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And they’d never forgive her for hurting hiht over a steao take her seat, Marcus growled, "Watch it, Ryan"

His brother frowned at him, clearly without the first clue what the problem was But Nicola instantly realized Marcus didn’t like his pro baseball player brother flirting with her or calling her gorgeous

She would have had a harder tibut Marcus Technically, her brain told her that Zach was the best-looking of them all, with Smith not far behind, while the rest of the But to her, it didn’t matter how perfect their features were

Marcus outshone them all and she could hardly tear her eyes away froiveaway to her feelings

Thankfully, theirwith Lori and Gabe The three of them put the rest of the food on the table and for a fewtheir plates

Everyone except Marcusand her

"What can I get for you?"

It was the first thing he’d said to her today apart froh he was only asking her if she preferred has, her body--and heart--reacted as if he’d just said theto h voice, as he held her, as he stroked her hair

As heto goo beside hi Thank you"

But he didn’t reach for the food Instead he caught her hand beneath the tablecloth

For a longif she wanted to keep their relationship a secret for er--she was lost in his eyes, in the sweet caress of his thuth she had left after her sleepless night alone for her to reat life, da with her

She reinforced the short word by pulling her hand fro for some of the food She hoped no one noticed that she couldn’t stop her hand fro

Once everyone had a full plate and was starting to dig in, Marcus’s lad you could join us today, Nicola" If anyone thought it strange that their mother hadn’t called her Nico, they were too polite to say anything about it "I hope everyone has been on their best behavior while I was inside"

"Everyone has been great" Realizing she was hter and set to see my family as much as I’d like to I miss Sunday lunches like this"