Ben’s laugh booms out through the room, and everyone turns to look at him. He pushes up his glasses and holds his bottle out to Lukas. “Hold my beer.”
Lukas takes it, eyebrows furrowed in confusion as Ben hops up, shouldering his laptop bag.
“Talk amongst yourselves.” He winks at Lilah, kissing the top of her head as he goes to the dining room.
We all stare at Lilah.
“What was that about?” Julia asks.
Lilah smirks. “You know how they convicted my stalker on a bunch of other stuff? The Federal and financial stuff? Prosecutors might have had anonymous help to find that evidence…”
Her eyes dart toward the hallway where Ben just disappeared. We all follow her line of sight, five pairs of eyes staring into blank space until, collectively, we all get it.
Julia breaks the silence first. “Well, that would have been good to know a week ago. I thought he was like a cyber security specialist or something.”
“He is,” Lilah replies. “He’s just multi-talented.” She wiggles her eyebrows at her sister and Lukas groans.
“Don’t be gross, Lilah.”
“And for the record,” Lilah huffs, pointing at me and Julia. “If you had told us about this a week ago, like you should have, we probably would have had this wrapped up on day one.”
Julia looks at me with a half smile, and I know she’s thinking exactly the same thing as me. Thank fucking God she didn’t clue them in. If this is what it took to bring us together, it was worth it. I’d cheerfully tackle a thousand knife-wielding drunks if it meant I got to spend just one more day with Julia.
Julia pulls her legs up, snuggling against my side and wrapping her arm around my stomach. I stroke my fingers up and down her arm gently, kissing the top of her head.
Glancing around the room, this moment feels… surreal. Honestly, it’s almost too good to be true. I moved back to Sonoma, broken and alone except for my dad, and somehow I ended up with everything I’ve ever wanted.
I don’t know what I did to deserve this life, but I’m so damn grateful for it.
Lilah passes the bakery bags around and everyone pulls out sandwiches as the conversation turns to baby names. Tuna turns up to investigate the sounds of sandwich wrappers, glaring at everyone. I pick a little piece of tuna fish off my sandwich and offer it to her. She eyes me warily and makes me hold it so she can lick it for a solid five minutes. When I try setting it on the paper for her she bats at me, so I eat one-handed, feeding her at the same time.
We’ve polished off the beers and most of the food by the time Ben rejoins us, a smug look on his face.
“Productive?” Lilah asks him with a grin.
He winks, nodding and holding up his fingers in the “OK,” signal. “Oh, yeah. Hypothetically… the person in question might have a gambling problem and a very gray moral compass on how he funds it. Hypothetically, there might be a line of agencies who are going to have to wait their turn to prosecute.”
“Well, that’s fucking useful,” I say. “Hypothetically.”
Ben picks up his beer and raises it with a grin. “To Hypotheticals.” He takes a drink and makes a face. “Warm.”
Parker claps her hands together. “I think we should celebrate! The bar?”
Lilah squints at her. “You want me to drag my pregnant ass to the bar two nights in a row? Julia’s been a bad influence on you.”
Julia jumps up next to me. “Excuse you! I have been an excellent influence on our girl. Let’s go! I need a margarita.”
I’m trying not to groan out loud. As much as I love the Donovan party shenanigans, all I want is to get Julia to myself for the rest of the night. Or the next hundred nights. Fuck it, just lock us in here and throw away the key.
She sees the look on my face as everyone else is getting to their feet, Lilah struggling until Ben takes her hands, pulling her up. While everyone is busy heading toward the front door, Julia leans down next to my ear, her lips brushing my skin. “This might be our only chance to get them out of here. The sooner we go, the sooner you and I can sneak off and you can do all those filthy things running through your head right now.”
She traces my jaw with her fingertips. “If it makes you feel any better, I might have some ideas of my own.”
It takes every ounce of self-control I possess to keep myself from barking at everyone to just get the fuck out, but for Julia, I’ll play along. If it would make Julia happy, I’d walk over broken glass.
27
Julia