Schuyler shifted her face, and growled at Robin, but then accidentally shifted the upper half of her body, splitting her shirt. Younger shifters had less control over their transformation. “Oops.”She turned back to Lainey. “Want to see me do a magic trick? I’m a magician. I’m an escape artist, like Houdini. Tate got me a magic kit for Christmas. I can—”
“All of you, scoot,” Tate said sternly. “Find Kyle, and stay with him. Stay together, no more running around, and absolutely no climbing, you hear me?”
“Yes, sir,” they chorused, and trooped back towards the house.
Tate turned his back as Lainey pulled the dress over her head. It settled onto her body, fitting perfectly—and Lainey glanced down at it and winced.
It was the dress of a larger woman who was very confident in her body. It was silky, the color of a bruised plum, and it hugged her body far more closely than she would have liked, all the way down to the hips, where it flared out like a bell.
The neckline dipped low, accentuating her large breasts. Unfortunately the dress also accentuated her thick waist, and the rolls of pudge she was so self-conscious about.
She heard Tate draw in a sharp breath. He was standing there, holding her shoes and her purse, and staring at her as if she were a runway model.
“Wow,” he said, eyes wide. “You look…amazing. I mean, you always look amazing, it’s just that—I don’t know—yesterday you dressed like you want to hide your figure, and this dress just—wow. I’m sorry, I’m an idiot. Ignore me.”
A hint of red was coloring his cheekbones. He was actually blushing.
“No, you’re not an idiot.” She reached out and took the purse and shoes. Then her new, bold, re-invented self said daringly, “You just have excellent taste.”
He burst into laughter. “Well, no argument there. I like what I see.”
Now it was Lainey’s turn to blush, as she stepped into her shoes.
“Thank you,” was the only thing she could think of saying. Part of her wanted to argue and say, “Oh, this dress makes me look so fat. You can see every single pound on me, and I’d never choose a neckline this low.” But she realized that the voice in her head that wanted to say those things sounded exactly like her mother.
“So, ahh…how many brothers and sisters do you have?” she asked.
“There are twelve of us, altogether. I’m the oldest. A few of my sisters and brothers are moved out, married or in college. My brother Kyle, he’s the one you saw yesterday, works with me, running the landscaping business. My eighteen-year-old sister Megan still lives at home. She’s going to community college and she works with me part time. The six younger ones are Schuyler, she’s ten, Valerie, she’s nine, Ashley, she’s eight, Robin and Richard, they’re six, and Felix, he’s four. How about you? Brothers and sisters?”
“One brother, a year older than me. A little bit of a black sheep in the past, but he’s gotten his act together now and he’s doing great.”
She hesitated. This was the getting-to-know-each-other conversation, the conversation she couldn’t have because she’d just have to lie to him.
Life was so unfair. This man was hotter than the sun, and he actually seemed genuinely attracted to her, and she had to admit that ever since she’d laid eyes on him she’d been thinking about him constantly. But she was a visitor in town under a fake name, hiding out from the world’s most manipulative parents and nursing a broken heart. Why start something that she could never finish?
He opened his mouth to speak. He was about to ask her more about herself, where she was from, what she did for a living, questions she couldn’t answer.
Before he could, though, a teenager trotted up to him, looking flustered. She was a pretty girl with glossy blonde hair that swept past her shoulders, wearing tight, faded jeans and a big T-shirt which said Calloway Landscaping.
Tate turned to her with a low growl. “Megan, you were supposed to be watching the kids.”
“Schuyler said she could do it.”
“Felix ran up a tree and literally nearly broke his neck.” Tate’s brows drew together in a scowl. “If you say you’re watching the kids, you need to either do so or hand them over to another adult.”
Megan went pale. “Oh, God. I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.”
“What were you doing that was so important you needed to dump your family?” He peered at her more closely. “Is your lip gloss smeared? I swear to God, if you’ve been anywhere near that Sinclair boy—”
“I haven’t!” Megan’s voice went high, angry and defensive. Lainey felt a twinge of sympathy. She could understand why Tate was protective of his sister, but she also knew what it was to cringe under the lash of family criticism.
“I’m Kat,” she said brightly, striding forward and thrusting her hand out.
“Megan,” the girl muttered. “Pleased to meet you. If you’re going to date my brother, you should talk to me first. I could tell you a few things about him…like he’s a total control freak over-reacting asswipe.”
“Date? What?” Lainey’s mouth fell open.
“Excuse you? Language.” Tate looked outraged.