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“Soon to be Bella Weaver-Sloane, when I marry that stud over there,” she said with a smug grin as she pointed toward the two men still arguing over the music.
Iris’s eyes immediately went to the big, gorgeous man with the serious handsome features in appreciation.
“Ooh no, hun,” Jazz muttered beneath his breath, when he saw the direction Iris’s eyes had drifted. “Wrong stud. The big guy is married to the tiny pregnant dynamo over there.”
Aah, okay. The couples seemed slightly mismatched, but a glance over at the gorgeous dreamy eyed blonde woman still staring at the two men confirmed that she’d locked eyes with the skinny, angular man in the ill-fitting suit and glasses. He was good-looking too, but in a less overt way than the other guys here.
“Excuse me,” Bella said, not taking her eyes off her fiancé. “I think I’ll add my voice to Pete’s. Ty can be such a bossy arse sometimes.” She drifted away, then paused to look over her shoulder with a smile. “It’s really lovely to meet you, Iris. We’ll chat more later.”
Iris returned her smile and then focused her attention on Jazz. “So, who are you going to murder tonight and why?”
“Oh. Hugh, the uptight twat in the three-piece suit. Would it kill him to unbutton his collar? Maybe loosen his tie a bit?”
“You’re pissed off because of the way he’s dressed?”
“No, I’m pissed off because he thinks he’s so much better than the rest of mankind. Mr. Perfect, never a hair out of place, lording it over the rest of us feeble-minded commoners.”
It seemed like an irrational rant from someone so convivial. And she wondered what the underlying story there was. He soon abandoned the topic of Hugh and took her around the room to introduce her to Pete, Bella’s fiancé, then the pregnant woman, Vicki, and her husband, Ty Chambers—their hosts this evening. Hugh, he ignored, and the man came over to introduce himself when Jazz left her chatting with Vicki and Ty to make a beeline for Colby who was pouring herself a glass of wine.
“Those two are thick as thieves,” Vicki confided in Iris after Hugh wandered off to get a drink as well. “They’ve bonded over the fact that they both have difficult relationships with a couple of members of the group. Specifically, Jazz with Hugh and Colby with Chance.”
“Chance and Colby don’t get along?” Iris asked in surprise.
She’d only been living in the house for four days, and she hadn’t seen them together much in that time, but Chance struck her as the type of man who’d get along with everybody, and considering their unusual living arrangement, she’d assumed they at least liked each other. Surely you had to like the person you shared a house—and a bathroom! —with.
“Oh, I thought you’d have picked up on that since you’re, uhm, staying with them…” Vicki’s voice trailed off. She was clearly uncomfortable gossiping about her friends and Iris, people-pleaser that she was, immediately steered the conversation in a different direction.
“So, when’s the baby due?” she asked.
The woman stared at her blankly.
“Baby? What baby? Oh my God, are you calling me fat?”
Iris’s mouth dropped open in horror and she could feel her eyes bulging from her head in her desperation not to drop her gaze to the woman’s protruding belly.
“Jesus, Vicki,” Ty berated her, in his twangy American accent. For such a big guy, he had a quiet voice, the timbre of it almost soothing. “Behave.”
Vicki snorted and then guffawed, and before long she was howling. “I’m so sorry, Iris, I couldn’t resist. The expression on your face…”
Iris joined in the woman’s infectious laughter after a few seconds.
“Fine, you got me,” she said, after the laughter had died down. “For a second there I was convinced I’d committed the absolute worst social faux pas.”
That set Vicki off again and when she finally stopped, she wiped tears from her eyes.
“In answer to your perfectly fine question, Iris,” Ty said, giving his wife a pointed look. She rolled her eyes unrepentantly. Iris liked her a lot. “She’s eight months along.”
“And she really shouldn’t be hosting tonight,” Hugh—who’d rejoined them just as Ty replied—inserted, with a censorious glare at Ty.
“It’s like you don’t know your sister, Hugh,” Ty scoffed.
“We entrusted her to you, Ty. This isn’t what I call taking good care of her.” Wow, Iris was starting to see why Jazz had said the man had a stick up his arse. Then again, he appeared legitimately concerned for Vicki, whom Iris hadn’t realized was his sister until now.
“I don’t need anyone to take care of me, Hughie,” Vicki dismissed with a nonchalant wave, before refocusing her attention on Iris. “Do you have any over-protective big brothers, Iris?”
“A younger one, and he likes to act all tough and protective, but he’s just a baby, really.”
“I have two. In fact, you stayed in the home of my older brother, Miles, last month with…” Her voice trailed off and her face paled.
