Page 52 of Forever Mine
She slid off the chair and sat next to me. I explained what was happening, and she squished closer to me on the seat. Angel waved at Olivia. “Hi, Olivia. You should ask Uncle Scott to bring you back with him so we can have a play date.”
“Uh, that sort of arrangement is higher than my pay grade.” He laughed and spoke to someone else in the room. “Plus, Rhys and Maggie would never allow me to take their baby out of the state much less out of the country.”
“That's right,” someone yelled from somewhere in the room. “Not without us.”
“Stop yelling and come over here. Meet Vaughn and Angel.”
The screen shifted as Scott changed position to stand next to another man, who had the same deep-blue eyes. “Shevaughn, meet Rhys. Rhys, Shevaughn.”
Rhys smiled, revealing crow's feet at the corners of his eyes. I put his age at late thirties. “Nice. You're a looker,” he said, “How did my little brother get this lucky?”
His tone was good-natured, which put me at ease.
Lifting my chin, I said, “You're free to ask him.”
“Well, what happened was ... ” Scott’s words trailed off and the two men laughed.
“You know what?” He gave Rhys a sidelong glance. “stop trying to get into my business. Maggie, come and meet Vaughn.”
A woman with smooth milk-chocolate skin smiled into the camera and greeted me. “Hi, Vaughn. Hey, sweetie.”
Angel cheesed at her as we exchanged greetings.
“You're going to have to invite us down to Jamaica some time for that delicious food and several trips to the beach.”
“Any time you're ready,” I said, charmed by her dimpled cheeks. “Just ask Scott to arrange it and we'll do our part on this side.”
I saw Olivia reflected in Maggie’s eyes and friendly smile. “I'm holding you to that,” she said.
I don't know what I expected when Scott started the introductions. His race didn't bother me, but I unwound a bit more when I saw the make-up of his family. He was considerate to even think of introducing us to them. I respected him for that, which underscored how much I missed him. If he was on the island, we would have been doing something this evening.
Angel left me, and my thoughts settled when Scott called my name. “You're on roaming again, Vaughn.”
We laughed, and it amazed me how attuned he was to my moods. “Sorry. I had a hectic morning, and I was talking to you-know-who until the wee-hours. I guess I'm tired.”
“You should get some rest early tonight, but wait, didn't I say I was calling you later?”
“We don't have to stay up all night yakking.”
“I know, but I miss you.” He sounded forlorn as his gaze pierced mine,
My response was barely audible. “I miss you, too.”
I wouldn’t admit it openly, but I felt kinda lost without Scott, as if part of me was missing. The self-sufficient part of my character had abandoned me and I was in a place I hadn't been before. I didn’t like it.
My dates before Scott had been casual arrangements limited to a night out, here and there. Only one man had appealed to me enough for me to think about a relationship and even then, it hadn't been sexual in nature. I'd cut that off before it developed into anything deeper. He'd reminded me too much of Nolan. Possessive and full of commands, veiled as requests. I didn't need another trip down that road to jog bad memories or lead me back into a bad situation.
“Hey, you've left me again,” Scott said.
“Sorry,” I ran a hand across my forehead, perplexed because I was now out of sorts. Again. “Maybe we should break now and catch up later.”
“Yeah,” he said, his eyes intense as he studied me. “Get some rest.”
Five minutes went by before Angel’s phone rang. She scampered off her seat and ran to get it from her room. When she didn't come back, I assumed it was Renée or one of her other friends calling. I continued flipping through the lifestyle magazine until she came to me with the phone in her hand. “It's Daddy.”
Weird that I'd just thought about him and his special brand of nonsense, but he was on target since he usually called on a Saturday. I put the phone to my ear. “Hello, Nolan. How are you?”
“Great, and you?”