All Consuming (Brotherhood by Fire #3) -Jaci Burton Page 0,33
stomach grumbled at him. “What’s everyone else having?”
She laughed, and they all sat and ate.
Kal launched right into his sandwich, which was loaded with lettuce, tomato and avocado, along with a spicy mustard.
“So Kal, you’re dating your high school sweetheart?” Carmen asked.
Kal choked on his sandwich. “How did you know that?”
“Becks told me. You went out last night with Hannah and her son?”
The other thing about families was that they tended to know everything about your personal life.
“Yeah. We had pizza.”
“How’s that going?” Carmen asked.
“Slowly.”
“Understandable since she has a child. But it’s sweet that you two have reconnected.”
He noticed his brothers were dead silent. But it gave him an idea.
“Yeah, we’re trying. It’s hard to carve out some alone time, though. Hannah and Oliver are currently living with her mom.”
“I see.”
Carmen took a bite of her fruit salad and chewed thoughtfully but didn’t say anything else, so Kal went back to his food, too.
“I have an idea,” Carmen said.
“An idea about what?” Rafe asked.
“About Kal and Hannah and giving them some alone time.”
“Oh. You know, babe, maybe we should just leave them to—”
“Jackson and Becks could come over here for dinner and game night. Then Kal could have Hannah over to the house while no one’s there.”
Jackson grinned. “I’m always up for game night. Becks would love that.”
“But we have the wedding coming up, and you said—”
Carmen waved her hand at Rafe. “The wedding stuff is all in order.” She turned to Kal. “You tell me what day works for you and Hannah, and I will make it happen.”
Kal turned to Rafe. “Your woman is a force.”
Rafe slanted a wry smile at his brother. “Tell me about it.”
But it was a great idea. And he had his future sister-in-law to thank.
Now he just had to make a plan. And hopefully Hannah would be interested in spending some alone time with him.
CHAPTER 11
WHEN KAL HAD TOLD HER HE WAS FORMULATING A PLAN to organize some alone time for them, Hannah had been thrilled. That had been the easy part.
Getting their schedules to mesh hadn’t been as easy as she had anticipated. She was off on Sundays and Mondays. Kal’s schedule varied since he was on shift one day, then off for two. And those days didn’t always coincide with hers. And then Oliver had come down with an icky stomach bug that had been plaguing the school, so she’d had to shuffle clients around to stay home with him for a couple of days.
By the time she was free, a week had gone by and it was the weekend of Rafe and Carmen’s wedding. And since Kal was in the wedding, it wasn’t like they’d get any time to themselves, though Kal had asked her to be his date. She’d been touched to be asked, and of course she’d said yes. She’d known Rafe and Jackson when she dated Kal in high school, and she was looking forward to seeing both of them again at the wedding.
She had worked Monday of that week, so she could take off early that Saturday to get ready for the wedding. She knew Kal was busy with the wedding party, so she told him she’d meet him there, but he insisted he’d pick her up.
She’d gone shopping to buy a new dress, since she had nothing fancy to wear to an evening wedding. She’d found a cute fitted dress, black with embroidered vines and blooms to add a pop of color. It clung to her curves, but the bottom flared out so she could dance in it, and she had a pair of gold heels that would be perfect. Since it was a sleeveless dress she grabbed a cardigan to bring along for the church, then added her gold pendant and gold earrings. She curled her hair and put on her red lipstick, something she saved for special occasions.
When she came out of her room, her mom’s eyes widened.
“Gorgeous. Simply gorgeous.”
“Thanks, Mom.”
Oliver looked up from the kitchen table where he was working on a puzzle with her mother. He smiled. “You look pretty, Momma.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“Where are you going tonight?” Oliver asked.
“To a wedding with Kal.”
He cocked his head to the side and frowned. “You’re getting married to Kal?”
“No, honey. Kal’s brother’s getting married, and I’m going to help celebrate.”
“Oh.” He shrugged. “Okay.”
She’d forgotten her lipstick for touch-ups, so she went back into her bedroom to tuck it into her bag, then came back out.
“Momma?”
“Yes?”
“If you marry Kal, I’ll get to come to that wedding,