Worth the Risk(12)

A small boy with bright blond hair raced over, snatched a juice box from a silver ice bucket, and took off down the steps again.

“That little thief was my son, Charlie,” Abby told her. “And that’s Beth’s Louisa.” She gestured to the girl running after him. “But don’t worry. You don’t have to remember everyone.”

That was good, because names and faces were starting to blur.

“Did Stephen abandon you?” Beth asked.

“No. We stole her.” Abby bent to pick up a little girl with a head full of brown curls toddling at her feet. “This is Mary.” She was maybe two and wearing a pink gingham dress with tiny kittens around the neck. She hid her face in her mother’s neck before Hannah could say hi.

“She’s better off with us,” Lizzy continued and popped a grape in her mouth. “Stephen joined the man club at the grill. I swear I think half the time they’re just standing around that thing with nothing on it.”

Lizzy pointed with her drink toward a group of men surrounding the grill on the patio below. Stephen stood with them, but seemed slightly apart somehow.

In jeans and a short-sleeved shirt, this was the first time she’d seen him casual. It suited him as much as the serious businessman. She’d never gotten the chance just to watch him, just admire without him seeing. His skin was tan, like a man who spent more time outside than in an office. Thick biceps flexed against the fabric when he raised a glass bottle to his lips. Even without the suit, Stephen looked like ruler of the universe. Effortlessly warrior or knight, whatever suited him, while she was just…her.

A child yelled over the balcony and he glanced up, his gaze clashing with hers, and she got a jolt straight to the heart. Jeez. Even from a distance, he did something to her. Made her skin buzz with just a look. He mouthed Okay? and she nodded then quickly focused on the other end of the yard.

At least twenty kids, boys and girls, ranging from ten to toddler ran around a swing set draped with pink and purple streamers. She’d been sure a party with Stephen was a bad idea, she’d barely fit in at the restaurant, but then he’d mentioned it was a kid’s party and…kids she could do.

“Last batch coming off now,” Matt called from below.

Lizzy stepped beside her at the railing. “Prepare for chaos.” Her words were almost drowned out by happy screams and pounding feet coming up the stairs. In seconds, the deck swarmed with little people and the air filled with shouts of I’m hungry, when can we eat, and a chorus of Mom!, to which every woman answered, What?

Except her.

Before she had time to dwell on it, she felt a small tapping on her leg. A little girl peered up at her, summer-blue eyes pooling with tears. “I dwopped my weenie.”

“Well, let’s get you another one.” Hannah took the tiny angel by the hand and walked her to the table.

After that small crisis, she busied herself poking straws in juice boxes, saving toppling plates, and wiping ketchup faces, all while snagging bites of her own hot dog. Condiments were spread, drinks poured. It was a sea of people, big mingling with little, some on hips, others bouncing on their own feet as they aimed food at their mouths. Amusement park loud and disaster zone messy. And she loved it.

“Hey.”

The sudden sound of Stephen’s low voice behind her made her heart stutter. His male scent wrapped around her. She’d been good with his family, his mom asking for her help, his dad, Anthony Senior, teasing her. But with one word from the man she’d come to see, her heart raced.

“Sorry for deserting you.”

She turned to face him, her entire body going hot and flushed and he wasn’t even touching her. “You didn’t. I like your family, all the kids. They’re great.”

“Yeah.” He looked around the deck like he was seeing them for the first time and she thought she caught a bit of longing in his face, then it was gone.

“I’m ready for cake!” Gracie yelled, and the rest of the kids backed her up, dumping their dinner in favor of dessert.

Stephen smiled. “A McKinney tradition. Cake above protein.”

Matt lifted Gracie to stand in a chair and the family circled around her. With soft brown curls and deep dimples, her brown eyes literally twinkling, Gracie was possibly the cutest thing Hannah had ever seen. Abby and Matt stood on either side and kissed her cheeks as others snapped photos. A picture-perfect moment. One to store in a child’s memory and keep forever.

Though she had few pictures, she did have fond memories of her own birthdays. Celebrated in various restaurants, always just her and her brothers, but they’d never once forgotten.