Secrets Collide (Bluegrass Brothers)

anything like that. I guess that would've been too easy.”
    “Don’t worry about it. Leave the identification of the photos to us. We need you to work on those notebooks. You’re the only one who can do that.” Cy helped her gather everything and gave her a little nudge. ”Don’t look so worried. We got a lot done and now you’ll be able to relax at my mom’s dinner.
     
    *     *     *
     
    Cy lied. This was not relaxing. The food was amazing. She had chicken-fried steak smothered in gravy and a side of homemade macaroni and cheese with chunks of country ham in it. The first bite made her alternately groan in delight and shake in fear at what the scale was going to read the next day. For the past month, she’d been living on salad, tofu, and yucky cleansing drinks.
    While her stomach wanted to lick the plate, her mind kept flashing to the picture of the barely dressed actress Cy received early that day. She knew she wasn’t Cy’s type, but she would like to feel she had a fighting chance.
    “Dear? Is something the matter with the dinner? Do you want me to make something else?” Marcy asked, her feelings clearly hurt that Gemma wasn’t eating.
    “Don’t worry, Mom. She’s just trying to justify eating that many calories. Remember, she’s still on California food. Took me months to give in. Give in, Gemma—it’s delicious.” Katelyn winked as she took a big bite of her food.
    Gemma gave in, and it was better than sex. At least the sex she’d had recently. In fact, she was so in love with the food that she didn’t even hear the conversation going on around her. When her plate was clean, she looked up and Katelyn gave her a knowing smile.
    “You’re lucky you’re not dating Cy,” Annie said.
    Gemma looked at her in confusion. Maybe she shouldn’t have eaten so eagerly?
    “Yep, you're lucky. It would be bad,” Cole agreed.
    “It definitely wouldn’t be an enjoyable dinner for you, to say the least,” Morgan added.
    “Oh, yeah, it’s not fun then,” Katelyn smiled sweetly.
    “Stop scaring her. It would be so cool if she was dating Cy,” Tammy giggled.
    Gemma felt glued to her chair. She was stunned. She’d never been warned away from someone so blatantly and was too embarrassed to even be insulted.
    “Well, of course we’d love for her to date Cy,” Marcy said with a sweet smile. “Don’t you dare scare her off.” Marcy narrowed her eyes at Pierce and he just grinned wider.
    “Who? Me?” he asked innocently.
    “And your sister and brothers.”
    “Us?” they all asked in unison. Gemma was totally confused, but the way their faces all showed mocked innocence had her cracking up.
    “Don’t try to act like y’all didn’t interrogate every date one of you brought home. I was grilled to well-done when I first came to dinner.” Cole stared at his brothers-in-law and shook his head.
    “I think we all were. Although, I must say Miles and Pierce were the worst. Miles with all his serious questions about our stability and Pierce just shouting out randomness,” Annie said to Cole and the other wives.
    “Totally agree with you there,” Katelyn laughed.
    “For me it was Pierce and Marshall,” Morgan said with a smile.
    “If I recall, y’all handled it like a pro. We’re happy to have each and every one of you in our family. Now that we’ve settled that our sons and daughter are rude interrogators of unsuspecting dates, let’s have some dessert,” Jake said, putting an end to the discussion.
    Paige rolled her eyes. “We weren’t that bad. Okay, maybe we were. I’ll get the pies I made this morning.”
    “Excellent. I’ll go check on the babies in their new room.” Marcy shot from the table and disappeared upstairs. Within seconds her voice came over the monitor as she cooed to the babies.
    “We won’t see her again,” Jake said. “Guys' night to do dishes after dessert. I get her piece since she left the table.” Jake grinned and Gemma could see what Cy would look like when he was older. All the brothers shared the hazel eyes and the strong build of their father.
     
    Gemma took a seat in the corner of the living room and let her thoughts take her away again while the women talked weddings and babies. She guessed that was why Gia was so successful and Gemma was still working for a gossip rag. Not that she wasn’t good at what she did; she was just a dreamer. This time however, her thoughts made their way back to the same thing—Cy. He worked with