Chasing I Do (The Eastons #1) (9 page)

“He wrote that note before he met Kylie, and his “disregard the apology” was his way of saying he thinks I made a mistake. What if he’s right, what if I did make a mistake?”

The one bite of cupcake she gotten before Jillian stole it soured in her stomach.

Gage might have made a rash decision to end their friendship in a grief-clouded moment, but he was the most steadfast person Darcy knew. He wouldn’t recant an apology, knowing it would hurt her, if he didn’t believe she was truly at fault. And he wouldn’t offer an outrageous amount of money unless he thought she’d be swayed by it.

“What if I let my pain and anger overshadow what was right for Kylie?”

“Stop!” Jillian yelled, jumping to her feet.

Startled, Darcy looked up just as Jillian cupped her hands to her mouth like a megaphone. “No cleats in the bounce house!”

“Okay, Auntie Jillian,” Kylie hollered back, then proceeded to explain to each and every boy that they needed to remove their cleats.

“Seriously, you were worried about being a bad mom? Your four-year-old just took on boys twice her size and forced them into following the rules. And all with a smile. Trust me, you’re doing a great job.”

Darcy tossed the wrapper in the trash bin, then picked up a cone to finish with the fruit salad. “I know, it’s just…I look at her and I see so much of Kyle in her. I want to make sure that I’m taking into consideration what he would have wanted too.”

“But he isn’t here. You are.” Jillian took Darcy’s hand. “And being a single parent means making all of the choices by yourself, and every once in a while you might make a wrong one. But I know you’ve never made decisions based on how it would hurt someone else. You’ve always done what’s best for Kylie.”

“I’d like to think that I have, but sometimes the right choice isn’t so easy to see.”

“No, it’s not.” Jillian opened a bag of sliced oranges and poured them into a bright green bowl. “But I promise you that at the time you made the decisions you did think they were the right ones. But life goes on, goals change, we grow, and sometimes what was best in that moment isn’t the best thing now.”

Jillian was right. Kyle’s brothers might have turned their backs on Darcy, but they never would have walked away from Kylie. Which was a huge part of her reservations.

“Kyle’s brothers are a force. His mother is a nightmare. And Gage looked so angry when we ended things the other day.” She didn’t even want to think about Margo’s reaction. The woman would navigate from anger to resentment like a Formula-1 driver. No one did guilt and vengeance quite like Margo Easton. “Once they meet Kylie, there is no getting rid of the Eastons. Even if they make my life hell.”

“It sounds like Gage reacted out of shock, and you can’t blame the guy,” Jillian reasoned. “That was a hard way to find out he had a niece.”

“I know.” Remembering his shocked expression was enough to forgive him of everything he’d said. “I should have handled it better back then, but I wasn’t strong enough to face any more rejection.”

“Strong enough? Honey, Hitler would have been scared of Margo Easton. She blamed her son’s cheating on you, said you weren’t woman enough, then sued you,” Darcy’s biggest cheerleader said. “I think you are a saint for even being open to her meeting Kylie.”

“I don’t want to keep her from Margo, I just don’t want Margo’s hate for me to affect Kylie.”

“If you’re afraid of Kylie getting stuck in the middle, or them making things hard on you, then meet them on neutral territory and voice your concerns,” Jillian said. “That’s what Jerry and I had to do when we separated, to make sure Sam didn’t miss out because of our issues.”

“You want me to sit down with all of them? Have you seen the Eastons together? They are like a gladiator team.”

“Fine, then start with Gage. You said you were friends? Friendship is a great place to start. You can set the boundaries and the rules up front, leaving zero room for misunderstandings.”

“And if Margo won’t listen?”

Jillian’s face took on a fierce expression that only came out when she was talking about her family—and she thought of Darcy and Kylie as hers. “In the end, you’re Kylie’s mom. Period. So what you say goes. Including who she gets to spend time with and how they spend that time. It’s that simple.”

