Page 124 of Fierce-Dane

“Are we late?” Tiffani asked.

“Not late,” he said. “But it took someone a long time to find the right outfit.”

His daughter laughed. “I had to look just right,” Tiffani said.

The kids got out of the back of his SUV. Tiffani grabbed Shiloh’s hand and pulled her to the backyard along with Tyler, leaving Dane and Sloane to walk in that way with the gifts.

“Sorry to put you on the spot like that,” he said.

“It’s fine,” she said. “Maybe I wouldn’t mind spending the night either.”

“There is that,” he said. He threaded their fingerstogether for a second. “Today might get crazy with some nosy people.”

“You forget I deal with the public daily too. And I’ve met your mother. She seems like a lovely woman.”

He laughed. “Not sure about that. You’ll meet her in another capacity today. But you will know some of the people here.”

“I’m sure I’ll know more than some,” she said. “If the Fierces know them, they most likely have been to my spa at one point or another.”

“Speaking of the Fierces,” he said.

“Don’t worry about it,” she said, laughing. “You know I’ve been handling it my way.”

“Yeah, but today they will come to me, I know it.”

She bumped her hip to his. “You can handle it too. Remember, they won’t be targeting you because you’re already in a relationship.”

“One I’m sure they are going to try to take credit for.”

“Who cares if they do,” she said. “We know the truth.”

“Dane,”Carolyn said to him within ten minutes of walking into the backyard. She figured that they might as well circle around him now and then catch up later on when the party was winding down.

“Carolyn,” he said. “Diane. Nice to see you both.”

“You look like a nice blended family,” she said. “It was sweet to see the girls come running in together.”

“They get along well,” he said. “I couldn’t ask for much more than that.”

“No,” Diane said. “You really can’t.”

“If you’ll excuse me,” he said. “My mother is waving meover. I need to make sure she gets a proper introduction to Sloane. My father hasn’t met her yet either.” Dane was swiveling his head around. “I’ve got to round up Shiloh too.”

“Don’t worry,” Carolyn said. “When the girls came running in, Tiffani pulled Shiloh to your parents and introduced her new friend, then they took off for the swing set Royce built.”

Carolyn saw the kids climbing on the massive structure in the backyard.

“I guess I can let them go for now. I’m sure I’ll be talking to you some more.”

When Dane walked away, Diane said, “I told you that we should have given him time to get settled first.”

“Nope,” she said. “We can gauge things at the end of the party too. Besides, you and I were going to talk to Doreen today. Keep your eyes on things. I’m pretty sure our suspicions are true, but it’d be nice to see everyone in action in the same place.”

“What are you two women doing?” Garrett asked.

“Just talking,” she said to her husband.

“More like scheming,” Grant said. “Give it up, this one happened on its own.”