Page 83 of Fierce-Zander

“I decided to take matters into my own hands once I knew what they were doing,” Chloe said. “Royce was clueless.” Chloe leaned in close. “I told Royce I just wanted to see him naked. I was attracted to him. That was how it started for us.”

She burst out laughing. “That’s funny. But it all worked out.”

“A baby in the belly will do that,” Chloe said, winking.

Regan knew it was a joke. She had to admit Royce and Chloe were truly in love with each other. You can’t fake those things.

“A very adorable baby at that,” she said.

She grabbed the plates and brought them to the dining room table while Chloe got the silverware.

Then they brought in a salad, mac and cheese right out of the oven, and roasted vegetables that had been on the grill that Royce had brought in while they were setting the table.

“Zander is a great guy,” Chloe said. “I met him when I needed him to find my birth mother for me.”

“Oh,” she said. “I hadn’t known you were adopted.”

“It’s not a secret. The funny part is, I had her name. I knew who she was, but what I wanted was information on her. My brother and I are both adopted and my parents who raised me were very open about it.”

“Which is wonderful and doesn’t always happen.”

“No,” Chloe said. “I met my birth mother before Willow was born after Zander got some information. I’ve got a half sister and brother. They were at my wedding and met with my parents.”

“That’s a wonderful story,” she said.

“It was. They couldn’t make it to Willow’s birthday and that is fine. I’m on the fence about how much to bring them into my life and they are sitting back too. We are getting there, but I’ve told my parents that I’m not replacing them. I never could.I consider my birth mother and her family as new friends. And why am I telling you this?”

She smiled “I tend to bring that out of people. It’s a curse at times.”

“Because some friends and guys might worry that you’re judging them?” Chloe asked.

“I never judge.”

“She assesses,” Zander said, coming in with a platter like Royce. There were a lot of steaks on it.

“Are you feeding the neighborhood?”

“We are men,” Royce said. “Everyone loves a good steak.”

She lifted an eyebrow at that laughter between the two men. “If you say so,” Chloe said. “So let’s eat and then we can talk about what your next step with the Fierces is.”

“They are going to find out at some point,” Zander said. “I don’t want to tell them. It’s not my way.”

“I think the best thing to do is let Betsy and Miles catch us,” Regan said, filling her plate.

“Definitely,” Zander said, wiggling his eyebrows. “Whose office are we doing this in?”

“Is yours even clean?” Royce asked, forking a steak and dropping it on his plate, then passing the plate to her. No way she could eat a whole one.

“I’ll split one with you,” Chloe said. “My husband thinks women and men eat the same for some reason.”

“Thanks,” she said, grabbing one to put on her plate and giving the platter to Zander.

She cut her steak in half and moved her plate to Chloe to get it.

“We can figure out what to do with Miles and Betsy,” Zander said. “If it’s okay with you, I’d like to let my mother know. She’ll want to meet you though.”

“We said it wasn’t a secret if there were people we trusted to keep quiet about it,” she said.