was fearful of us.
“Monty, I’d like you to meet my sister Julia. This is her son’s party.” My sister turned toward me, waving at Monty. “Julia, this is Monty, Rock’s brother.”
I held out my hand. He gazed at it for a moment before Rock elbowed him in the side. That snapped him out of his frozen state.
Monty reached for my hand, his jaw clenched as he stared past me. I wondered if he was on the autism spectrum like Jami.
“It’s nice to meet you, Monty. Laura told me such wonderful things about you.” I pulled my hand back, but he appeared upset by that, shaking his head while I tried to move away.
The handshake turned more into a tug-of-war contest where I was losing, badly. He yanked me forward with tremendous force, and I plowed right into his chest.
“Monty,” Rock yelled at his brother.
His grip was firm as I tried to remove my hand. And that was the moment my vagina woke up and told me to like this guy. Because the smell of his woodsy scent, mixed with his firm grip on my hand, caused my body to react. My vagina was confusing this with a sex act. Bad timing, libido.
“I’m fine,” I mumbled into his chest.
Monty released my hand but gripped my shoulders, pushing me back. I stood at arm's length from him, a little woozy as his chocolate eyes searched mine.
I licked my lips. His eyes darted to my mouth and took longer than even I thought was appropriate to return to my gaze.
“I’m sorry. It caught me off guard.”
He sounded familiar. But as I stared at him, nothing came to mind. I would have thought I’d remember someone who looked as good as Monty, but I was learning mommy brain was sometimes worse than drunk brain.
“Off guard? You stared at my hand for about thirty seconds.”
Damnit.
Here I was trying to get this guy to hire me, and I already made fun of him. It was hard reining in this sass.
He chuckled and raised his brow. Holy moly. Right there. The combination of the deep chuckle and that look could melt the panties right off my hips. Even with the glasses. I wasn’t a glasses-on-guys sort of gal, but it worked on him.
I bit my lip as I considered asking Rock if it was frowned upon to have inter-office relations. I wouldn’t think it would be since he was banging my sister right after he hired her.
“You’re right.” He scratched the back of his head and gazed toward the kitchen. “I’m not great with babies.”
He winced after Rock elbowed him again.
“What does a baby have to do with a handshake?”
“Nothing. It has nothing to do with anything. I am just . . . Isn’t there a baby here? I thought it was a baby’s birthday?”
I took a step back and frowned. Why was he so interested in my baby?
I looked over at Laura, who shrugged. “He’s taking a nap.”
I could accept the awkward handshake and the fearful behavior, but now I was getting creepy vibes from him.
“Why are you here?” I put my hands on my hips. There was no way I was letting Monty anywhere near my baby.
He looked up at Rock, who shook his head.
Monty swallowed. “I just love babies.”
But he just said he wasn’t good with babies. Something wasn’t right.
“Oh no.” I took a step back, grabbing my sister’s arm and pulling her with me.
We kept walking until we were standing by the table with the presents. Jami was there with Nancy, monitoring the gifts like she said she would. The only way she tolerated parties was by having a job. I told her I needed someone to watch the gifts. So, here she stayed.
“You want me to work for a pedophile?” I whisper-screamed at my sister.
“No. He’s not like that. At least, I don’t think he is.”
I waved toward the family room. “You were there. You heard him. The man has issues. Very creepy issues.”
My sister bit her thumbnail as her gaze flickered between me and the other room. After a moment, Rock came up next to her.
“I have no idea what’s wrong with Monty. He’s normally not like that.”
I folded my arms and faced him. “You’ve known him all his life. Has he ever shown an affinity to babies or small children?”
“No. I mean, nothing out of the ordinary. He avoids them. That’s why I didn’t understand why he showed up here.”
“Yeah, it was weird. When he got here, he told me