Chapter Seven
Groaning, Sandy snuggled into hard muscular bodies, feeling tender but relaxed and reluctant to wake. Zack’s hands were on her waist, his index finger drawing circles. Slowly cracking an eye open, she looked up at Jake’s face and noticed the strained lines around his eyes and mouth like he was having a bad dream.
She heard a muffled ring tone of The Doors’ “Light My Fire.” It rang until it rang out and then it started ringing again. Groaning, she got out of bed after carefully detangling herself from her men. Searching in Zack’s jeans, she pulled out the phone and answered in a whisper, “Hello, Zack’s phone.”
“Ah, good, he got himself a secretary who can actually answer a phone,” a woman said on the other end.
“Ma’am, I’m not his secretary, but I can give him a message.”
There was a loud huff on the other end before the woman answered, “Well, what are you doing…? Oh, you are one of those girls, are you? All right then, put some clothes on and get a pen and paper to write down what I’m going to tell you.”
Sandy gritted her teeth, picked up Zack’s shirt, slipped into it, and walked out of the room, ready to tell the lady off, but the woman continued.
“Okay, surely I’ve given you enough time. Look, this is important. Tell Zack he has to be at his sister’s engagement party tonight, and he has to wear a tux to cover his tattoos. And if the dates I have lined up for him ask what he does, tell him to just say he owns some businesses. Do you think you can do this before you leave?”
Trying to keep her temper in place because she knew this was a family member, Sandy asked, “May I ask who this is?”
“Yes, tell him his mother called.” And she hung up.
Sandy stared at the mobile. Oh God, she was the lovely woman Susie talked about. Surely Susie was joking.
Sandy looked around her at the extravagant interior and the hall she was now in with doors all along it. This house and this type of living was way out of her league. Sandy wondered if she should worry whether Jake’s and Zack’s family would accept her.
She chuckled at the thought of being worried about being accepted by the Bears when only hours ago her men carried her kicking and screaming out of a concert. Sandy hated to admit it, but their alpha ways turned her on big time. She would deny it if anyone asked, but she’d loved that they’d claimed her in front of so many people. She wasn’t one for Neanderthals, but Jake and Zack were changing her mind. She wandered the house, getting more anxious the more she saw.
Finally she found a door leading outside and opened it, needing to get away from everything. Sandy wished she was home so she could snuggle in her own bed and get up and make breakfast for her family. Finding a table and chairs that looked out at the valley toward the grapevines, she sat and listened, watching the morning fog lift, and tried not to think about last night.
She didn’t know whether to be angry at Jake and Zack for embarrassing her and probably getting her fired or grateful they saved her from Mr. Grabby. Oh God, what would she do without a job? What was she doing full stop?
Bringing her knees up, she tucked them under her chin and placed the phone she forgot she held on the table. Tears she’d been holding in since she spoke to Zack’s mother slipped down her cheek. Fuck, her life was so crazy right now. Dealing with being potentially unemployed and her boyfriends’ mothers not liking her was just too much to handle.
Sobs started to rack her body and she couldn’t seem to stop them. So much had happened in such a short time. Sandy didn’t know what to do.
Closing her eyes she sat for a while and just let it all out until she felt Jake’s hands come around her waist to pick her up and place her on his lap.
“Ah, Little Red, you’re breaking my heart. What’s wrong? Don’t cry.”
She hit his chest. “I’m angry with you.”
He hugged her tighter. “Why? It’s not like you to cry when you’re angry at someone.”
“Ha, what do you know? I’m usually very sweet, considerate, and never bossy. Well, that is before I met you two. You and Zack bring out the redhead in me. The only other people who can do that are my brothers and dad.”
Sandy hit Jake’s chest again as his body shook with laughter. “Hey, don’t laugh at me. I’m telling the truth.” Sandy growled deep and pushed at him to get off, but he just held tighter.
“Oh sorry, Little Red, I’m just trying to imagine you as sweet and never bossy.”
Zack came out, his hands full of plates with toast, pancakes, and fruit. She felt heat cover her cheeks, and she moaned as memories of the last night flashed before her.