Bad Boys of Red Hook [2] You're the One by Robin Kaye Page A

gave her a whatcha-gonna-do shrug.
    Nicki gave her a final squeeze and ran out of the kitchen.
    Pete grabbed Nicki’s sweatshirt, threw it over his shoulder, and took the plate. “Nicki thinks a lot of you, Skye. Thanks for being so good to her. She’s really missing Bree. It’s good she has women like you and Rocki to talk to.”
    “No thanks necessary. If it’s okay with you, I was thinking of inviting Nicki and D.O.G. over to play this weekend. I thought we could take the dogs to the park for a while, and then come back and make a batch of dog cookies.”
    Pete’s smile probably sent hearts pitter-pattering in his younger days. “Only if you promise to make a batch of human cookies too.”
    “I think I can manage that. What kind do you want?”
    “Whatever kind you want to make. Just make sure they’re not heart healthy. This diet is going to kill me. Oh, and you have to keep them our little secret, okay? Logan’s turning into a regular food Nazi.”
    Skye watched Pete leave and found Harrison doing the same thing. “What?”
    Harrison took an order off the computer and shrugged. “Pete’s a hell of a guy. I heard he caught Storm stealing a boat before he fostered him, and Logan was into building pipe bombs when Pete took him in. Just look at them now:Storm’s designing multimillion-dollar yachts, and Logan’s making wine instead of bombs. Pete has a real way with kids.”
    “What’s Slater’s story?”
    “He’s one of those computer geniuses who made hacking into secure systems look like tiddlywinks. If there was security involved, it was like waving a Red Bull in front of a caffeine addict. He’s almost done getting his master’s in computer science at one of the top computer-programming schools in the country. I think he’s finishing up an internship with Microsoft now.”
    “Amazing.”
    Harrison handed her an order. “Pretty much.”
    *   *   *
    Logan gave Payton her drink and took a long draw of his beer. He set it on the desk, not ready to meet Payton’s questioning eyes. “I hope you don’t mind having dinner with the family.”
    “No. I mean, I don’t mind.” Payton shook her head, confusion wrinkling her brow. “Logan, I don’t understand what’s going on.”
    He sat on the edge of the desk. “What’s to understand, Payton? This is where I grew up. Well, actually I grew up upstairs in a three-bedroom apartment you could probably fit in our living room. I have two foster brothers, Storm and Slater. Pop took us all in within a few months of each other. I was about twelve, I think.”
    “You don’t remember?”
    “No.” He took her hand in his and watched the diamond she’d picked out for her engagement ring catch the light. “Not everyone grew up like you did. You had everything you could ever want. I was the kid on the other end of the spectrum.”
    He straightened and looked out the window trying to remember. He didn’t know why he bothered; it had never worked before. He’d spent a lifetime trying to remember. “I was the kid who got dumped off at a police station or a hospital when I was about three, the nearest they could tell. I wasn’t talking. Either I couldn’t or wouldn’t tell them a thing. I was put into the foster system and bounced from one foster home to another until I landed here.” He blew out a breath and turned to look at her.
    A tear ran down the side of her face and she brushed it away with a shaking, perfectly manicured hand. Her false eyelashes looked as if they should be running for the ark.
    He handed her his handkerchief. God, he’d dreaded doing this for years, and it sucked as badly as he thought it would. “The only thing I have from my life before Pete Calahan is a memory book filled with faded photographs of foster parents and kids I hardly recognize. All I have of my life before I moved here is a fucking book. I left it here when I left Red Hook. I buried that kid.”
    “Your parents gave you up willingly?”
    “I never saw