while you were gone, and you were long overdue for some time off, little brother.”
Aiden added, “And all I did was keep the ugliest dog in town at my house while you and Layla were away, which ended up being no work at all since Maya adores the mutt. She pretty much took care of Brutus on her own.”
I smiled. Aiden’s daughter was such an exceptional kid. Maya was wise and intelligent way beyond her years, and as kindhearted as her mother and father.
Owen and I had dropped Brutus off to stay with the little girl tonight since she’d stayed home with a sitter. We’d started the evening late, and past her bedtime.
I think she’d been way more delighted about keeping the dog and sleeping with Brutus than she would have been about joining an adult gathering.
“Anything else I can do to help?” Eli inquired from his seat next to Jade.
Owen shook his head. “God, no. You and Jade have done enough. I’ve got all the legal experts I need in place for the rest of the details. I owe you guys, too. A lot.”
“I haven’t done a damn thing,” Jaxton Montgomery said from his place beside me. “Probably because nobody even asked me. But I’d do anything possible to help out. You’re doing a hell of a lot to help out the people who need it the most in this county.”
“I’m good,” Owen muttered as he shot Jax a look of displeasure.
It wasn’t the first disgruntled expression that Jaxton had seen from Owen this evening.
Jax had wandered into the gathering alone right before dinner. Owen had pointed to the empty seat at the other end of the table, but Jax had just grinned and plopped down on the vacant chair on the other side of me instead.
Owen had muttered, “What in the hell is that bastard doing here?”
I’d replied, “He’s Riley’s brother, and she doesn’t see him that often. He’s family.”
“He could have sat closer to her,” he’d grumbled. “And he’s not my family.”
I’d let out an exasperated breath before I’d dropped the subject.
No matter how many times I’d told Owen that Jax and I weren’t the least bit attracted to each other, he gave me the same answer. “I trust you, but I don’t trust him.”
I jabbed Owen playfully in the arm when I noticed he was still glaring at Jax.
He obligingly looked away from the man he saw as some kind of rival, but he still didn’t appear to be happy as he resumed his discussions with his brothers, his sister, and their partners.
I picked up the glass of white wine that Seth had handed me earlier, and took a sip.
Eventually, Owen was going to have to at least be civil to Jax. Riley always invited her brothers to join us at any of our gatherings at her place, and rightfully so. They were the closest and the only real family she had. Hudson and Cooper were often too busy to come, but Jax seemed to be showing up more and more often, according to Riley.
Now that Jax wasn’t occupying his free time with a different woman on his arm all the time, Riley joked that he had more opportunity to be with family.
“What’s going on in that intelligent head of yours?” Jax asked quietly.
I turned to him as I pulled myself out of my thoughts. “Nothing, really. I was just thinking about Owen.” I wasn’t about to tell the man that he’d busted me when I was wondering about his life and his motivations for spending more time in Citrus Beach with Riley.
He drained his own glass of wine before he asked, “You guys really are an item now, right?”
Jax’s tone was low and quiet as Owen continued to have an animated discussion with the rest of his family about Jade’s research project.
Obviously, Jax wasn’t averse to poking Owen occasionally, but he evidently didn’t want an all-out war with Riley’s brother-in-law, either.
I smiled at Jax. “We definitely are. I guess sometimes things don’t always work out the way you thought they would. We went from friends to enemies to friends again, and then our relationship took a whole new direction. But I’m certainly not sad that it did. He’s the most incredible person I’ve ever known.”
“He doesn’t seem like he’s ready to embrace me as family,” Jax said dryly. “But I do admire all that he’s doing for the community.”
“He will eventually,” I assured him, without any further explanation. I wasn’t comfortable talking about Owen with