The Deputy and His Enforcer (Kincaid Pack #3) - Kiki Clark Page 0,94
and he’d lost track of who was holding his niece, who was being passed around like a football. Robson had one arm around Marcus and was just contemplating getting a piece of cake when Marcus turned to him with fear-filled eyes.
His adrenaline spiked for a moment until he heard his mom next to him say, “May I sit with you?”
Smiling up at her, he slid his hand up to the back of Marcus’s neck and gave him an encouraging squeeze. “Of course, mamá.”
Settling, she peered around Robson and gave Marcus a sweet smile. “So, Marcus, you’re the reason I haven’t seen very much of my eldest son the last couple of weeks?”
Robson knew his mom was just teasing, but the horrified look on Marcus’s face had him swooping in to clarify. “She’s joking, cariño. Take a breath.”
“Sure, yes, I knew that,” Marcus rambled, his hand coming down onto Robson’s thigh, nails digging in almost painfully.
“Es hasta más dulce que tú,” his mom said, smiling at Marcus before giving Robson a proud look.
Hiding his grimace of pain, he laid his hand over Marcus’s, hoping it would get him to loosen his hold, and turned to his mom. “Definitely sweeter, but Marcus had a… different kind of childhood, so some social things are hard for him.”
Marcus’s grip tightened further, but Robson kept his focus on his mom. She gave him a questioning look, obviously picking up that by different he’d meant terrible. When he nodded in confirmation, she stood, tutting about sweet boys needing coddling, and moved around the table so she could sit next to Marcus. Of course, she had to move Teo to do it, but he just rolled his eyes good-naturedly as he moved to Nico’s other side so they could keep talking about… the Kincaids building a dairy processing plant?
What the hell had he missed?
He tried to stay focused on his mate and mom in case Marcus needed rescuing, but his curiosity was piqued, and he kept getting distracted. After about fifteen minutes—by which time his mom had Marcus confiding that he’d never had a great relationship with his family and really wanted things to go well with the Medinas—Robson completely tuned into the other conversation at the table but kept his hand on Marcus’s neck so he’d know he was still there if he needed him.
“You two are just talking hypothetically, right?” he butted in after a moment of listening to Nico rattling off different spots the plant could go.
“Maybe or maybe not,” Nico said, pulling out his phone and typing something. “There are quite a few people who are new to the area and looking for work. A processing plant could provide good jobs, and it would be good for the local economy.”
Robson stared. “How would you convince a company to come to town to build a plant here?”
Teo jumped in. “He wouldn’t! You know that super-rich guy who moved to town a few years ago—Kincaid? His foundation or whatever built this place?”
Eyes straying to where Rick was grinning at them from the next table over, Robson cleared his throat. “Yeah?”
“Well, Nico works for him and said he thinks the guy would be interested in investing in a plant.” Teo was practically vibrating he was so excited.
“I thought you wanted to get out of dairy?” He didn’t want Teo to agree to something because Nico was pressuring him or because he’d gotten caught up in the moment.
When Teo glared at him and he heard his mom chuckle, he realized he’d garnered the attention of her and Marcus too.
“I do–did–I don’t know, maybe. It’s not that I don’t like the dairy cows,” Teo quickly added to Nico. “They’re just so much work and our parlor is kind of falling apart.”
Nico nodded, making more notes on his phone. “That’s fine. I’m sure Rick would be willing to pay for some upgrades so we can even expand your herd.”
Teo turned to Robson with huge eyes.
“We’re not looking for a handout—”
“It wouldn’t be one,” Rick said, stepping up behind Teo and Nico, giving Robson a hard look. “We’d be business partners. You’d provide the farm and labor, and I’d provide capital for improvements.”
Staring up at Rick like he was some sort of genius, Teo said, “Are you… Mr. Kincaid?”
Extending a hand and smiling, Rick said, “Yeah, but you can call me Rick.” He turned to Robson’s mom. “Mrs. Medina, thank you so much for allowing me and Kai to come, but we have to be headed home.”