Darcy snorted, because nothing with the Eastons was ever simple. They were the most intense group of men Darcy had ever met. But they were also big softies when it came to family. Darcy hated it when people held her responsible for Kyle’s choices, so she refused to do the same.

“I’ll email Gage when I get home, tell him we can meet to talk about Kylie. As for the wedding, I’ll make it clear that it is a separate issue, and if we agree to move forward I’m not taking more than my asking rate.”

“What about Kylie?” Jillian asked. “Are you going to bring her?”

Darcy’s eyes once again found Kylie. She was in the bounce house, hands on her hips, chin in the air, telling the biggest kid on the football team that tackling in the bounce house wasn’t nice play.

Darcy smiled. “That depends on which Gage shows up. I would love for the guy who wrote that note to meet Kylie. But if it is the cold and calculated one who sent that contract, then all bets are off. I don’t screw around with my daughter’s happiness.”

She’d walked away from a marriage to ensure it. She’d take on the entire Easton clan if it meant protecting it.

Chapter 6

It was official. Gage needed a vacation.

He’d started his day at the gym, getting his ass handed to him by Clay as he attempted to keep pace with a freaking machine. Oh, Clay had given him a pep talk. One that included name calling and multiple demands to hand over his man-card. Then Owen had arrived, proving the theory behind mob mentality, and by the time Josh showed up with a booklet of bridal gown swatches, Gage flipped them the finger and hit the showers.

By eight, he couldn’t feel his legs, but managed to stay upright while he got dressed and walked the three blocks to his office. Half-way there, he heard his phone ping and saw that it was an email from Darcy saying,
I AM OPEN TO DISCUSSING THE POSSIBILITIES AT YOUR EARLIEST CONVENIENCE
, and damn near sprinted to his car.

There was a list of possibilities they needed to discuss. Kylie for one. They needed to come to an agreement that included his family being in her life. A close second was the wedding. But the only possibilities his head wanted to entertain were ones that had to do with exploring the connection between them.

In fact, last night he’d come up with some pretty damn creative ones. All of which required no clothes, and none of which were real possibilities. Didn’t stop him from running to his car like some anxious teenager though.

Calling himself a dozen kinds of asshole, he tossed his gym bag in the truck and slammed the door. A snarling sounded from inside his car, followed by a loud growl that sounded straight out of
Jurassic Park
. And not an herbivore either, it sounded like one of those raptor things was inside his car, making mincemeat of his seats.

Gage placed a hand over the window and peered in when—

“What the hell?”

Something lunged at his face, throwing itself against the door, teeth bared, little pink painted nails scratching against the glass.

“Yip!Yip!Yip!Yip!”

He glanced around the parking lot, but didn’t see anyone. No laughing brothers, no Stephanie, no one he could give the abomination to. Nope, it was just him and Fancy—dressed in a pink top with a skirt that was a ruffle of silk flowers on his butt.

“You, off the leather!”

At his voice, Littleshit went from snarling to panting happily, his hot breath and wet nose marking up the window. Gage didn’t even want to get into what his tongue was doing to the glass.

A post-it note was stuck in the weather stripping on the window. It was small, yellow, and so funny Gage wanted to punch a brother—didn’t matter which one, since they were likely all in on the joke. He should have known something was up when half of his family showed up before daylight.

He tore the note off the window.

Be back a week from tomorrow. Dog food’s in the front seat, outfits in the carrier, wee-wee pads on the floorboard. You’re welcome.

~ Rhett

PS. I hear kids like dogs, so there’s that…

“One wee-wee in my car and shit will get real. Understood?” Gage said, opening the door and scooping Fancy up, who licked his face. “As soon as I find out where your dad is, you’re going back to him.”

Fancy didn’t give two shits. He caught sight of his reflection in the window and struggled to get free so he could annihilate it.

Gage suspended him in midair, his miniature legs going a million miles a minute.

