“Dad,” Mitchell calls, obviously sensing my distraction, but I can’t seem to pull my eyes off December when she starts to laugh along with the man sitting way too fucking close to her.

“Dad, are you okay?” Max grabs my hand and attention, and I attempt to ignore the knife that suddenly seems to be jammed into my gut as I look at him.

“I’m good.” I force my feet to move while giving both my kids reassuring looks.

I can’t say I ever saw December before her cousin’s wedding, but I swear she’s everywhere I am now, haunting me like a bad dream. Fuck. I should have taken the shot she gave me with one look after our talk, when she’d been obviously open to us getting to know each other without the other bullshit in the way. I should have fucking put my stupid inhibitions aside and asked her if she wanted to get together for dinner or a drink.

Fuck. I’m an idiot, and now she’s out with another guy, her cousin, and his wife, obviously enjoying herself enough to laugh freely.

When we finally enter the private room, the boys and I greet my sisters with hugs then settle into our seats at the table. The fancy salad that is served to us first tastes like shit, but I force myself to eat, wanting my boys to follow my lead. When the main course comes out—steak, fancy mashed potatoes, and asparagus—I don’t enjoy a single bite, even though it looks delicious. My mind is on the woman in the other room, and the jealousy that is still twisting my insides.

Halfway through the main course, with people chatting around me and the boys entertained by their aunts, I tell them quietly that I’ll be back then get up from the table. I leave the room and head toward the bar to get a beer but stop midway when I spot December heading toward the bathrooms at the back of the restaurant. I glance at the table she was at earlier and note that Sage, his wife, and the man who December was sitting next to are all still eating, so I change direction and follow her.

Not sure what the fuck it is I’m doing, I try to talk myself into leaving her be as she’s in the bathroom, but the image of her laughing with the man has consumed my thoughts. And the idea of her going home with him has filled me with jealousy. When she comes out of the restroom with her head down, I don’t even think about what I’m doing. Honestly, I don’t even know if I have control over myself at this point. I block her path, and as she looks up, her eyes meet mine and widen. I bore down on her with my stare then grab hold of her hips and start walking her backward toward the end of the hall where it’s dark.

“Gareth,” she whispers, and I drop my head forward to look her in the eye. Fuck, she’s tiny, so fucking short and so damn innocent-looking, even wearing the somewhat revealing, black, clingy-as-fuck dress she has on. “What are you doing?” Her voice is breathless.

“Who are you here with?” Fuck. Why the fuck did I ask her that question? I don’t want to know who that fucking guy is or if she’s dating someone, and really I have no fucking right to ask her that question when she isn’t even mine.

“What?” Her hands move to my chest to hold me back as I press her more firmly against the wall. “Sage?”

“Not Sage,” I growl, and her eyes widen.

“My cousin.”

“I know Sage is your cousin.” I dip my face closer to hers, smelling the sweet, sultry scent of her perfume. “The other guy, who the fuck is he to you?”

“Talon.”

The way she says his name sets my teeth on edge. “Are you seeing him now?”

“No.” Her face twist. “He’s Sage’s brother and my cousin.” My jaw clenches tight. Why the fuck didn’t I think about that guy being her cousin? Shit, I should have fucking known, should have remembered the Mayson family is huge. “Can you let me go now?” she asks.

“No,” I say without thinking.

Her mouth opens and shuts before she asks, “No?”

“Um, Dad?” At the sound of Mitchell’s voice, I swing my head around and find my son standing close but not too close, with his eyes bouncing between December and me.

“Dad?” December whispers, sounding surprised.

I let her go and take a step back while I turn to face Mitch, whose eyes are on her, and he looks confused. Not confused because he just found his old man holding a woman against a wall, but like he’s confused as to why I’m holding December against a wall.

“Hey, Mitch,” December says softly, and I tip my head down toward her, wondering how she knows my boy. “Your dad and I were just—”

“How do you know Ms. Mayson?” Mitch asks me before December can finish speaking, and I wonder how the hell he knows her. And then I remember her telling me she’s a teacher, but I thought for sure she said she taught kindergarten or first grade.

“We’re friends,” she tells him, coming to stand at my side.

“You are?” He looks to me for confirmation.

“We are,” I agree, then ask, “Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, Aunt Selma said I had to come ask you if Max and I can have another Coke, since we already had one.”

“Are you two going to be bouncing off the walls all night?”

“Probably.” He smiles and I sigh, which makes him grin. “Tell your aunt I said it’s cool.”

“Cool,” he says, and then he looks at December. “See you Wednesday, Ms. Mayson.”

“See you Wednesday,” she returns with a smile in her voice, and I wait until he disappears around the corner then look down at her and raise a brow. “What?”

“Wednesday?”

“Wednesdays, I take my class to the high school for a mentoring program. It’s kinda like Big Brothers Big Sisters, but during school hours. My kids love it.”

“Mitch is a mentor?”

“Yeah, he and a few other kids from his grade.”

“How long has he been doing that?”

“Since the school year started,” she says, and I look toward the end of the hall, wondering why he never mentioned it to me. Then I wonder if he has but I don’t remember because I didn’t really pay attention when he brought it up.

Fuck, I need to pay more attention to my boys. Especially Mitchell, seeing how I was about his age when I started getting really interested in girls. Shit.

With a short shake of my head, I look at December. “You should get back to your family.”

“What?” she breathes.

“You should get back to your family before they start to worry,” I say then start to walk away, my mind filling with unhappy thoughts about my boys growing up and exactly what that could mean for our futures. Futures I pray are centered around sports and colleges, not picking out cribs and trying to find money to pay for diapers.

“Hold on.” She steps in front of me with her head shaking and her blonde hair flying over her shoulders as her palms come up to rest against my chest to push me back. “What just happened back there?” She waves one hand toward the wall she was up against not even five minutes ago.

“Nothing happened.”

Her eyes narrow. “Did you just say nothing happened?”

“Go back to your family, December.”

“You’re unbelievable,” she hisses loudly, shoving my shoulder.