CHAPTER FIVE
“Well, aren’t you the cutest thing I’ve ever seen!” a female voice rang out from inside the house a while later. “Who do you belong to?”
Dylan grinned at Grace. “Sounds like my sister and her fiancé are here.” He stood and held out a hand for her. “Ready to meet the whole crew?”
Grace took a deep breath before putting her hand into his. “Sure.”
When she stood up, he was close. Closer than he’d been before now. For a few heady moments, she couldn’t pull her hand away, couldn’t stop her heart from beating way too fast.
“I shouldn’t leave my things out, just in case the rain blows in.”
His eyes moved from hers to her mouth, then back up again. “Good idea.”
How was it, she wondered as she tucked her notebook and recorder back inside her bag, that they could be saying nothing and yet so much at the same time? I shouldn’t want you, shouldn’t want this, was what she’d really meant. And she swore he’d answered her in the same way: It will be good, Grace, if you’ll just let it happen. So damned good.
She was shocked to see that it had been an hour and a half since they’d left Mason banging on the pots and pans in Claudia’s kitchen. Yes, she’d loved being out on the water that one time, enough that she’d made a pitch for a story to a sailing magazine, but listening to Dylan talk about sailing, and what it meant to him and other sailors, had quickly filled her with a longing to do more than just write about it.
The same longing had struck her earlier in the week when she’d been looking at the sailboat he was completing in his boathouse. Maybe it was because, from what Dylan had already told her, building a boat wasn’t too different from the way she’d taught herself to write. First by taking apart the articles that spoke to her and studying their structure. Then starting to build them on her own, word by word, paragraph by paragraph, page by page.
In any case, the more she learned about what he actually did all day, the more she couldn’t blame him for not bothering to pick up his phone. If she were building amazing sailboats, and then sailing them on the open sea, she wouldn’t bother, either.
“It’s a real skill to ask questions that get straight to the heart of things,” Dylan said as they headed for the kitchen. “Where did you learn to do that?”
She was amazed yet again by how easily Dylan gave compliments. Her ex had rarely complimented her on anything but her figure. In fact, now that she thought more about it, she and Richard hadn’t had many conversations about anything that really mattered. The truth was that they’d never had a true connection.
“My parents said that even when I was a little girl, I had a million questions about everything. Journalism was always a perfect fit for me, just like sailing is for you. But I have to say that for a guy who doesn’t like doing interviews, you made it really easy for me today.”
He held the door open for her and she saw a stunning woman down on the floor stacking blocks alongside Mason.
“Hi, I’m Mia. And your son is the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.”
“I agree,” Grace said with a smile. “I’m Grace, and it’s nice to meet you. Thanks for keeping him so entertained.”
She looked up just then to see Ford Vincent walking toward her with his hand outstretched. Despite knowing the rock star might be here tonight with Mia, given that she was his fiancée, Grace still came this close to freezing up with shock.
“Hi.” Somehow she managed to get her hand into his without shaking or sweating or doing any number of other embarrassing things. Not, however, that she was rewarded for that with a reprieve, because literally a moment later, Tatiana Landon came into the room.
“Tatiana,” Dylan said, “this is Grace and her son, Mason.”
The movie star looked pleasantly surprised—delighted would be a better word for it, actually—by their presence. “It’s lovely to meet you. I can’t wait to hear all about how you and Dylan met. He never brings anyone to dinner.”
Oh no, they all assumed she was dating him. “Actually, we’re just—”
Before she could finish her sentence, Mason tossed a block across the room, nailing a man in a suit right in the knee.
She dashed over to pick it up, but the blindingly good-looking man beat her to it. He was smiling as he handed the block to her. “Your son has a great arm.”
“No kidding,” Dylan agreed, the grin in his voice clear without her needing to see it. “You should have seen Mason toss his toy in front of my boathouse earlier this week.”
The man raised his eyebrows at this tidbit before turning back to Grace and saying, “I’m Dylan’s brother Ian.”
She had never been comfortable as the center of attention and could feel her composure, which had been shaky at best a few minutes ago, rapidly shredding to pieces as they all stared at her, especially this brother whose gaze was just a bit more intense than that of the others.
“I’m so glad you and your son were able to come to dinner with all of us tonight.” Right on cue, Mason chucked another block at Ian, upon which he bent down to gently lob it back at Mason’s feet.
When Mason giggled with glee at having another new friend to play with, Claudia said, “Isn’t Mason great? I had the privilege of watching him for the past couple of hours while Grace and Dylan did their interview.”
Another couple walked into the kitchen. “Dylan actually agreed to do an interview?” asked the dark-haired man who looked so much like Dylan. “Has the apocalypse come?”
“Meet Rafe and Brooke,” Dylan said as Mason crawled over to his feet and lifted his arms. Without pause, Dylan picked him up. “I’d like you guys to meet Grace and Mason.”
When Brooke waved at the baby, he gleefully waved right back. “Isn’t he sweet?” Mia said as Ford helped her up to stand in what looked to Grace like impossibly high heels.
“So sweet,” Brooke and Tatiana both agreed.
The way everyone immediately fell in love with her son helped Grace regain a little of her composure. Of course, that was right when one more brother walked in, saw Mason with his sleepy little head resting on Dylan’s shoulder, and asked, “Whoa, did you adopt a kid on your last sailing expedition?”
“Grace, this is Adam. I’m sure you’re going to be really surprised to hear that he’s still single.”
