I shake my head. “I’ll tell her to go easy on you.”
“Don’t. I can take it.”
Yes,I think.But you shouldn’t have to.Meeting family was nowhere in the job description, but we’re in new territory here.
“Thank you. For agreeing.”
He nods, returning to the food. His hair isn’t mussed today. It had been a day free from frustrations.
“You have to let me know if I can return the favor,” I say. “Any distant relatives you need to explain your sudden nuptials to?”
“Only the ones who would have benefitted from us not getting married.”
“Oh. I didn’t think about that. Are they upset?”
He shrugs. “I haven’t spoken to them since the will was read.”
“Real close, huh?”
“Not at all.”
“I’m guessing they didn’t send any wedding gifts.”
He gives a half-grin. “You’d know better than me. You were the one who sent out all the thank-you notes, after all.”
“Right. Did you see that the champagne saber was engraved with our wedding date? Some people really put thought into it.”
“Or their assistants did,” he says. “You sent a lot of gifts on my behalf.”
“Oh, I sure did. I don’t think you realized it, but white lilies with pink peonies was the standard bouquet you sent to the women you dated. Very thoughtful of you.”
He looks down at his food. “Right. Was that based on your preferences?”
“Yes. I never told you, but I sent it to myself once, on my birthday. You paid.”
His eyes widen, and then he laughs. It warms the kitchen and sets his eyes alight. “Fuck, Myers. I can’t say I disapprove. You earned them.”
“Yes, I rather think I did.”
“Have you figured out who gave us the glass dick, by the way?”
I chuckle. “The one you deliberately broke?”
“Wasn’t deliberate. If you remember, I was very focused on something else at the time.”
“Oh, I remember,” I say. “Carter gave it to us.”
Victor snorts. “Of course. The asshole. He knew exactly what he was doing.”
“Think it was a sign?”
“Yes.” He pushes back from the table and takes my empty plate with him to the sink. It’s as rare a display of domesticity as the laughter he’d let out earlier. “That he thinks I’m a dick.”
“Is that your role in your foursome?”
“Our foursome,” he mutters. He returns to the table and leans over me, mouth hovering inches from mine. “Yes. With my business partners, I’m generally the one with the most practical business sense.”
“You mean you’re the most ruthless.”