple of words stood out. Hiram. Mayor. She heard Alexei gasp in what sounded like horror when that sweet lady named Nell from her bachelorette party was mentioned.
“This is disaster,” Alexei said.
“We have a plan,” Zane replied. There was more whispering and then a long sigh. “So you understand why we have to keep this quiet? I’ll take care of it in the morning. You just need to keep Lucy out of here tonight.”
There was a little sniffle. “This make me miss mother Russia, Zane. Yes. Yes. Not to worry. I take care of for you.”
“Dear god, no. I’m going to handle it in the morning. Properly and through all the right channels. I’m just waiting for Rafe to do the right thing. He just needs a night. I don’t want Cade as our mayor. He’ll make the whole damn town a safe place to be naked. I don’t want to watch Max Harper flicking his dick in everyone’s face. He will do it.”
“Yes, he would make me uncomfortable as well. I could burn evidence for you. I do this many time before.”
She felt Wolf start to laugh. She clasped a hand over his mouth.
“Damn it, I didn’t commit any crimes,” Zane argued. “I just want to make things right. Just don’t let anyone in the freezer, okay?”
“This I protect.”
They continued to talk as the voices faded away.
“What the hell was that about?” Shelley asked as she managed to get up.
“God only knows. We are not going into that freezer,” Leo said. Her bra was in her hands. She pulled it on.
“I don’t want to know,” Wolf said. “I just want to go out there and get the ceremony done and get married tomorrow.”
Bliss was an odd place. Ignorance really was the town’s name.
She got dressed and followed her men out, carefully avoiding the freezer.
Twenty minutes later, she made her pledge—to fight all aliens, to embrace humanity, to love the Earth. Easy promises to make.
When Cassidy passed her a shot glass filled with beet juice, she slammed it down to the roar of the crowd.
Proving her humanity and her love for two very human men.
Chapter Eighteen:
Rafe
Trio was hopping. Even from the street he could hear the raucous laughter coming from the tavern.
He patted the baby who was currently strapped to his chest. Yep, he was taking his baby into a bar, but then Trio wasn’t the kind of bar where people got trashed and broke things. That was Hell on Wheels, and hopefully his daughter would never see the inside of that place. No, Trio was a meeting place. Trio was filled with families and friends.
Sierra’s legs and arms kicked. He couldn’t quite see her face but he was sure her eyes were wide with that wonder she seemed to have for everything from the trees to the fabric of his shirt to his car keys. His baby girl took everything in and all of it seemed amazing to her.
Maybe all he really needed was a little of Sierra’s wonder.
He opened his eyes and really took in the town he lived in.
It was filled with family. He stepped up close to the door and Max and Rye were walking out.
“Rafe, my man, did you hear about Jen?” Max asked, slapping him on the shoulder. “Won’t be long now, and we’ll have a bigger playgroup.”
Rye let Sierra take his thumb in her hand. “Max and I think we need to start a poker night. The girls have their meetings. We should be able to have one, too, right?”
The girls’ meeting was something called the “I Shot a Son of a Bitch” club. Poker night sounded practically innocent. And it would be fun to get together with the men. “I think that would great. I’ll bring the beer.”
“Bring a lot,” Max said. “Have you seen how much that Russian can drink? He can drink us all under the table.”
Alexei? Drink him under the table? “You haven’t seen a Cuban drink, my friend. Perhaps I’ll bring rum instead. I think this is going to be fun.”
Rye’s eyes widened. “Well, hell, I’ll look forward to it, then.”
The Harper twins walked off, talking about Stef and how they would have to watch him for a while. Rafe wasn’t so sure Stef needed someone to watch him. He thought Talbot would make a good father, but he put it out of his head as he walked through the doors.
He was immediately surrounded. Holly gave him a hug and reached for the baby.
“Cam and Laura are dancing. You should join them.” Holly winked a little. “I need baby snuggles.”
“I can give you these snuggling babies, dushka.” Her husband Alexei, who was going to get a run for his drinking money at the next men’s gathering, gave his wife a smile before turning to pour another beer for Jesse McCann.
Holly shook her head. “He’s baby crazy.” Holly looked a little baby crazy herself as she held her hands up. “Please?”
Why had he thought his daughter wouldn’t have a family? His daughter’s family was huge and sometimes obnoxious. Like a family should be.
He’d spent the last few weeks mourning his own rigid, formal childhood. Perhaps a man always longed for what he knew, but what he had now was so much better. It was messy and hard, and these people would make him crazy.
And they would really love him. They would love his daughter. They would stand by him and his wife and partner whether they always agreed or not. They would argue with him and fight with him and they wouldn’t leave him.
Sometimes a man lost one family only to find another.
“Rafe?” Zane walked around the bar. “Man, I’m glad to see you. Laura told me I needed to talk to Cade. I don’t think that’s a good idea. He’s going to have to wear a shirt to town hall meetings, and that might be hard to get him to do. And let’s face facts. If Cade takes over, he’s going to be Gemma’s puppet. That girl scares me a little.”
He pulled out the letter they had found in Hiram’s desk. It was time to put Zane and the Bliss Chamber of Commerce out of their collective misery. “It’s all been decided. I think you’ll find the new mayor’s name here.”