He kisses her cheek, and pulls back quickly to offer me a tight smile. "I'm gone. See you guys tomorrow."
"You
're not staying for steaks?" Rain asks.
That makes my scowl form. Damn Dale stole my spot at the grill.
"Nah. I've got to go to New York in two days, and I haven't read anything about the business that wants me to invest. I should probably at least know if they're legit before I fly out there."
Rain frowns but nods as Kode makes his way out. Then she gives me all of her attention.
"What about the country club? It's nice, accessible, and it'll be the perfect venue for a wedding. Not to mention, I'm sort of screwing the owner, so we can get it pretty cheap."
I cough on my beer as everyone laughs, and I roll my eyes at the girl grinning at me. She loves embarrassing the shit out of me.
"We can fly out to Vegas and get married tonight for all I care. We'll get married anywhere you want."
"Vegas," she says to herself, her eyes wandering off to the vacant air above her. "I'll think about that."
I smile as I bend to kiss her shoulder, and the door opens. Rain's neck is just inches away, so I start kissing that instead of seeing who just came in.
"Damn! Oh my gosh! When did you do that?" Rain gasps, practically rocketing off my lap as she rushes to greet someone.
I look up to see long, dark hair, but the face is covered by the blonde of my dreams.
"I needed a change, so I changed... a lot of things. Even my house. This is just part of the new package," Tria says. Whoa, wait. Tria?
I stand up to see around Rain, and sure enough, it's Tria. The girl I've never seen as anything but a platinum blonde is standing here with hair that midnight would envy. It's a jarring change, and I laugh as Rain runs her fingers over her sister's hair, inspecting it as though it's a wig.
"You moved? Why didn't you tell me?" Rain asks absently.
"I was going to. I was worried you'd... well, I just wanted to handle it."
Maverick frowns as he walks over to me and whispers, "She was afraid Rain would ask us to help her move her stuff. That's what she was going to say, isn't it?"
"Probably," I mutter dryly. It's not like they've put forth any real effort to make the girl less skittish around them.
"Come, sit, eat. Dale's finishing up the steaks, and there are people all over the yard. Uncle Paul and Aunt Margaret are out there with Raya's dad."
"And Uncle John is busy making Eleanor grin," Raya adds with a wide grin.
The man is definitely smooth, but then again, all of Raya's family is smooth. That's worrisome.
"He wouldn't do anything like that," Raya says, her eyes on me. I swear she can read minds sometimes. "They don't choose marks so close to home, and even if they did, my family wouldn't cross that line. They've only stolen Kade's watch once, and that was just because he was an ass."
Kade laughs lightly while leaning back, putting his arm around her waist. Raya is constantly torn between scolding her family and defending them. I don't envy her for that. But they are definitely interesting people.
It's funny to see only her family sitting at the poker table. I suppose everyone has learned their lesson; if you see a Drivel with cards, stay away. Raya doesn't have the Drivel last name, but she does have the powerhouse punch with a deck of cards. I've definitely been burned.
"They're having a major poker tournament later. Only Raya's family. It gets nasty," Kade says, grinning when he sees my line of view.
"Peachy," Raya grumbles.
"Britt kicked Joey's ass in poker earlier," Maverick says.
"She kicked Uncle Joey's ass?" Raya asks in shock. "How? The man stacks the deck."
"She has an eidetic memory. She was counting the cards and realized he was cheating, so she started paying attention to his sleight of hand. He's in awe right now. Wants to take her to Vegas to count cards and stuff."