Page 116 of Caught Up

I grabbed his arm and dragged him from the room. “It’s because they know they haven’t won you over yet.”

“I don’t think that’s it,” Nic said. “After Fred ran my guard dog off, Maud threatened me with a knife.”

I snorted. “Sure she did.”

We grabbed more food dishes from the kitchen and headed back outside, and the next five minutes passed in a flurry of activity as we all worked together to set the table, pour drinks, and settle down to eat.

“No Moira tonight?” Taylor asked.

Nic shook his head. “Her and my dad are at couples counseling.”

The fallout from the last Trocci family dinner was still unfolding. Stefan was nowhere to be found, and Greg and Alec had threatened to move out of their parents’ house if things didn’t change. Nico Senior wasn’t handling it well, to say the least, but I took heart in the fact that he was at least willing to continue therapy, and Moira had said he’d started asking about Nic recently. And not in aninformation-gatheringkind of way, but like he was genuinely curious about Nic’s new life.

Who knew, maybe he’d actually make some progress and learn to be a better person. But we weren’t holding our breath.

“Where’s Tyler?” Aly asked.

Josh took a sip of wine and set his glass down. “He said he’s running a few minutes late and to start without him. Oh, and he’s bringing a date.”

Aly’s brows rose. “Do we know who?”

Josh shook his head. “No. It’s weird, I used to beg him to stop oversharing with me when we lived together, but ever since I moved out, I’ve had no idea what’s going on in his life.”

That was my cue to turn back to my own wine. Tyler had kept his promise and mostly let Nic handle theday-to-dayoperations of their new joint business venture, and while I hated keeping secrets from friends, this one wasn’t mine to tell—I’d promised Nic I wouldn’t repeat it. I just hoped that Aly and Josh understood when it finally came to light. It seemed likely they would, what with how many secrets they kept themselves, but you never knew.

We plated our food and tucked in to eat, talking and laughing as day faded into night. Tyler showed up halfway through the meal, towing a tall, stunning woman behind him. Stella, he told us. The pair looked like an odd couple, at first, him with his blond hair andcorn-fedgood looks, and her with herraven-darklocks and innumerable tattoos, but something about themworked. Maybe it was because they were both impeccably dressed, like they planned to attend some sort of gala or art exhibition after dinner, or the way they eyed each other as they approached, kept finding excuses to touch each other as they sat at the end of the table.

Tyler immediately started piling food onto his plate, but Stella abstained.

“I’m so sorry,” she said, her voice lower than I expected, cultured. “I ate before we came. I have food sensitivities and didn’t want you to have to worry about it. It’s my fault we’re late.”

Tyler reached out and took her hand in his. It was a gesture of comfort, of kindness, the least douchey thing I had ever seen him do, and it had me looking at Stella in a new light.

Aly waved her off. “Oh, you’re fine. We’re a sensitivity household, so next time just let us know ahead of time, and we’ll make sure you have options. Or you can bring your own food. We won’t be insulted.”

Stella smiled, and it was like the sun had come back out to shine down on our party. There were a lot of pretty people at this table, but Stella gave even Josh a run for his money. She was obviously way too good for Tyler, but from the way he doted on her during the meal, he seemed to know it and was on his best behavior. I prayed she stuck around. With her here, his presence was 90 percent more tolerable.

“You want another beer?” I asked Nic as dinner was winding down. He’d finally started drinking some, and I found hisrock-bottomtolerance for alcohol adorable. He was cute when he was tipsy, cuddlier than normal and more effusive.

“Are you driving us home?” he asked, leaning in to kiss my shoulder.

“Are you actually going to let me drive your precious baby?” I shot back. While the sun was still warm during the day, temps were starting to drop at night, and the bike was almost done for the season, so we’d taken his car.

“Can you drive stick?” he asked.

I slipped my hand beneath the tablecloth and ran my fingers over his crotch, framing his dick. “You know I can.”

Aly made a retching noise. “I heard that.”

I pulled my hand away and shot her a grin. “Sorry.”

“No, you’re not,” she said, slugging down the rest of her wine.

“She really isn’t,” Ryan confirmed. “Just yesterday, I caught them—”

“So! Tyler!” Josh interrupted in the most unsubtle topic change ever. “How did you and Stella meet?”

The pair turned toward each other, sharing a look that seemed to encompass an entire conversation. Finally, Stella gave the briefest of nods.

“Well,” Tyler said, glancing back up the table, “that’s kind of a long story.”