“I’m so glad you love dinosaurs, Noah,” Ari heard Charlie say, “because you’re going to get a very special surprise soon.” Sebastian’s fiancée sat on the ledge surrounding the fire. Dressed all in black, she wore gloves shaped like claws that she snapped at Noah, who giggled and shrank back. “I’m a Zanti Misfit,” she said in an ominous voice, snap-snap-snapping her gloves. Noah shrieked, loving every moment.
“Charlie fits perfectly with our weird Maverick sense of humor, doesn’t she?” Daniel’s voice was close beside Ari.
“She does. I like her a lot.”
“We all do.” He shoved his hands in his jacket pockets and grinned at her. “I’m kind of partial to you too.”
She grinned back. “Thank you, Daniel. You’re not so bad yourself.”
He rocked back on his heels as they watched Noah try to catch Charlie’s clipper-claw gloves. Then Daniel turned his gaze on Ari in a way that was more intense than usual. “I don’t want to see you get hurt, Ariana.”
Her heart plunged down to her toes. Oh God…Daniel knew.
“Matt’s a great guy,” he continued. Amid all the activity around them, his low voice kept them isolated. “He’s one of my brothers even if we don’t have the same parents. But you’ve got to know that he had a real bad time growing up. And then with Noah’s mom.”
Her throat clogged. Was Daniel warning her away from Matt, reminding her that she was just the nanny?
“I know,” she finally managed past constricted vocal cords. “He told me what happened with them. All of them.”
“He did?” Daniel looked surprised. “Well, that’s good.” But then he frowned again. “So now you know he has a hard time trusting.”
“Yes,” she whispered, her eyes stinging. She knew better than anyone, given that she’d said I love you and he hadn’t. Though she suspected the person Matt didn’t trust the most was himself.
“But you aren’t afraid to trust him, are you?”
She blinked up at her former boss, a man who had always looked out for her, and had become her friend. He was second only to Matt in all he’d done for her. “Everyone says I should be, but I don’t want to be afraid.” She forced herself to hold his gaze. “I care about Matt. And Noah.” She wasn’t going to drop the word love on Daniel, but she had a feeling he could already hear it. “They both mean so much to me.”
His gaze roamed her face before he finally nodded. “I won’t be one of those people telling you to put up your guard.” He paused, probably considering how to phrase what he felt she needed to hear. “But I also don’t want you to get hurt. I sure as hell hope he’ll realize how good you could be for him—and for Noah.”
“You really think I’d be good for them?” It meant more than she could say that one of Matt’s closet friends—one of his brothers, especially Daniel—believed in her.
“Of course I do.” He smiled again, his gruffness fading beneath the upturning of his lips. “And if he hurts you, I’m going to beat the crap out of him. We all will.”
She laughed, but it sounded a little soggy. “When you suggested me for the position as his nanny, I never meant for things to turn out this way.”
Daniel pulled her in close, almost rocking her off her feet with his hug. “I know you didn’t. You would never be one of those women who aims at a man’s dollar signs or his big house. You took the job because you love kids and you could see how much Matt needed you. Everything else that happened…” He shook his head. “It’s starting to seem like divine intervention. Like you were meant to come into their lives when they needed you most. But if he’s not being as good to you as you are to him”—he shook his fist—“we’ll smack some sense into him.”
She wanted to laugh. She could actually have cried. Daniel was going to bat for her, even against one of his best friends, if it came to that. After all those years of feeling like she didn’t have anyone, it was almost too much to believe.
“Now come back over to the fire.”
He led her down to the fire pit and into the circle of his family.
The family she’d always wished for. Not just for one night.
But forever.
Matt hung back at the head of the stairs leading up from the game room. He’d searched downstairs and outside for Ari only to find her here, surrounded by his family. Laughing with them. Totally accepted by them.
The Frankensteins were once again a family, and Noah was poking the bolts at Jeremy’s neck. Wearing a Dracula costume, Sebastian wrapped his cloak around Charlie and was playing with the strange gloves she wore. Bob was chatting with Daniel, while Susan was in a lively discussion with Ari.