“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.
Only Evan stood just outside the group, his gaze on his wife’s sister, Paige. Steam practically wafted off the guy, and Matt wondered if he blamed Paige for Whitney’s change of mind about coming to the party. Or maybe he was wishing that Whitney was more like her sister—not just that Paige was a sweet, good person, but in that she wanted to be one of the family.
Ari, Matt realized, had already become part of the family. As the party raged around them, the Mavericks were now their own group—and they’d automatically taken Ari into their midst, where she fit like another cog in their expanding wheel. Noah climbed onto her lap, and she cuddled him.
Downstairs, Matt’s friends had gone to bat for her, threatening him if he didn’t treat her right. And so they should—they knew better than anyone what a mess he was inside.
All he wanted was to treat Ari as well as she deserved. But what was best for her? To be with him—and Noah—including a whole bunch of baggage, not the least of which was Irene and the havoc she would cause from here to eternity? Or to find a man who was whole, dependable, and solid—a normal guy who would take care of her, one who would give her children all her own rather than asking her to raise another woman’s son?
A muscle jumped in Matt’s jaw as the difficult, conflicted questions spun around his usually logical mind. He was a man who always had an answer for everything—who’d built a billion-dollar business with those answers.
But tonight, he knew only one thing for sure: He couldn’t let Ari go. Not yet, not even when he couldn’t clearly see the answers to his future.
Not even if a better man would set her free.
* * *
Noah slept in the backseat all the way home, and after Matt carried him upstairs, he still slept while they wrestled him out of his T-Rex suit and tucked him in.
In the hallway, Matt took Ari’s hand. “We need to talk.”
She nodded, ready to burst since she’d talked with Daniel. “Daniel knows. How did he find out?”
Matt’s sigh was loud in the hallway. “He saw us coming out of the changing room. And he was with Evan, Will, and Sebastian. I shouldn’t have dragged you down there.”
Her fingers went stiff in Matt’s hand. She should have realized they’d all known after Daniel talked to her. But while she was embarrassed at being found out by the entire Maverick crew, she also couldn’t forget that Daniel hadn’t been angry. He’d actually welcomed her and given her hope.
“I wanted it as much as you did, so you didn’t drag me anywhere.” She shook her head. “But I don’t want to cause trouble between you and your friends.”
He frowned. “How could you possibly do that?”
“Daniel said he threatened to beat you up.”
The last thing she expected was Matt’s smile. “They all threatened me if I don’t treat you right.” He pulled her against him. “I told them how special you are and that I don’t want to hurt you.”
But he hadn’t told them he loved her—just as he hadn’t said it to her. She sucked a burning breath into her lungs.
Patience. She knew he needed time. But, God, it was hard. Especially now that everyone knew she was head over heels for him.
As if he could read her mind, he gently lifted her chin, forcing her to look at him. “Do you want to spend the night with me?”
“More than anything.” She was in love with him, and he was her favorite place to be in the world. “But what about Noah?”
“I can be quiet. Can you?”