She glanced across her shoulder at the man by her side. Joey? Deep grooves bracketed his mouth, while a sort of weird deja vu feeling raised the hair on the back of her arms. Only this time he wasn't meeting her family. She was meeting his. If Gabrielle believed in fate, she might have thought her mother was right, that this was just too big to be cosmic coincidence. No, she didn't believe in fate, but she couldn't think of any other explanation for the freaky turns in her life since she'd met Joe.
After several prolonged seconds, Joe took a long-suffering breath and made the introductions. "Gabrielle," he began, "this is my mother, Joyce." He pointed to an older woman wearing a T-shirt with Betty Boop's head stuck on Rambo's body. Across Betty's headband were written the words Rambo Boop. "These are my sisters, Penny, Tammy, Tanya, and Debby."
"I'm here too, Uncle Joey."
"Me, too."
"And these are most of my nieces and nephews," he said, checking them off with his index finger. "Eric, Tiffany, Sara, Jeremy, Little Pete, and Christy. There are four more someplace."
"They're either at the mall or playing basketball at the church," one of the sisters explained.
Gabrielle looked at Joe, then back at his family. There were more? The group before her was overwhelming enough. "How many are there of you all?"
"I have five children," Joyce answered. "And ten grandchildren. Of course that will change when Joey marries and gives me a few more." She took a small step back and looked at the table filled with small bottles. "What are these?"
"Gabrielle makes some sort of oils," he answered.
"I make essential oils and aromatherapies," she corrected. "I sell them in my shop."
"Where's your shop?"
"You wouldn't be able to find it," Joe answered before she could open her mouth, as if he feared what she might say.
One of the sisters picked up a bottle of ginger and cedarwood. "Are these aphrodisiacs?"
Gabrielle smiled. It was time she helped Detective Shanahan's karma pay him a visit. "A few of my massage oils have the chemical characteristics of aphrodisiacs. The one you have in your hand drives Joe wild." She wrapped her arm around his waist and snuggled close. She was definitely going to enjoy watching him squirm for a change. "Isn't that right… sweet cheeks?"
His gaze narrowed, and her smile brightened.
The sister set the bottle back down and winked at Joe. "How long have you two known each other?"
"A few days," he said, giving the back of her hair a slight tug, which she supposed was meant to remind her to let him do the talking.
The sisters glanced at each other. "It looked like more than a few days to me. That was a serious kiss. Did it look like a serious kiss to you?"
All the sisters nodded to each other. "It looked like he was trying to eat her whole. I'd say that was a kiss a man gives after three weeks. Definitely more than a few days."
Gabrielle laid her head against Joe's and confided, "Well, we may have known each other in a previous life."
The women in his family just stared.
"She's kidding you," he assured them.
"Oh."
"When you were over at the house the other day," his mother began, "you didn't mention a girlfriend. You never said anything."
"Gabrielle is just a friend," Joe informed his family. He gave her hair another slight tug. "Isn't that right?"
She leaned back, purposely gave him a blank look, then said, "Oh! Oh, yeah. That's right."
His brows lowered, and he warned the women in front of him, "Don't get ideas."
"Ideas about what?" one of the sisters asked, her eyes wide and innocent.
"About me getting married anytime soon."
"You're thirty-five."
"At least he likes girls. We used to worry that he was going to turn out gay."
"He used to put on Mom's red heels and pretend he was Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz."
"Remember when he skipped into the wall and had to have stitches in his forehead."
"That was hysterical."
"Jesus, I was five," he gritted through his teeth. "And you girls made me dress up like Dorothy."
"He loved it."
"Girls, you're embarrassing your brother," Joyce admonished.
Gabrielle removed her arm from around Joe's waist and hung her wrist over his shoulder. Beneath his tan skin, his cheeks were suspiciously red, and she tried not to laugh. "And now that you're no longer a cross-dresser in red heels, you're a good catch?"
"And now that he isn't getting shot at anymore," a sister added.
"He's a great guy."
"Loves children."
"And pets."
"He's really good to his bird."
"He's pretty handy with tools."
As if so much praise could not go unpunished, one sister turned to the others and shook her head. "No he's not. Remember when he took apart my Paula Pitter Pat to see what made her walk?"
"That's right. He never could get that one leg back on. She'd just fall on her side and wiggle."
"Yeah, Paula couldn't pitter-pat after that."
"Well," a sister said above the rest, reminding them all they were supposed to be selling Joe's better qualifications, "he does his own wash."
"That's right, and he doesn't turn his socks pink anymore."
"He makes decent money."
"And he-"
"I have all my teeth," Joe interrupted, grinding out the words. "I don't have hair on my back, and I can still get a hard-on."
"Joseph Andrew Shanahan," his mother gasped and covered the ears of the closest child.
"Don't you women have someone else to bother?" he asked.
"We better go. We've made him cranky." As if the sisters didn't want to jinx a good thing, they quickly herded their children and said their good-byes practically on top of each other.
"It was nice to meet all of you," Gabrielle told them just before they moved deeper into the park.
"Have Joe bring you to dinner sometime next week," Joyce got in before she too walked away.
"What was that about?" he asked. "Were you getting even with me for yesterday?"
She dropped her hand from his shoulder and rocked back on her heels. "Oh, just a little bit."
"How does it feel?"
"I hate to admit it, but it feels really good, Joe. In fact, I never thought revenge could actually feel this good."
"Well, enjoy it while it lasts." Now it was his turn to smile. "Paybacks are a bitch."
Chapter Ten
Joe watched his sisters and mother quickly disappear into the crowd, and his brows drew together. They'd let him off easy. Usually, when he got "cranky" they went in for the kill. He didn't know why they hadn't dragged out any more timed remember-when stories, but he suspected it had to do with the woman by his side. His family obviously believed Gabrielle really was his girlfriend, no matter what he'd said about it, and they'd fallen over each other to make him seem like a real good catch in her eyes. Which surprised him, when he considered that just one look at Gabrielle should have been enough to convince his family that she wasn't his type of woman.
He glanced at her, at her beautiful face, her wild hair, and smooth bare stomach that made him want to fall to his knees and press his open mouth to her flat belly. She'd wrapped her gorgeous body up in an outfit he could easily shred with his hands, and he wondered if she'd done it on purpose just to drive him crazy.
"You have a nice family."
"They weren't being nice." He shook his head. "They were just tricking you into thinking they're nice in case you're their future sister-in-law."
"Me?"
"Don't be too flattered. They'd be happy with just about any woman. Why do you think they said all that stuff about me loving children and pets?"
"Oh!" Gabrielle made her big green eyes go all wide with surprise. "Was that you? Except for the cranky part, I didn't know who they were talking about."
He grabbed the paper sack he'd brought from the deli. "Be nice or I'll tell Doug you want your colon cleansed."