Page 28 of Born for Starlight

"For God’s sake, spill it already,” Chloe was clearly exasperated.

“I think you should take Matthew.” Zoe gave me a totally non-convincing innocent look.

And there it is.

I kept my face thoughtful. Mildly surprised, like this angle had never once occurred to me. Like the man hadn't looked at me and said if you need someone, I'd like it to be me in a voice I'd been hearing in my head for a week.

It was like shooting fish in a barrel.

"Huh." I took a slow bite of brownie. "You know, that’s not a bad idea. Why didn't I think of that?"

Kit made a sound. She turned it into a cough at the last second, a truly terrible fake cough, and buried her face in Josie's hair.

Bonnie's eyes narrowed. "What's funny?"

"Nothing." Kit patted her own chest. "Crumb."

"You weren't eating anything."

"It was a preemptive crumb."

I glared at her over Bonnie's head. Kit gazed back at me with the serene face of a woman who had won an Oscar for a reason.

"I'm serious," Zoe pressed on, merciful enough or oblivious enough to let it go. "Think about it. Jase has Bonnie and the twins to consider. Matthew’s obviously at loose ends since he’s just here helping Onyx, and according to my extremely reliable sources, the man has a background."

"What kind of background?" Trenda asked.

"Nobody knows. That's the point. He's mysterious."

"He's cagey," I corrected. Too cagey?

"You say cagey like it's a bad thing. You're cagey. You could be cagey together."

Bella came back through the doorway balancing a stack of little plates, James trailing behind her with the blue napkins held out in front of him like precious cargo.

"Aunt Zoe," Bella announced, "James has concerns about the wedding."

"Do not! I just asked a question.” He set the napkins down with great care, then looked up at Zoe. "Bella says at weddings you have to kiss in front of everybody. Is that true?"

Zoe pressed her lips together. "It's true, buddy."

James wrinkled his nose and turned to Bella. “You were right.”

“Told you,” she said in the superior voice of a preteen female. “But the kissing is only for the ones getting married," Bella assured him. "Your job is just to stand there with the ring until they take it from you. And then you get cake after."

"Cake?" James's whole outlook transformed. "Really?" He looked to me for confirmation.

“For real.”

"He was already in," Zoe murmured, "but I love that he thinks he had a choice."

The front door opened, and a familiar voice called out. "It's Code. Everybody decent?"

"Define decent," I called back.

Code Drakos came around the corner, and I watched my cousin's entire face light up when he saw his wife holding Josie. It was like his world had just been made right.

He crossed straight to Kit, kissed the top of her head, then scooped Josie up off her lap. Josie shrieked with joy and grabbed two fistfuls of his shirt, and this man, this former Army cyber specialist who could probably crash a small government before breakfast, melted like butter on a hot biscuit.