Page 18 of Keeping Katie
I follow her. Sure enough, big, fat white flakes are floating down from the dark sky.
“What’s wrong?” Chloe asks.
Katie rushes toward the foyer. “I need to go. I can’t drive in the snow. My tires are bald. I need to go before it gets worse.”
Before she can reach the door, I step in front of her, stopping her in her tracks. “You’re not going anywhere. It’s really coming down out there, and it’s below freezing. The hills around here are too steep, especially with bad tires.”
My skin prickles. Why the fuck is she driving around in something so unsafe? She needs to be in a Range Rover or, better yet, an armored SUV of some kind.
“I… How will I get home?” she asks, her brows furrowed in confusion.
“You can stay the night here. I’m sure the girls have stuff you can wear.”
“Ohh, slumber party! Daddy, can we have a slumber party? All of us?” Cali asks, her voice carrying through the whole house.
Chloe and Paisley bounce on their tiptoes and give Bash and Kieran pleading looks that have both men crumbling at their feet. And hell, I would be too if Katie looked at me like that.
“A slumber party?” she asks as though the idea is totally foreign to her.
“Yeah. A sleepover. The other girls do it all the time and end up sleeping on the couches in the theater room,” I answer as I reach for her wrist.
Gently, I nudge her back toward the dining room, doing my best to ignore the lightning bolt between us. Fuck. Has anyone ever made me feel like this? “Let’s finish eating.”
“Tom said it was going to snow,” she murmurs. “I didn’t believe him because it’s almost spring.”
My entire body tenses, anger searing me from the inside out. “Who is Tom?”
He’s a dead man. That’s who.
6
KATIE
The edge in Grady’s voice sends a zing of arousal through me. Is that jealousy? Possessiveness? Or am I imagining it?
“He’s my friend. He’s, uh… he’s a homeless man who’s been coming into the coffee shop since before my dad died. My parents were friends with him, too.”
The muscle in his jaw tenses as he studies me. Chloe watches us intently, a grin on her face. Okay, I must have really been hearing what I thought I was. Why would Grady feel jealousy over little ol’ me? I’m no one. Especially compared to him. Just a chubby girl with a coffee shop.
I have no idea what these guys do. When dinner is over, and I can get Chloe alone, I have a bunch of questions for her. Like, why do the girls all keep calling their men Daddy? Why did Grady threaten to spank her? Why are all these men in black suits like they’re in the freaking mafia or something? Whatever they do, they’re successful as hell because this mansion is probably about as big as the Pike Place Market.
“A homeless man? How did you meet him?” Grady asks.
Five more men turn their attention to me, their eyebrows pinched as they wait for an answer. Goodness, they’re all so good-looking. How do Chloe and the other girls stand being around so much hotness all the time? I need a fan or something to cool me down.
“My parents met him a long time ago. He’s a good man. I give him coffee most nights before I close the shop,” I say softly. “Anyway, he always seems to know what the weather is going to do. He told me it was going to snow, but I didn’t believe him because it’s nearly spring. Guess I should trust his weather forecasting next time.”
Especially since I’m panicking inside that I don’t have Pancake with me. I’ve never gone a night without her. I might be a twenty-three-year-old woman with my own business, but I still need my stuffed bunny to be able to sleep. I’ll sneak out after everyone goes to bed. Surely, it will stop snowing by then.
When we finish eating the best meal I’ve had in a long time, Grady picks up my plate and takes it—along with his—out of the room. I peek over at Chloe. She’s practically glowing as she stares at me.
“Isn’t he sweet? He’s single, too,” she whispers.
If my cheeks could actually catch fire, they would. I don’t know why she informed me of his relationship status, but knowing he doesn’t have a girlfriend pleases me beyond words.
“We should watchBeauty and the Beast!” Cali announces.
All the men groan, but Cali just rolls her eyes.