His mouth felt like it was working, but nothing seemed to be coming out. This was his first real episode of being objectified, and he had to admit it didn’t feel that great. Instead, he wanted to run back upstairs and hide behind Emma. Surely, she had clothes on by now. “Er . . . hello,” he stuttered.
Just as he was trying to figure out an escape path, Emma’s mother walked in from the other room. He was damned glad to see her. Her enthusiasm and ability to jump from one subject to the next in the blink of an eye was a little scary, but he liked her. Emma’s father was a lucky man because Kat Davis was a knockout. She reminded him a lot of the actress Andie MacDowell. He had noticed in the airport that Emma strongly resembled her mother and, in his book, that made her lucky. Mother Nature definitely had a soft spot for the Davis women.
She walked up to him and tucked her arm through his. “Down, girls. Don’t scare the poor man away or Emma will kill us. This is my daughter’s new boyfriend who I was telling you about. Isn’t he delish?”
Delish? Good grief, he had at least ten women staring at him now as if he were a prime piece of meat while Kat stood beside him looking proudly on. “Maybe I should run back upstairs and check on Emma.”
As he turned to make his escape, Emma walked down the last step, landing beside him. “Oh, no need, honey, I’m right here. I see you’ve met the girls.” Then turning toward the group, she offered them a bright smile. “Brant and I can’t wait to sit in on your book club meeting tonight. It’s all he’s been talking about since Mom invited us.”
He gave her a forced smile that he hoped adequately conveyed his feelings of murderous intent. “You know, since there are no other men in the group, maybe we should sit this one out, dear. I wouldn’t want to impose.” As everyone rushed to assure him that they couldn’t wait to have a male opinion in the group, he knew he was screwed. How bad could discussing some book about shades of gray be? He was relieved that the name indicated that it wasn’t any type of romance book. God, that was a relief.
Everyone fell in line behind Kat as she led them out the patio doors off the kitchen. Brant took a deep breath, smelling the ocean along with the mouth-watering scents of the grill. Beside him, Emma suddenly squealed and flew across the patio into a man’s arms. “Daddy!”
“My Emmie!” Emma’s father was a tall, muscular man with a head of thick dark hair just beginning to gray at the tips. It was obvious from his tanned skin that he spent a lot of time outdoors. Brant remembered her telling him once that her dad was a builder and his athletic frame supported that. Her father kept one arm around Emma while stepping forward to extend his other hand to him. “I’m Ken Davis, father to this handful.”
Brant tried to keep a blank expression as he thought that his interpretation of “handful” and Emma’s father’s where she was concerned were probably very different. “Nice to meet you, Ken, I’m Brant Stone, Emma’s . . . boyfriend.” God, that seemed weird to say at his age. Of course, what else was there? Lover? Yeah, that would go over well with her daddy. “This is a beautiful place you have here. Did you build this house?”
Nodding his head, Ken said, “I sure did. Of course, Kat changed her mind about every damn day, but I finally made her happy. You know, if your woman isn’t happy, your life is hell, right?”
He might not actually have a woman, but Brant knew a true statement when he heard it. Emma’s mom handed him a cold beer and he took it gratefully. Wait. Should he pretend that he didn’t drink to impress them? Looking at the group of book club women still gathered behind him making no attempt to hide the fact that they were looking at his ass, he decided, screw it. If they wanted to judge him, then at least he would be slightly more relaxed about the experience with a few beers.
When her mother asked, “So, Brant, honey, are you from South Carolina?” Emma tensed beside him.
“Yes, Kat, I am.” He had already made the mistake of calling her ma’am earlier and he now knew to avoid that.
“What do your parents do?” It had been so long that he didn’t even flinch when he said, “They passed away when I was young.” Everyone seemed to be waiting for him to explain, so he added, “They died in a plane crash near the Florida Keys, actually.”
Emma gave him a look of sympathy even though he knew that she was already aware of the story. Kat stepped forward and gave him a hug. “Oh, honey, I’m so sorry to hear that. I’m sure they would be proud of how well you turned out.” Emma found herself nodding in agreement. There was really no debating that. Brant was one big walking accomplishment.
At that moment, her brother came striding out, gaining everyone’s attention toward him. The baby of the family always took center stage. She took a little whiff as he drew closer, thinking he had probably been practicing his “botany” before he came in. She gave him a hug when he finally managed to escape from their mother.
“Hey, Emmie-Lou.”
“Hey, Brat,” she fired back fondly. “How’s school?”