Deadly Ever After (Hardy Brothers Security Book 6) (16 page)

“Mom, I don’t think this is a good idea,” Ally whispered.

“Of course it’s a good idea,” Rose said, resting the brown paper bag she was carrying against her hip as she pointed at the closed apartment door. “Open it.”

“Mom … .” Ally had agreed to make the early-morning trip to James’ apartment with her mother, but now she was rethinking the plan.

“You have a key, don’t you?”

“I do,” Ally hedged.

“Then open the door.”

“Mom, it’s early,” Ally said. “They’re probably still asleep.”

“Which is why a pre-wedding breakfast in bed is a wonderful gift,” Rose said.

“Why don’t we make them breakfast and leave it in the kitchen?” Ally suggested, rummaging through her pocket for her key ring. “I think they’ll appreciate that more.”

“That’s not romantic.”

“Mom … what if they’re naked?”

“Why would they be naked?” Rose scoffed.

“Because they live together, and they have sex,” Ally said. “I think they’re naked a lot.”

“They wouldn’t be naked this close to the wedding,” Rose countered. “They’re saving themselves for the wedding night.”

“They’re not saving themselves.”

“Of course they are.”

“I can pretty much guarantee that they’re not,” Ally argued.

“Open the door, Ally.”

“If James explodes, I’m blaming you when I run,” Ally grumbled, slipping her key into the lock.

Rose entered first, wrinkling her nose as she glanced around the apartment and unloaded the shopping bag on the kitchen counter. “This place is a mess.”

“They’re packing.”

“It’s still a mess.”

“Go and cook your breakfast, Mom.” Ally sank down onto one of the dining room chairs, frowning when she saw her mother tiptoeing toward the bedroom. “I wouldn’t.”

Rose held her index finger up to her lips to silence her daughter. Rose wasn’t naïve. She knew none of her children were virgins. She knew James and Mandy hadn’t waited for marriage to fall into bed together. They lived together, for crying out loud. She knew they were having sex. Even knowing that, the sight that greeted her through her son’s open bedroom door was still shocking.

Mandy was sleeping on top of James. Not just next to him, but on top of him. James had an arm wrapped tightly around her waist, and the other was buried beneath the fan of blonde hair that was stretched across her back. Despite her hair, Rose could see that the girl was naked, her bare shoulders poking out as an obvious form of proof.

James’ face was pressed to Mandy’s forehead, his eyes closed, and a content expression gracing his features.

While the sight would horrify most mothers, there was something so sweet about the way they held each other that Rose couldn’t hold in her sigh. They were so in love it almost hurt to look at them.

James jerked awake at the sound, his hand traveling to the nightstand in one fluid motion, and before she realized what was happening, Rose found her son’s gun pointed at her.

“James!”

James bolted upright, keeping Mandy pressed tight to his chest. “Mom?”

“What are you doing?”

James glanced at the gun and ruefully placed it back on the nightstand. “What are you doing here?”

“I … I … .”

“What’s going on?” Mandy asked, her voice sleepy. “Can’t you even wait until I’m awake?”

“My mom is here,” James grumbled.

Mandy’s eyes flew open. “Oh.” She glanced down at her bare chest, which was crushed against James’ warm skin. “Oh.”

“Mom!”

“I was going to make you breakfast in bed,” Rose said.

“Well, great,” James said. “This is just how I saw my morning going. My mom just happens to walk into my bedroom to see me naked.”

“I didn’t see you naked,” Rose countered. “I saw more of Mandy than you.”

“Oh, please tell me I’m dreaming,” Mandy muttered.

Ally appeared in the doorway. “It’s not so funny when it’s you, is it?”

“You brought her here?” James asked.

“She wanted to make you breakfast in bed.”

“After what happened at your place, I thought we’d agreed to knock?”

“Well, at least you two weren’t having sex,” Ally shot back.

Rose wrinkled up her nose. “Wait.”

“Don’t think about it, Mom,” Ally instructed.

“Does that mean you walked in on your sister … ?”

“Making the beasts with two backs?” Mandy offered. “Yes.”

“Mandy!” Ally was irate.

“Hey, I’m the one who is naked here.”

“I’m naked, too,” James said. “By the way, baby, can you move your knee just a little? I’m not wearing a cup.”

Ally smirked.

“I’m so embarrassed,” Rose said, fanning herself with her hand.

“And yet you’re still standing there,” James said.

Rose glanced around guiltily. “Maybe I should just go?”

“I thought you wanted to make them breakfast?” Ally asked.

James scorched Ally with a hateful look.

“How about I make it in the kitchen?” Rose offered. “That will give you two a chance to make yourselves presentable.”

“Oh, do you suddenly have a time machine?” James barked.

“Oh, suck it up,” Ally said. “Why don’t you two get dressed? I’ll help Mom make breakfast.”

Rose had already vacated the doorway, and Ally made a move to follow.

“Ally?”

She stilled. “What?”

“Shut the door!”

“I MADE
your favorite,” Rose said, hovering next to James’ chair nervously. “Blueberry pancakes and fresh bacon.”

“Thank you.”

“It’s still your favorite, right?”

“I love the pancakes, Mom.”

“You’re not eating them.”

“I just sat down.”

“You’re not making eye contact,” Rose pressed.

“That’s because I can never look you in the eye again,” James replied.

Mandy exhaled heavily, blowing her tousled bangs out of her face. “The pancakes are great.”

“Do you like pancakes?” Rose asked hopefully.

“I do.”

“She prefers eggs and hash browns,” James said.

