I shot him a tight smile. Mr. and Mrs. Decker were nowhere to be found, not that I could blame them with this bunch.
“Could one of you go help him down the stairs? He hurt his ankle.”
“Physical harm too?” Michael tipped his chin. “Bad kitty.”
“You’re how old again, Michael?” I crossed my arms as I marched up to where they were stationed around the table. They were an intimidating bunch, not that I’d let them know it. I might have been biased where Soren was concerned, but the other three hadn’t struck out in the looks department either.
Michael held out his arms. “Twenty-two.”
“Hmm,” I mused, looking him over. “It doesn’t show.”’
The two brothers stationed around him slapped his back.
“I just ordered my subscription to Vogue,” Michael announced, all formal-like.
“Sounds like you’ll be in every edition for a while.”
When I didn’t answer, he lifted something from his lap. It was this month’s edition. Then he flipped it open to a marked page. It was a photo of me, the client being an Asian swimwear company. It looked like the type of swimsuit a person would wear in outer space and the pose wasn’t the least bit provocative, but three sets of eyes devoured it like I was a centerfold.
“Like Vogue goes well with your Playboys.” Tobin gave Michael a hard enough shove, he almost fell out of the chair.
When Michael went to push him back, Tobin moved. “Fresh spank bank material is always welcome in my household.” He twisted the magazine around for me to see, his brows moving.
“You mean your rat-infested flat in Tribeca.”
“Better than that cardboard box you sold hand jobs for.”
I was just about to ease out of the kitchen to wait for Soren when the back door opened and Mr. and Mrs. Decker came in. Soren’s dad was holding a tray with a few barbecued chickens, and his mom was holding a package of foil with hot mitts. It smelled like corn on the cob.
Caroline’s mouth dropped when she noticed the magazine. “Michael, what are you doing with that out? Put that away right now. Hayden’s going to think we’re some kind of stalkers or something and never come back.”
Michael handed over the magazine when his mom held out her hand. Or hot mitt. She put the magazine up on the fridge, where there were a few other magazines.
“Soren lets me know what magazines you’re in so I can pick them up when I go to the grocery store,” she explained when she caught me looking. “It’s silly, I know, but it’s just so neat to look at this elegant woman in a fashion magazine and think that’s my son’s roommate.”
My chest gave a little pang. I hadn’t realized Soren listened when I gushed to him which magazines had campaigns I was in. And here was his mom, making sure to pick up a copy of those magazines just because I was the girl who shared an apartment with her son.
Although now, I guessed I was more than that.
“Have I made you totally uncomfortable now? If my sons didn’t already manage to do so?” Caroline set the foil container of corn on the counter, half of her face pulling up.
My head shook. “You, not at all. Your sons, at least these three? Maybe.”
The three brothers nudged one another like they were proud of themselves.
“Hayden.” Mr. Decker approached with an easy smile after setting down the tray of chickens. “I feel like I already know you, but it’s nice to officially meet you.” Like his wife, he gave me a hug instead of a handshake. “Sorry, we’re huggers in this family.”
I was just shaking my head to show I didn’t mind when a trio of chairs shoved away from the table, three bodies rising right after.
“You know what? We are a family of huggers.” Ben grinned, moving around the table toward me.
“Thanks for the timely reminder, Dad,” Tobin added, following his brother.
That was when someone stepped into the kitchen from the hallway, walking like his ankle wasn’t the size of a small planet. “Take a seat. All three of you,” Soren said, crossing his arms.
“How’s that ankle doing, sweetheart?” Michael winked at Soren as everyone started to settle around the table.
Soren made sure I was on the opposite end of the table from his brothers before he slid into the chair beside me. “Better than you’re going to be doing in five seconds if you don’t shut up.”
“You should come around more often, Hayden.” When Ben reached for the stack of corn Caroline set on the table, she blocked his hand. “You really bring out the testosterone in Soren. Nice to see he’s not really a little girl.”
“This little girl never had a problem kicking your ass.” Soren scooted his chair a few inches closer to me, his hand finding mine under the table.
Energy surged from my hand up my arm as I took a moment to wrap my head around the fact that Soren and I had made out, intensely, one floor above, five minutes ago. He was just holding my hand, but I could feel more in that touch. The anticipation of what was to come? The reminder of what already had? The comfort of knowing he was there?
There was a lot in that palm-to-palm embrace.
“Soren, I don’t know why you’re acting all King Kong about with your roommate. She’s way too tall for you.” Michael got up and grabbed some beers from the fridge.
“Yeah, and she’s way too smart for you, shithead.” Soren winced, tipping his head back at where his mom was while I grinned into my drink. He was sensitive on the height/intelligence topic. “Sorry, Mom.”
She waved it off like trying to get four boys to behave had been a failed endeavor years ago.
“If she’s so smart—no offense to you, Hayden, all offense directed at the moron to your right—what’s she doing . . . hanging out with you?” The way Michael’s eyes gleamed as he said it left no guessing as to what kind of hanging out he was getting at.
Soren leaned toward me. “You ever noticed how the bigger the dick, the smaller the penis?”
“Soren,” his mom chided as she and Mr. Decker carried the giant tray of chicken to the table.
“Sorry, Mom,” he popped off again, the response trained into him from the sounds of it.
“It would be nice if we could have a dinner guest over who is able to make it through an entire dinner without arriving at the conclusion that I am an unfit mother based on the way you four talk and behave.” Mrs. Decker gave my back a gentle squeeze before she slid into the chair beside me.
“I don’t know about those ones”—my gaze moved down the line of brothers across the table before I nudged the youngest beside me—“but this one turned out pretty great. You’re an awesome mom.”
Her face softened as she folded her napkin into her lap. “Okay, you’re coming to dinner every Thursday night.”
“All for this motion,” Tobin boomed in an authoritative tone.
His brothers stabbed their arms into the air.
Across the table, Soren waved his middle finger at them.
Mrs. Decker just sighed. “Behave. All four of you.”