into his arms.
Piper’s eyes narrowed, and he readied himself for a hefty dose of snark. But a second later she sighed and said, “Thank you.”
Laughter bubbled out before Harley could stop it. “Sorry, Trig, but this day is going down in history.”
“Get over yourself,” Piper said, pushing out of his arms to hug Mason. “Good to see you, hottieguard.”
Piper had coined the term hottieguard when Mason was Remi’s bodyguard, and Harley supposed it fit. Mason was tall, dark, and muscular, with steel-blue eyes and perfectly manicured scruff. Harley had wondered if Piper had been into him when he’d first met the guy, but he’d quickly realized she’d just been sizing Mason up. She was always watching out for her friends, making sure they were treated well. Harley had heard rumors about Piper threatening the men her sisters and friends had gone out with, including the ones they’d eventually married. If the gossip was true, she’d told the men that if they hurt whoever she was watching out for at the time, they’d have her to deal with. He had no doubt she’d done just that. Remi was among her honorary sisters, which meant Mason had likely encountered the same treatment.
When Harley had first moved back to town, he’d noticed Piper’s protective nature over her sisters and friends hadn’t changed much since before he’d gone away to college, and he’d wondered who’d had her back while he’d been living in New York. It hadn’t been a conscious decision to step in again when he moved back home. In fact, until this moment, he really hadn’t thought about it much. He supposed some things were simply meant to be.
Mason chuckled. “You, too, Piper. I see you came to your senses and gave the big guy a chance.”
“For now,” she said teasingly.
As everyone took their seats, Willow asked how Aiden was doing. Remi looked at Mason, and the flush on her cheeks told Harley that Piper had been right about where those two lovebirds had been.
“He’s good, and going out a little more often now,” Remi said.
Aiden was twelve years older than Remi, and he’d raised her after their parents were killed in a car accident. He was a brilliant businessman, a self-made billionaire, and in addition to Ben’s business partner, Aiden was also Remi’s manager, although she was currently taking a hiatus from acting. Now that Remi and Mason were engaged, Aiden’s role in her life had changed, and it had taken some time for him to get used to not always living in the same location as his sister or watching over her every move.
“A little?” Zane scoffed. “That man’s been on daddy duty forever. I’m sure he’s finally sowing his wild oats.”
“I don’t think Aiden’s a ‘wild oats’ kind of guy,” Remi said.
Piper’s eyes shot to Remi’s. “I hate to tell you this, naive one, but I’d put money on the fact that your brother has a red room tucked away in one of his many mansions.”
Harley’s ears perked up. Hm. Was his girl into that?
“Ew.” Remi wrinkled her nose.
“I hope not,” Mason said. “I’m thinking about setting him up with Krista.” Mason had spent several years in the military and then as a covert operations specialist. Krista Bishop was a single mother and the widow of one of Mason’s military buddies. “Did you see how close they were at the last birthday bash?”
Mason and Remi had recently partnered with Parker Collins-Lacroux of the Collins Children’s Foundation to help foster children feel grounded and special, and to give them a sense of family no matter how many times they were moved to different foster homes. They hosted quarterly birthday parties as part of that new program, which they called “bashes,” for all of the foster children in Sweetwater and Harmony Pointe, and on the children’s birthdays they provided birthday boxes filled with gifts. Many children carried their belongings in garbage bags from one home to the next. Through this program, every foster child received a duffel bag filled with personal items. Remi and Mason worked with major corporations to provide the items for the birthday boxes and duffel bags, and they hoped to take the programs national within the next year.
“Krista said Aiden hasn’t asked her out,” Mason explained. “I thought I’d give him a nudge in that direction.”
“But I still think we should set him up with Shira,” Remi said. Shira ran Hearts for Heroes, the nonprofit organization that Bridgette’s husband, Bodhi, had founded.
“How about Delaney?” Piper suggested.
Harley snapped