“Oh, I had forgotten,” Rose said, worrying her bottom lip nervously. “Do you have eggs? I can make you some eggs.”

“The pancakes are great,” Mandy said. “I eat eggs all the time. This is a nice change.”

“I can make eggs,” Rose said, reaching for Mandy’s plate. “I’ll make you eggs.”

“Mom, leave her plate alone,” James growled. “Sit down. You’re making me nervous.”

“I’m really sorry,” Rose said. “Ally told me it was a bad idea. I just thought … I don’t know what I thought.”

“She thought you were celibate until the wedding,” Ally said, grinning as she speared a big forkful of her own pancakes. “These are awesome, Mom.”

“Why would we be celibate?”

“I don’t know,” Rose said, shrugging. “I thought it would make the wedding night more special.”

“The wedding night is going to be special regardless,” James said. “I see no reason to remain celibate until then.”

“It’s because he’s a sex maniac,” Ally offered.

“Says the woman who had had sex in front of her brother,” Mandy mumbled.

Ally flicked a piece of bacon at Mandy from across the table. James plucked it out of the air and bit into it.

“The bacon is good,” he said.

“It always was your favorite,” Rose said.

“Mom, it’s fine,” James said. “It’s not like you saw anything, and we weren’t doing anything but sleeping. Just … let it go.”

“I’m so sorry,” Rose said.

“I know.”

“I’m really sorry.”

“I know.”

“I’m … .”

“Mom! Sit down!”

Rose slid into one of the open seats. She was clearly distraught, because her eyes were darting every which way but in the direction of her son. “So, Mandy, you must be excited.”

“Why?”

“Well, your mother arrives today, of course,” Rose said.

Mandy swallowed hard. “Is it Thursday?”

James nodded.

“Crap.”

Rose frowned. “You’re not excited to see your mother?”

“I love my mother,” Mandy said. “I’m not excited to hear about how I’ve totally screwed up the wedding, though.”

“Why would she think that?”

“She’s going to hate the dress.”

“That dress is beautiful, baby,” James said, reaching over so he could push her hair away from her face.

“She’s going to hate the bridesmaids’ dresses.”

“Those dresses are great,” Ally replied. “I look like a goddess in mine.”

James couldn’t help but smirk. “I haven’t seen the bridesmaids’ dresses, but if Ally, Sophie, and Emma are happy, why does it matter?”

“She won’t like them,” Mandy grumbled.

“As long as you like them, it’s fine.”

“She’s going to hate that we’re having the wedding in the yard of the new house,” Mandy said. “She always pictured a church wedding.”

“The backyard is beautiful,” Ally said. “It’s going to look amazing. Wait until she sees the arch we picked out.”

“She’s still going to hate it.”

James’ heart flopped. The unhappy look on Mandy’s face was the last thing he wanted to see. “Why don’t you let me talk to her?”

“What are you going to say?”

“I’m very charming when I want to be,” James said. “I think I can win her over.”

“Mary is coming to spend time with her daughter,” Rose said. “No offense, dear, but she’s not going to want to spend time with you.”

“Still,” James said. “I can talk to her.”

“No,” Mandy said. “I might as well get all of her disappointment out of the way.”

“Baby, you’re the best person I know,” James said. “If she finds any reason to be disappointed in you, she’s not a very good mother.”

Rose’s mouth dropped open. “James Hardy! That woman was in labor for twenty-five hours to give birth to that girl. She has every right to feel what she feels.”

Mandy furrowed her brow. “Twenty-five hours?”

“That’s what she told me.”

“She is such a liar,” Mandy said, cracking her first real smile of the morning.

“She wasn’t in labor for twenty-five hours?”

“Six.”

James snickered.

“Well, it’s still painful,” Rose said. “Maybe it felt like twenty-five hours.”

“Maybe,” Mandy conceded. “I’m just going to have to deal with it. When she finds out that I don’t want Richard to walk me down the aisle, then things are just going to get worse.”

James licked his lips, cleaning the errant syrup from the corner of his mouth. “She wants you to have your stepfather walk you down the aisle?”

“She hasn’t come right out and said it,” Mandy said. “I know it’s what she wants, though. She’s been dropping anvils.”

“And what do you want?”

Mandy shrugged, focusing on her plate. “I can’t have what I want.”

James reached over, running his hand down the back of her head and leaning in to rest his forehead against hers. “If I could bring your dad back, I would.”

“I know,” Mandy said, her voice cracking. “It is what it is.”

Tears pricked the back of James’ eyes. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault.”

“What about Louis?” Rose offered. “He would love to walk you down the aisle.”

Mandy shook her head quickly. “He’s James’ father. He already has a job to do.”

“But … .”

James lifted his head, shooting his mother a quelling look. “What about Judge MacIntosh?”

Mandy stilled. “What?”

“What about the judge?” James repeated. “He loves you. He’s like a father to you. I bet, if you asked, he would walk you down the aisle.”

“I never really thought about him,” Mandy admitted. “I just figured I would walk down the aisle alone.”

“It’s up to you,” James said. “Just … think about it.”

Mandy nodded.

James gave her a lingering kiss. “What time is your mom getting here?”

Mandy shifted her eyes up to the wall clock. “In about an hour.”

“Well, I have to go to the florist,” James said. “I can push it off.”

“Don’t,” Mandy said. “I think it would be better if she and I were alone for a little bit.”

“Are you sure?”

“No,” Mandy admitted. “I just want to get it over with.”

“Okay,” James said. “I’ll try not to be gone too long.”

“I’ll go with you,” Rose offered.

“I don’t need help,” James replied.