You look like a regular ol’ dad right now.” He wrinkled his nose like being a father was something I should have avoided, but he knew me well enough to understand that having Giuliana so comfortable with me brought me nothing but joy, and his teasing made me laugh.
I shrugged, giving him a grin. Though I refused to tell anyone, not even Gordo, a small sliver of me loved the idea of becoming Giuliana’s other dad. It was getting easier each day to admit that I was in love with Gordo, and the thought of being with him for the long-term didn’t scare me like it used to. And as Giuliana was an extension of Gordo, I loved her as well. Besides, she was the sweetest little thing and impossible not to be infatuated with.
“Where’s Christian?” I asked. For all his ribbing me for spending all of my time with Gordo, he and Christian had been attached at the hip since the relay race.
“Oh, he’s around,” Dane said vaguely. I waited for some joke, some bit of mirth, to follow that up in true Dane fashion. Instead, he changed the subject. “Javi, it’s cool to see you happy. But...I don’t know. Maybe you’d been on to something by guarding your heart.”
Shocked into silence, I shifted Giuliana so I could sign, “What are you talking about?”
“It’s nothing.”
He kept looking around at the other guests. I got the impression he was searching for Christian. But unlike the race, it didn’t seem like Dane was seeking him out—it seemed like he was trying to avoid the other man. I hoped there wasn’t trouble brewing between the two. Now that I had Gordo, I wanted Dane to have something similar. He deserved it. It had seemed like Christian was good for him, and I wanted him to be happy. But for now, I settled on pulling him over to the barbecue to fix up a plate.
We all ate and drank together while Giuliana dozed in a variety of arms, each person who held her looking as if they’d been transported to heaven. Reagan and Mason helped build a fire in the fire pit, and as twilight fell, the fire cracked and sparked, the overhead lights twinkled, and I couldn’t remember a time I’d felt more complete.
Everyone was relaxed, and the joking and talk had quieted to small pockets of conversation. No one seemed to be in a rush to leave, and Gordo’s mom kept throwing me these happy looks. It was perfect.
And then it wasn’t.
It started with Mason. I could his laughter falter and saw a mean-as-snakes look hit his face. He was looking over my shoulder, toward the double French doors. As soon as he’d stopped laughing, others turned to see what had pissed him off so much.
But instead of following their gazes, I sought out Gordo. The firelight illuminated all of his features and I caught the myriad of emotions that skated across. Anger, surprise, hurt…
Curiosity got the best of me, and I turned around to see who could possibly have made Gordo and his brother so upset. When I turned to see, there was a man with a lazy smile and the casual confidence of someone who knew he wasn’t welcome and simply didn’t give a fuck.
“Hey, everyone. I didn’t expect there to be a party. I’m Kyle, and I was hoping to talk to Gordo for a second.”
21
Gordo
I had never felt so livid in my life. Anger boiled and steamed inside of me like I was hanging over a fire, cooking away my calm and common sense. If it hadn’t been for everyone watching, I wasn’t entirely sure I would have been able to refrain from punching Kyle.
Giuliana had stirred in my arms, waking fully from her dozing nap to look around. I refused to have this discussion with her in my arms. It was important to shield her from Kyle and the rage he made me feel.
So I did what felt most natural—I passed her to Javi. Not to my brother or my mom, but the man who’d become such an ingrained part of our life that it wasn’t really a choice. He was the one to hold her.
“I’ll handle this,” I growled.
“Wait,” Javi said. He placed a kiss on Giuliana’s head before handing her off to Reagan. I wondered if he picked the biggest guy at the party on purpose. But with his flaming red hair and colorful tattoos, Reagan reminded me of a fierce Scottish warrior. “Keep