A California Christmas (Silver Springs #7) - Brenda Novak Page 0,105

he or she were the most important person to have arrived and chuckled at the thought that she probably did the same thing with her sons—made each one feel as though he were her favorite.

She had a way with people and loved being around them. He, on the other hand, preferred to be out on the rock face alone, the sun beating down on his back, the sweat dripping into his eyes. He tried to remember the fact that he would soon be back in his element, no longer under the obligation he felt, for Aiyana’s sake, to be more social. Because he could never match her genuine enthusiasm. He didn’t feel comfortable in large crowds; all he wanted to do was retreat.

He stepped into the shadows so he could have a cold beer without having to smile or chitchat. He was gathering his reserves for the actual ceremony and the reception afterward, which he already knew would seem interminable, when Seth walked up. “Hiding out?” he asked drily.

Dallas loosened his collar. He rarely wore a tie, let alone a tux. “Basically.”

Seth grabbed a glass of champagne off the tray of a passing waiter. “Great. I’ll hide out with you.”

“I think almost every one of us would rather face a firing squad than host a wedding,” Dallas mused.

Seth’s eyes roved over the crowd as he responded. “Of course. Take a look at the kind of children she adopted.”

He was referring to the fact that they were all broken in some way, and since it was true, Dallas couldn’t argue. Leave it to Seth to turn such an unflinching eye on reality. Dallas preferred to avoid such harsh truths. But Seth was an artist. He couldn’t seem to ignore the things that made life so difficult. On the contrary, he noticed every damn nuance. “She looks happy,” Dallas commented, watching Aiyana on Cal’s arm as they made their way through the crowd.

“She is happy. And no one deserves it more.”

“What about you?” Dallas asked.

Seth had been about to take a drink but held his glass in midair as he cocked one eyebrow. “What about you?” he asked, turning the question on him without answering.

“Well, I haven’t settled into conjugal bliss like Eli or Gavin, but I just signed on with Xtreme Climbing Apparel, so I’m finally making some real money from climbing. And I’m managing—day to day.”

“Managing day to day,” he repeated. “That sounds reasonable. I’ll say the same.”

Dallas straightened as soon as he saw Emery walk in. She’d made it. She’d come even though she had the perfect excuse to stay home. He couldn’t help admiring her for it. She looked beautiful, too, in a satiny black dress that fell to her ankles paired with a white blazer. She also wore a scarf to cover the bruising on her neck.

Following his gaze, Seth nudged him. “What’s going on between you and our mother’s pretty guest?”

“Nothing,” he replied. “Why do you ask?”

His brother started to laugh. “Apparently, ‘nothing’ doesn’t mean the same thing to you that it does to me.”

“I like her,” Dallas admitted.

“So do Liam and Bentley, but they can manage to look away.”

“I explained it last night. Her ex-boyfriend is giving her a hard time,” he said, his nose in his glass, since he was about to take a drink. “And I feel a little protective of her, that’s all.”

“You were beside yourself when she didn’t come home last night, and you were even worse once you knew she’d been hurt,” he pointed out.

“I was worried. And it turned out I had reason to be.” He hated the defensive note that’d crept into his voice. It gave away the fact that he was a little more invested than he was willing to admit. But he couldn’t help it.

“Have you slept with her?” Seth asked, point-blank.

Dallas shot him a withering look. “That’s none of your business.”

He laughed. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

There wasn’t any point in trying to deny it. Seth missed nothing.

“Is it about sex, then? Is that all that’s going on between you?”

Dallas opened his mouth to reply but couldn’t find the right answer. It was all about sex—and yet sex had almost nothing to do with it.

When he hesitated, Seth said, “I’ll take that as a no,” and put his empty glass on the nearest table. “So here’s my best advice. If this woman is different from all the rest—if she’s the one who can fill the empty spaces inside you—don’t let her go. Because I’m