That was when Adam turned and saw her. “The baby’s yours?” When she nodded, he gave her a really flirtatious grin. “No wonder the kid is so cute.”
By then, what else could she do but laugh? Dylan had talked during their interview about learning to walk on the deck of a sailboat during a storm without being tossed off. Now she thought she knew exactly what that felt like simply from having met his entire family in the past five minutes.
Or nearly the entire Sullivan clan, because when a handsome man with gray hair came in and every person in the room beamed at him, she now knew exactly how handsome Dylan would be in thirty years—and also how much the children he’d have would adore him. And when Dylan’s father took Claudia into his arms and kissed her, Grace couldn’t hold back her sigh at how sweet it was to see two people so much in love after so many years.
No wonder there was so much love in the house.
Normally, Mason would be tired and cranky by now, but he was completely in his element with all the women cooing over him and all the men saying he was probably going to be a pro ball player with an arm like his.
Of the two of them, she was the one overwhelmed, not only with her feelings for the subject of her magazine story, but also by his magnificent family. So when Claudia asked if Grace could help her put together the salad, she was thrilled to be able to step out of the big group. Their mother, Grace had already figured out, was the calm eye at the center of the storm.
“Thank you, again, for watching Mason while I interviewed Dylan.”
“Anytime you need someone to watch your son, you know who to call. He’s all changed and clean, by the way. Did your interview go well?”
“Listening to Dylan talk, I felt almost as if I were out there in a sailboat with him. Your son is a fascinating man.”
Grace looked up from the cucumber she was slicing to sneak a glance at him. Only to find that he was already looking at her. Flustered again, she had to steady her hands before she resumed work with the knife.
“Mason reminds me of the way Dylan was as a child,” Claudia told her. “Sweet. Always ready to laugh.” He was laughing right then in Brooke’s arms as she bounced him. “Happy to spend hours building things. In fact, he was so easygoing that we realized it would be really easy to leave him be, especially when his brothers and Mia all seemed to need us more. So when Max saw that he was fascinated by sailboats, we both decided we would learn how to sail with him. It was, truly, one of the best things we’ve ever done, because that’s when we really got to know our son…and he got to know us, too.”
“In the cockpit confessional,” Grace said with a smile, referencing one of the things Dylan had said to her during their interview. “So do you also believe that you can’t keep a secret when you’re out on a boat?”
“You’ll find out for yourself the first time you go sailing with him.”
Just then, Mason let out a little wail, and she hurried over to take him from Brooke. “I think he misses his mommy,” Brooke said.
Grace pressed a kiss to his forehead. “It’s been a big day for him, meeting so many new people.” For both of them. “He’s probably hungry and thirsty, too.” She reached into his bag nearby for a bottle. He cuddled into her chest and started drinking like he’d just crossed the Sahara Desert.
Dylan brought them over to the dining table, where he pulled out a chair next to his. She’d intended to put Mason in his portable high chair, but after he had his bottle he crawled into Dylan’s arms and immediately dozed off.
It was, Grace thought, the cutest, sweetest thing she’d ever seen—a big, strong man holding a sleeping baby so gently. One who obviously felt so safe that Mason wasn’t the least bit disturbed by everyone else coming into the dining room, laughing and teasing each other in the way only a truly close family could. Grace noted that she wasn’t the only one who thought Dylan and Mason painted a beautiful picture—she was pretty sure Claudia’s eyes got a little glossy, too.
Heaping platters of food were passed around, and with Dylan’s hands full, Grace filled both their plates with some of everything. She thought she’d be too nervous to eat in a group of famous strangers, but the minute she took her first bite of his mother’s delicious food, she realized she was starving.
Sitting down with everyone at dinner finally gave Grace a chance to study his family a bit. Still a little star struck, at the same time she was amazed by how normal they seemed. They joked, they teased, they flirted—especially Adam. From what Dylan had told her, they all got together on a regular basis.
Tatiana, who was sitting on her left, said, “I’d love to know more about the story you’re writing, Grace. Especially since Dylan is usually so reluctant to be interviewed.”
More than a little surprised that Tatiana didn’t seem the least bit wary around her because she was a journalist, Grace told her, “It’s a piece about the heart of a sailor and why people are drawn to getting out on an ocean that can be both beautiful and dangerous. I’ve read a ton about sailing this week, but two hours with Dylan has been more helpful than an entire library of books would have been.”
“It sounds fascinating,” Tatiana said. “I’ve always admired people who are skilled at culling a ton of information into just the parts that matter. What’s your secret?”
“Brilliant questions,” Dylan answered.
“Endless questions, anyway,” Grace said. “If you hadn’t all shown up for dinner, I would probably still be peppering Dylan with them.”
“So you’re not done with him yet?” Mia asked.
Mason shifted in Dylan’s arms so that he was halfway in hers, too, and Grace focused on helping him get more comfortable as she replied, “Not even close. The two of us have still got a lot of ground to cover.”
When she looked up, everyone was grinning like crazy. What had she just said to make all of them look so happy?
Fortunately, that was when the conversation changed to their cousin Ryan’s winning pitch at last night’s baseball game, so Grace finally let herself relax into her seat. As much as she could relax, anyway, with Dylan’s thigh pressed against hers beneath the crowded dining table.
With her son sleeping on both of their laps and his family right there, too, she shouldn’t have had to keep fighting back her desire for him.
But she did.