Dangerous Secrets (Montana Men #6)(50)

She rolled her eyes. "Your sister is going to be furious if we don't meet them back at her house."

He sighed. "Yeah. You're right. But we can't stay late," he warned her. "We have an hour and a half drive back to my place tonight."

She laughed, delighted with his plans, but unwilling to give in. Perhaps it was just a habit now, but she loved the growling expression in his eyes regardless. "Who says I'm coming back to your place tonight?"

Mike's hands tightened on her waist. "Not only are you coming back to my place, I will hold your dogs and Bozo hostage if you try to head back to your house."

She was in complete agreement. "Fine. Especially since Bozo will probably like your cabinets better than mine."

Mike groaned, thinking about the cat that loved to be on top of whatever was highest. "I'm going to build a shelf somewhere other than in the kitchen. We're not having cat hair in everything I cook," he told her firmly.

Halley was in complete agreement. "Fine. I doubt he'll use it anyway. She likes to be close to the action."

"Speaking of … "

His cell phone started ringing before he could finish that sentence. Before he even looked at the screen, he knew it was his sister. Lifting it up, he pressed the button. "I'm almost there," he said and ended the call before Sally could point out that they'd left first and still hadn't arrived.

Halley was already trying to climb back to her seat but he held her in his lap. "What's the rush?" he asked.

Halley pushed his hands away. "We have to go. Sally will know what we have been doing." 

Mike enjoyed the view of Halley's cute butt as she climbed back over to the passenger seat. "You need to realize something about my sister," he said, pausing while she adjusted her seatbelt. "Sally is probably just trying to get us there so that we can eat the cake and then she can get her girls to bed. After that, I'm fairly sure that she's planning to do the exact same thing with her husband that I plan to do to you all night. One would think those two would have gotten it out of their system by now."

Halley laughed, delighted with her man as he started up the truck. "Lucky them," she said.

Mike did a quick U-turn and they were only a couple of blocks from a large, lovely house filled with trees and flowers, brightly lit up from the inside.

The door opened up just as Mike pulled into the driveway and three blonde-haired girls raced out, all of them bouncing up and down as they shouted questions to their uncle. Mike got out of the truck and extended his hand to Halley as she came around to his side of the truck, pulling her against his side and wrapping his arm around her waist. With his free hand, he held it up and stopped the questions. "I won't answer any questions until I've had some cake and ice cream."

The girls all fell silent, staring up at Halley with huge eyes.

"She's still here," Annabelle whispered, and a slow, excited grin formed.

The younger two slapped both of their hands over their mouths to stop their giggling. Then, almost in unison, they turned around and raced back into the house, squealing to their mother, "She's here! He brought her here!"

Halley looked up at Mike with wariness. "Should I be scared?" she asked.

Mike slowly nodded his head. "Yes." He took a deep breath and tightened his hand on her waist. "But I'll protect you from them."

Halley laughed, delighted with a man who could be afraid of three little girls. It spoke volumes about who he was. As if she needed any further proof, she thought.

An hour later, cake and ice cream consumed, Mike was ready to leave but the questions just kept coming.

"Are you gonna marry Halley?" Jennifer finally asked.

Mike looked around, all of them stunned that she'd dared to ask the question, even though it had been on their minds.

Jennifer, bless her heart, only shrugged, completely oblivious to the tension she'd just created. "It's just that you're the only woman he's ever brought here to meet us. So he must really like you." She tilted her head slightly. "And we all know that he's kissed you."

"Jennifer!" Sally snapped, looking embarrassed.

Jennifer looked at her mother, then back at Halley. "Sorry, but your lips were all swollen when you first arrived. So, we know he was kissing you." She heard her father grumble behind her and braced herself for whatever was coming. "So are you? Are you going to marry him?" she got out only moments before her father lifted her up with one hand and covered her mouth with the other.

Lucy jumped up and down. "If you guys are getting married, then I get to be a flower girl. I'm calling it!" she said, bouncing once again.