“No. You need to come cuddle me.”

“I have been cuddling you. All day. Now we have to go.”

When his phone went off again, he swore. “Fucking Christ, Julie, we’re coming.” He pulled me down for a quick kiss, one that I felt all the way to my toes, and then he was out of bed.

I rushed across the room to my bag, horrified when I realized I had nothing suitable. “I don’t have anything to wear!”

He stopped and turned to me, eyeing my bag suspiciously. “Seriously?”

“I can’t wear a stage outfit!” I cried, letting the panic over our upcoming dinner sneak in. “Today was laundry day. I have nothing nice clean!”

“Jeans, babe. Wear jeans.”

I threw my hands in the air. “It’s a swanky hotel restaurant. They’ll turn me away!”

In two strides he was in front of me and his hands were gripping the back of my head, tipping my face up to his. Then his lips were on mine. “Calm down.” He slid his nose up my cheek, and then kissed my forehead in a soothing gesture. “You could go down there dressed in a brown paper bag and they’d let you in. I need you to relax so you can keep me calm, okay? Julie always manages to nitpick her way under my skin, and I’m gonna need you to distract me. Please?”

I nodded, cupping his cheek. “I’m your girl.” I meant that I was the girl for the job, that he could count on me, that I would let go of my stupid anxiety and focus on him.

I could tell by the odd look that passed over his face that he had taken my words another way. “You are.” His eyes softened as he leaned his forehead against mine. “Don’t you forget it.”

I don’t know what I expected. I’d met Julie briefly a few months ago at Nate and Lia’s wedding. And I’d gotten to visit with Jake a handful of times over the years. But Janet was new to me, and I’d never been alone with the Carson family. It didn’t matter how many times Mike insisted that they weren’t his family, when you saw them together, it was obvious.

Jake had sprouted up a few inches from the last time I’d seen him, and even though Mike had dyed his hair dark, Jake was the spitting image of his dad in every other way. It was almost eerie to see the resemblance. Jake could have been a clone.

Jake may have looked just like his daddy, but Janet looked just like their mom.

When we stepped off the elevator, a child’s excited shriek greeted us. Then a blur was running toward us at full speed, yelling, “Daddy Mike! Daddy Mike!”

The man next to me didn’t hesitate. He didn’t stop to remember that the little girl barreling toward him wasn’t his flesh and blood. The look of pure joy on his face as he dropped to one knee and held open his arms was enough to break my heart. If it hadn’t been enough to make me want to cry, the kiss she planted on his cheek and the way she wrapped her little arms around his neck, as if she never wanted to let go, were.

“Janet!” Julie snapped as she approached us. “Let Uncle Mike breathe.” The fact that she corrected the name Janet used was not lost on me, and I hated the tone she used.

Mike stood, the little girl on his hip. “She’s fine.” His tone left no room for argument, and he adjusted his attention to the young man a few feet away, his face instantly transforming and showing pure delight. Holding out his free arm, he asked, “Too old to hug your dad in public?”

Jake shook his head, Mike’s joy mirrored on his face, and he lunged for his dad. “I missed you, Dad!”

“I missed you more, bud!” Mike assured him, ruffling his hair. He looked up, meeting my eyes and giving me a shy smile. “Nettie, this is my friend Molly. Molly, this is Janet. And you remember Jake and Julie.”

They all seemed to notice me at the same time, and three sets of eyes turned to me. Jake mumbled a hello, but when I smiled at him, a deep red crept up his cheeks. Janet offered me a toothy grin, but didn’t say anything.

“Hello again, Molly.” Julie’s voice was cool, obviously annoyed. She offered me a small, tight smile. “I hadn’t realized you were going to join us.”

“I invited her.” Mike spoke up before I could respond.

“Of course you did.” She rolled her eyes, fluffing her hair back over her shoulder and smoothing her hands over an exquisite black pantsuit that molded to her perfectly toned body and looked like it cost more than my entire wardrobe—and I had decent clothes. “I thought we were going to have time to talk.”

“I’m working, Julie.” Mike’s tone wasn’t enough to upset the kids, but it definitely held a warning. “I told you I was working this weekend.”

“Nice to see things have changed.” Her voice dripped with sarcasm as she turned and headed across the lobby toward the restaurant.

Mike caught my eye over the kids’ heads and rolled them exaggeratedly. He tipped his head in the direction she’d gone. “After you, beautiful.”

Janet was glued to Mikey, chattering all the way across the lobby about how much she’d missed him. Once we were shown to a table, she demanded a seat next to him at dinner. Not that I blamed her—she’d been without him for far too long. Jake had apparently gotten over his embarrassment and wanted to sit next to me, and Julie insisted that she sit between her children, which left my free side next to Mike. I wouldn’t complain about that.

We ordered drinks and I perused the menu while the kids made small talk with their parents until our waiter came back. When it was my turn, I ordered my favorite and he moved on to Mike.

Jake leaned toward me, elbow on the table, and stared at me horrified. “You got steak.”

I nodded, glancing at Mike, unsure of what the teenager was trying to imply. “I did.”

“You eat meat?”

I sat a little straighter, realizing that I must have made the biggest faux pas ever. I hadn’t listened to what everyone else ordered. Was Mike’s family vegetarian? Why would he not tell me that? I swallowed roughly. “I do. Do you not?”

“No, I do.” Jake nodded. “I just read somewhere that you didn’t.”

“Really?” I giggled at that. I found it so absurd that people read random facts about my life—usually none of them real—in magazines and online. “Well, that one’s not true. What else did you read?”

He sipped his water then twisted his lips in thought. The same way I’d seen his dad react to questions. Then his eyes lit up and darted over my shoulder, probably at his dad, before meeting mine. He beamed at me, then took a deep breath. “Did you really get asked to pose for Playboy?”

Mike choked on his drink behind me, but I ignored him, shaking my head. “Nope. It was Penthouse.”

The choking turned into a coughing fit, and I almost turned to ask him if he was okay.

“Are you going to do it?”

“Jacob Nathaniel!” Julie hissed, setting her glass of water down hard enough for it to spill over the side. Glaring at me, she seethed, “Not a conversation to have with my son.”

She had a really good point, and I felt the heat rise in my cheeks.

Jake just shrugged. “It’s not like it’s a secret, Mom. You can find the answer anywhere online.” Turning back to me, he asked again, “So, are you going to pose for them?”

“Over my dead body,” Mike growled, causing all eyes at the table to turn to him. He only shook his head. “Not happening.”

It was my turn to shrug as I turned back to Jake. “I actually haven’t decided yet.”

“I just decided for you,” Mike countered.

I snapped my head back toward him. “A photo shoot is the safest place there is. Not something you have to worry about. I told them that after the tour we’d talk.”

Mike leaned into my space, nose practically touching mine. “Penthouse is a thousand times worse than Playboy. Have you ever even seen one? The kind of pictures they publish?”

I shook my head, because I actually had no idea what kind of pictures they printed.

“You are not going to pose for them. End of discussion.”

Julie cleared her throat, bringing us both back to the present, and I glanced at the tables closest to us. No one was watching us, and if they had heard our conversation, they were doing an expert job pretending they hadn’t. God bless L.A. and the people that were so used to seeing real celebrities involved in scandalous situations that they didn’t pay us any attention.