She thought for a moment about turning around and running back out of the house, but there was no way she could give away how much this man affected her. Jewell probably just hadn’t thought about the awkwardness when she invited both McKenzie and Byron to dinner. After all, McKenzie had brought Byron to their dinner last week.
If only she’d taken the time to talk to Jewell after then, to let her know that Byron was the last man on earth she wanted to spend any more of her precious social time with. Too late now, though. She wasn’t about to make a scene in her best friend’s home.
“Evening, darling,” Blake said as he walked right up to his wife and pulled her into his arms, kissing her like he hadn’t seen her in months instead of hours.
“I missed you,” Jewell told him before giggling as Blake pulled back.
His hand went to her belly. “Our son or daughter has a good, solid kick,” he said, and he looked adoringly into her eyes.
“Just like their mother,” she said with a wink.
“I’m famished,” he said with a wicked smile that made McKenzie squirm where she stood.
What in the world was wrong with her? She had hosted an escort service! A few words shouldn’t make her blush. Thankfully Justin saved them all.
“You two are disgusting, and you’re forgetting there are other people in the room,” he said.
Blake laughed before moving over and pulling Justin to his feet, giving him a hug, and then turning back to his wife. “Well, I’m hungry for real food, too,” he said with a wink.
“You are terrible,” Jewell pretended to huff. “But I guess I should feed you.”
“You said your back was hurting not five minutes ago,” Byron interrupted, and Blake instantly looked concerned. “Let me and McKenzie get the food together while you rest for half an hour.”
McKenzie was so shocked by his offer to help, she didn’t even take offense that he’d also volunteered her. If flies had been hanging around in the room, they would have buzzed right into her open mouth.
“You’re guests,” Jewell protested. “I couldn’t have you do that.”
“Of course you can. We’re family now, aren’t we?” Byron pointed out.
“Let me give you a back rub and see if that helps,” Blake suggested as he began pulling her toward the stairs.
“I have a bit of homework to do anyway and I’d rather get it done before dinner so I can play on the X-Box after,” Justin piped in, rushing from the room.
Jewell looked at McKenzie. “If you’re sure you don’t mind…”
McKenzie certainly couldn’t beg her pregnant friend not to go and lie down, but, oh, how she wanted to. She wanted anything but to be left alone with Byron, especially doing something as domestic as cooking together. She should have tried much harder to refuse Blake’s invitation to dinner.
“Go get some rest. We’ll make sure you have a wonderful dinner” is what McKenzie ended up saying, of course.
Then Blake led Jewell away, and McKenzie found herself standing there awkwardly with Byron, the first time she’d been alone with him since after dinner in the bistro last week. The fates weren’t in her favor right now. Even at the office, other people had been around.
“After you, McKenzie,” Byron said, holding out a hand. She was left with no choice but to go along with him to the gourmet kitchen. “How was work today? I was solving a crisis on a job site,” he told her as he looked in the fridge before he started to bring things out.
“It went smoothly,” she lied, and she waited for him to tell her what to do.
When all the dinner fixings were on the counter, he looked back at her. “I’ll do the meat if you want to get the salad ready,” he said, and he began unwrapping the steaks.
“That’s fine.” She found a cutting board and began dicing vegetables and putting them into a bowl.
Soon the two of them were moving around the kitchen together, and though it was large, McKenzie noticed that Byron was taking every opportunity possible to touch her. It was just a slight brush here, and their arms bumping there, but it was enough to drive her batty.
By the time he was letting the meat rest and whipping up a quick sauce for it, and she had the table set and the side dishes ready on the table, her nerves were stretched thin. She was more than ready for her friend to come back into the room and break up the tension. If Jewell didn’t show soon, McKenzie was calling a cab and getting the heck out of Dodge.
“It smells delicious down here,” Jewell said.
McKenzie whirled around when Blake and Jewell came strolling back into the room, Jewell’s cheeks practically glowing. McKenzie’s eyes narrowed in suspicion. Had her friend’s back truly been hurting, or had it all been a pretense to leave her alone with Byron? Just wait till she got Jewell alone for five minutes!
“Thank you, Jewell. We’ve been slaving away,” Byron said. He placed the meat on the table and then the four of them sat down.
“Yeah, I’m sure you had a rough time,” Blake said.
“Don’t you need to call Justin?” McKenzie asked as they all started dishing up.
“He’s on an iPad chat with a school mate trying to figure out their group project so we told him to finish up and then he could grab frozen burritos. The kid doesn’t like steak for some reason,” Blake said.
“He likes what he likes,” Jewell defended.
“He’s incredible,” Blake said, leaning over and kissing her.
“How has this year gone?” McKenzie asked Blake.
Last year Blake had found out he was the father of Justin, who was Jewell’s brother. It was long and complicated, but it had all worked out beautifully and McKenzie was really glad the three of them had found each other.
“It’s been strange becoming a dad to an adolescent boy, but I adore him, and he’s so damn smart. He’ll be working in the offices in no time at all,” Blake said, a proud smile on his face.
“As long as you don’t make him grow up too fast,” Jewell insisted.
“I’ve already missed too much. I wouldn’t think of making him grow too fast,” Blake said.
“This steak is fantastic,” Jewell said when there was a pause for a moment.
“I have secret methods of cooking ribeye,” Byron bragged.
“Yeah, you throw it in a pan and watch it sizzle,” Blake said.
“Hey. I know how to impress in the kitchen,” Byron insisted.