With an empathetic chuckle for the guy’s struggle, he pulled out his phone and dialed Rhett. Gage left a scathing voicemail, then dialed Clay. Ditto.

He went down the list as not a single one of them answered, but Fancy had tired himself out and was hanging from his hand, limp, his tongue dangling out the side of his mouth.

Gage considered calling his mom, but was about as excited about dog-sitting as he was about lying. And since he knew that call would require an apology for not calling often enough, a promise to have dinner this week, and a complete accounting of his day, he punted.

A stacked redhead walked by and gave Gage a once over, then smiled. “Cute dog.”

“You want him?” Gage asked holding Littleshit out in offering. “He’s…ah…laid back, potty trained, and belonged to a celebrity.”

Red gave an amused smile, and Gage smiled back, dialing the charm to magnetic. Even Littleshit played along, lifting those big dark brown doggie eyes her way and giving a cute puppy sigh. “Aw, what’s his name?”

Gage groaned. “Fancy.”

Red bit her lip, trying not to laugh. “Fancy?”

“He’s a real lap dog, would make a great house pet.”

“Then why are you giving him away?”

“I’m allergic.”

She laughed and unlocked her car door. “I thought it was because of the present
Fancy
left on the passenger side.” With a wink, Red slammed her door and drove off.

Gage ducked down and that’s when he saw the “present,” sitting two inches from the wee-wee pad. With his most intimidating frown, he looked down at Fancy—who was tucked against his side, fast asleep.

A few choice words later, the sleeping dog was in his carrier, the poo was in the wadded up wee-wee pad, and Gage was three rows over, depositing the present on the seat of Owen’s motorcycle.

Climbing in his car, Gage called his secretary to cancel his morning appointments, then toyed with the idea of emailing Darcy back. But was afraid she’d pencil him in sometime after his niece graduated college. And he was tired of waiting…

For things to get easier, for the perfect time to reach out, for the universe to go pick on someone else for a while.

Gage’s story was a series of right girl wrong time, and he was no closer to figuring out what to do about the attraction than when he’d first met her seven years ago. So he’d kept his distance, dating other women, playing the friend card. It had been the right move, and Gage liked to consider himself a good guy.

But it was no longer about him and her, or whatever unsettled business still lay between them. This was about family, so he snapped in his co-pilot and started the car.

Twenty minutes later, he was driving up the steep and winding streets of West Hills, passing by some of the oldest homes in the area. Turning down the brick road, which was lined on either side by the dozens of heritage crepe myrtle trees and led to Belle Mont House, Gage smiled fondly.

She was driven, he’d give her that. Darcy had done what so many other developers had failed. She’d resurrected one of Portland’s oldest landmarks and brought back its glory. And she’d done it all on her own.

He parked in front of the main house and stepped out of the car, greeted by the gentle scent of rose petals and moss, which clung to the white oak trees scattered around the property. It had been a while since he’d spent a day away from the office and out in the sunshine. The sound of the rustling leaves was enough to bring a sense of calm that had been—

“Yip!”

Gage closed his eyes and counted to three—he’d intended to go all the way to ten, but after his nap, Fancy was rearing to go.

Gage scooped the dog out of his cage and clipped his leash on before setting him on the brick path. Fancy went to work sniffing the tires, the nearby tree, then the wide front porch step. Where he lifted a leg and did some more business. This one didn’t require a cleanup, but irritated Gage all the same.

“Nice first impression,” Gage said, ignoring that his hadn’t come off any better. “Between the high pitched bark and that frilly shit you wear, all of the girl dogs are going to start asking if you had your boys clipped.”

Fancy whipped his head, so his ears went to the side like he was in a boy band. Then he sat, poised, cleaning his dainty little paw.

“With all of the chick magnet dogs out there, I get you.”

“Yip!”

“If you’re good, I’ll take you to the mall and buy you some flannel, or maybe one of those ‘Bitches Love Me’ T-shirts.”