Off Limits Read Free Page A

dependent. And yet Daniel didn’t seem terrified.
    “Want me to make you a sandwich, hon?” Daniel asked Emily.
    “That’s okay. I’ll feed Christopher and then you can take him while I get myself somethingto eat.”
    “I’ll take him when you’re done,” Jenna offered, staring at the baby as she had when I’d walked in. She apparently wasn’t terrified either. In fact, she looked completely infatuated by the little dude. I hadn’t been lying when I said the baby looked good on her. She’d appeared so beautiful and sweet, smiling down at him.
    “No, I will.” Brenda frowned at her daughter.
    Jenna grinned.“I just got here! You’ve had him for a day already.”
    Emily laughed. “You two can take turns with him.” She disappeared and Gary walked in, rubbing his hands, apparently eager for food. The MacFaddens all loved their food, despite the fact none of them could cook worth shit. Not that I’d ever say that out loud.
    We all filled plates and moved to the big dining room table to sit and eat, not formalat all, which was cool.
    I ended up sitting next to Jon.
    The fact that she’d brought him home for Christmas meant it was serious. Annoyance buzzed inside me. I studied the dude covertly as we ate, taking in the precise way he held his sandwich, the neat sweater with button-down shirt beneath it, the clean-shaven face.
    He was a dipshit.
    I’d formed this opinion in a matter of minutes. But thereit was. I didn’t like him.
    I couldn’t let this on to anyone else, of course. None of my business who Jenna dated. I was part of this family…but not really. Since I’d moved in with the MacFaddens when I was sixteen, I’d been aware of that.
    Gary, Daniel, and Connor would do a good job figuring out whether this guy was good enough for Jenna. Except, they seemed to like him. They were talking tohim and asking him questions about his job—an accountant, for fuck’s sake. Could you be any more boring than that?
    Jenna needed so much more. She was fun and adventurous and creative. An accountant? Jesus.
    “I’m an associate director in Financial Planning and Analysis,” Jon said. “I manage a team of accountants. We do preparation of monthly financial statements, management reports, and analyses.”
    Something lodged in my gut just below my diaphragm.
    I hadn’t seen Jenna for a couple of years. Last year at Christmas the schedule worked out that I had only a couple of days off and it wasn’t worthwhile to fly home from L.A. I spent my summers back in Connecticut, mostly, working out, doing some hockey camps, fishing with Gary. But Jenna didn’t come home very often. She’d worked summers betweencollege terms at a bunch of different jobs in other places. Now she had her new career in New York, working at HMNC, an international accounting firm, where Jon apparently also worked. She’d ended up with a job in human resources, which surprised me, because when we were young, she’d loved kids and had always wanted to be a teacher.
    “They should definitely ban fighting in the NHL,” Jon said,the conversation having moved away from accounting and back to hockey.
    Idiot.
    Then I swallowed a sigh. No, I was the idiot. This guy was sophisticated and educated. He probably knew fine wines and played chess. This was the kind of man Jenna was interested in?
    “What’s the plan for tonight?” Daniel asked.
    “Leesha is having a get-together at the Fat Badger.” Jenna named her best friend. “Shesaid to bring you all.” She eyed Connor. “Including you.”
    “You young people all go out and have fun,” Brenda said. “Dad and I will babysit Christopher tonight.”
    Right on cue, Christopher appeared. Well, Emily carried him into the room, held to her shoulder with a blanket draped over him. She patted him firmly on the back. Jenna and Brenda both jumped up as if to take him from Emily and thenexchanged glares.
    I had to grin.
    “Fine.” Brenda huffed, sitting again.
    Christopher let out a large