Read Always (Family Justice Book 1) for Free Online

Bennett,” he chuckled. “Damn glad you’re here. We’ve got our work cut out for us, h mmm ?”
    She smirked in agreement and gave him a mild push out the car door. “Go find that wicked redhead to kiss.”
    He laughed and then quite literally bounded from the car like an anxious puppy longing for his master. She watched in astonishment as Alex hurried along the walkway and flung open the heavy, wide Spanish door. She could just barely make out his booming voice as he called out, “Where’s my woman?” Wow. Was it petulant and bitchy to be jealous of someone else’s happiness?
    She was leaning against the side of the car, absorbing the quiet natural beauty and the glory of a desert autumn day as Ben unloaded her luggage when she heard Carmen approach.
    “Holà, Stephanie,” the Latino woman boomed. “Welcome back.”
    She smiled warmly at the gregarious woman and grabbed hold for a genuine hug. Stephanie loved Carmen. A decade her senior and from a completely different culture, they’d become fast friends due more to their similarities than differences. Each was tenacious about family, doing the right thing and giving more than taking.
    “It’s so good to see you, honey,” Stephanie gushed with a good dose of Southern drawl. Stepping back to smile broadly into the housekeeper’s face, she waggled an eyebrow and quirked a crooked grin. “Had to escape the kissing booth, h mmm ?”
    They both roared with laughter. Carmen nodded her head at the house and crowed in a conspiratorial whisper, “Still have the air conditioning on. From the heat. Wink, wink,” she finished with a hilarious exaggerated wink.
    Wrapping her arm through Carmen’s, the two friends ambled up the walk, taking their good ol’ time so the young lovers could have their moment.
    “Ah, true love, yes?” Carmen uttered on a sigh.
    “Indeed,” Stephanie replied, hugging the other woman’s arm close. “Speaking of which, how’s Gus doing these days? Still behaving himself?”
    “Oh, shhh!” Carmen gasped, her eyes darting around to make sure no one heard the comment. Lord, the lady was priceless. Didn’t matter how young or old you were when love appeared on your doorstep, well…
    “Don’t you be shushing me, darling. That old coot finally take his head out of his butt and start wooing you or what?”
    Speaking low, in a hushed whisper, Carmen said, “A little of both. Men, is that right?” she asked in that cute way she had when her emotions straddled two cultures.
    “Yes, my friend. Men!”
    They laughed and stopped right outside the door to the Villa. In her very best majordomo voice, Carmen waved her inside graciously and announced, “Welcome to the Love Shack.”

STEPHANIE WAS COMING DOWN OFF the emotional welcome at the Villa as she sat silently in the motorized cart on her way down the private road to the St. John homestead. Ben, as usual, was chatting away as he drove along. The bulk of her luggage had already been delivered from the limo so Tori and Draegyn knew she’d arrived and was on her way.
    At the Villa, Meghan had been every inch the perfect other half to Alex’s old-world charm, greeting her with warmth and social grace like she’d been born to the role. She really liked the ladylike redhead. Alex’s fiancée had that va-va-va-voom quality Stephanie saw a lot of at work. But this lady was the real deal.
    Friendly and outgoing, she had a delightful way of putting everyone around her at ease. Alex, of course, barely took his eyes off her. He positively radiated a chest-thumping male satisfaction at his choice of mates. Was there perhaps something in the water here that made so much love possible? Everyone, it seemed, had paired off. Even Gus and Carmen.
    After a brief chat, Meghan let her know a family barbecue was on tap for the next day. Stephanie said her good-byes, conferred briefly with Carmen about her accommodations at Draegyn and Victoria’s house, and headed off into the late afternoon