That’s all he got before he was in her room and the voices became less distinct.
So he was grinning when he hit her room.
He grabbed his own thermal, pulled it on and moved his ass back to where Jussy was with her family.
When he got there, he saw Joss’s sheepskin jacket was off, it and her bag thrown on one of the denim couches. This exposed a bright red tee, barely-there sleeves, a dead-fucking-cool Chinese dragon stitched on the front.
Rembrandt’s jacket was on the couch too, and Jussy was giving him a hug. It was a jerky, short, annoyed one, but it was still a hug.
Deke’s lips quirked as he moved to the side of the couch opposite them and leaned against it.
Jussy pulled out of Rembrandt’s arms and turned Deke’s way.
“I take it you met Deke,” she remarked, throwing her hand toward him.
“That we did,” Joss replied.
“And Deke’s a mellow guy, so he’s always laidback, so I can’t tell from him if you were cool when you met him,” Jussy went on.
Joss’s eyes narrowed on her daughter. “We’ve barely been here five minutes, girl, and I’ve barely said five words to him.”
Jussy lifted her brows to her mother, not missing a beat. “And were those five words cool?”
Joss seemed like she was fixing to blow when Rembrandt skirted the couch, put his back to the arm, and collapsed into it, still wearing his shades, announcing, “Took the redeye here. Got fuckin’ six fuckin’ suitcases, four of ’em filled with your shit, Jussy, in that SUV. Wrangled that crap myself because your mother wanted to arrive without an entourage,” he said the last like this was a sticking point on a variety of things between Joss and Roddy. “Now I’m bone-tired, need coffee, food, to bonk my wife and then pass out.”
“Rod!” Joss snapped.
“What?” he asked, looking up at her through his shades from his position on the couch. “That’s not all gonna happen?”
“All of it would have happened if you hadn’t announced in front of Jussy’s new man that you were gonna bonk your wife. Now that particular part is not gonna happen,” Joss returned.
“The dude’s a dude,” Rembrandt shot back, turning his head on the couch to look at Deke. “A big dude.” He aimed his shades back up at his wife. “We dudes don’t get offended by that shit. He’s cool.”
“So, say, Jussy doesn’t feel like carrying the knowledge her guest room bed is gonna get broken in by her stepdad bonking her mom,” Joss retorted.
“Jussy’s cooler than her dude, I know that for sure,” Rembrandt muttered, something that was absolutely correct, and he did this folding his hands on his chest like he was a vampire in a coffin except his coffin was a couch his legs were dangling off the side.
Deke was having a fuckuva time controlling his need to bust out laughing.
He looked from Rembrandt to his gypsy and found that effort easier when he saw her neck bowed, shoulders slumped, head shaking side to side.
“Baby,” he called softly.
Her head came up and she turned her eyes to him.
“I am a dude but you know I’m cool.”
“I need coffee,” she replied.
“Gotcha,” he murmured, turned and moved into the kitchen.
“Did I hear pancakes?” Rembrandt called.
“Those are coming after coffee, Roddy,” Jussy declared, and when she did, Deke knew she was on the move toward him.
“Rod, get your ass up and go bring in the suitcases,” Joss ordered.
“Fuck that,” he replied. “Nothin’ in them is gonna go bad. They can wait until after my nap.”
“Rod—”
“After pancakes, I’ll get ’em,” Deke injected into their exchange, fingers through one of Jussy’s new mugs, other hand reaching toward the pot.
“I’ll help,” Jussy decreed.
“No you won’t,” he told her.
“Yes, I will,” she returned.
“Justice,” he said low.
She looked into his eyes, sighed and shifted to the fridge, undoubtedly to get her creamer.
“I take mine dollop of cream, no sugar,” Joss announced.
“I take mine black and I hope like fuck that shit’s strong,” Rembrandt called from the couch.
“Rod, you wanna cut back on the language?” Joss suggested, sliding her firm ass on a barstool, doing this with torso twisted to the couch.
Turning his shades his wife’s way, Rembrandt fired back, “Babe, the dude is a dude. Relax.”
Joss twisted to her daughter, sharing, “I knew I shouldn’t have brought him.”
Deke handed Jussy her mug, seeing by her profile she agreed.