Intended Series Collection: Books 1-6 by Abigail Grant (best summer books .txt) 📗

I am so stunned for a moment by his greeting that I don't respond until he places me back on the ground. I smooth out my clothes, making sure everything is still in its place before finally finding my voice. “You must be Uncle Jack, the Architect?”

His grin spreads from ear to ear. “Aww, my little nephew talks about me? How sweet.”

Gavin turns and raises his eyebrows at me. “I barely mentioned you. She just has a good memory.” he says, shrugging his shoulders like it’s no big deal.

Jack just giggles like a little girl, making an instant smile form on my face. He is pretty adorable for such a beefy guy. He resembles what I would picture a brother of Gavin’s to look like, with the same dark hair and strong jaw. Although Jack has a full manicured beard.

“Jack is my dad’s younger brother,” Gavin says before pointing around Jack to a tall, model-looking blonde that I hadn’t even noticed until now. “This is his wife, Sophia.”

I give her a short wave. “Hi, I’m El.” Sophia is gorgeous. Girls all around the world would crave her flawless beauty if they saw her in a magazine. She gives me a warm smile, although I half expect her to be mean, just because she looks like the popular girl type that I never got along with in school.

“Nice to meet you, El. Sorry if my husband scared you, he tends to go a little overboard.”

“I’ll show you overboard!” Jack turns and sweeps her up into a much more intimate hug than the one he gave me, placing his large hands under her bottom and planting tender kisses on her lips. It’s almost unreal to see the hulk-sized man be so soft and gentle. It makes me want to be that close to someone.

I glance over at Gavin and see that he is watching me with a grin, instead of the two lovebirds. I blush under his gaze.

“Gavi!” An adorable little boy, maybe four or five, comes running into my line of sight and jumps into Gavin’s arms. He catches the boy with ease and tickles him mercilessly.

“Stop, Gavi! I want to meet the pretty girl that you told me about. Can I now?” He loudly whispers to Gavin.

Gavin’s eyes go wide, and he shushes the boy. I hear Jack laugh loud enough to cause an echo on the other side of the room and I only blush harder at the child’s less than hushed words. I smile at the hilarious look on Gavin’s face. “Ethan, we really need to work on your whispering.”

Ethan looks confused. “I don’t know what you’re talking about! I whisper good!”

I can’t stop the giggle that escapes me at the overload of cuteness coming off of the adorable boy. Gavin’s eyes are shy when he glances back at me and I just give him a smile, enjoying him finally being the embarrassed one.

“Aella, this is Ethan, my very loud cousin. He’s Jack and Sophia’s son.”

Ethan whispers loudly again to Gavin. “Tell her I’m gonna be five!”

Gavin rolls his eyes. “He is almost five years old!” He says with enthusiasm, for Ethan’s enjoyment, I’m sure. “Ethan, this is Aella, the pretty girl I told you about. You happy now, you little stinker?”

I instantly become shy again at his words. My nerves just can’t seem to catch a break around him. “It’s nice to meet you, Ethan. That’s pretty cool that you’re going to be five soon. I’m eighteen!”

His eyebrows raise high. “Wow, that’s super old! Can you run real fast like my daddy and Gavi?”

Gavin freezes and his strange behavior confuses me. I look back at the adorable little blonde boy. “I don’t know, Ethan. I guess we will have to race to find out who’s the fastest.”

Jack makes a choking noise, almost like a laugh that was cut short, behind me. “That’ll be interesting.” he says, still holding back a laugh.

Ethan stands as tall as he can, trying to look big with his blue eyes shining. “My daddy says when I am eighteen, I will get to run fast too, and fight bad guys! But I’m already pretty good so I don’t need a lot of practice.” he brags with pride.

“I bet you are.”

Ethan’s grin stretches across his little face but before he can continue his adorable bragging, he is cut off.

“Alright, Ethan. Why don’t we all take a seat and listen to what Gavin has come here to tell us today.” I turn, surprised at the deep voice coming from the front door.

A man, probably a couple of inches taller than Gavin, enters the home. He is followed by a boy close to my age and a medium height brunette woman, who I’m guessing is in her thirties.

The man doesn’t look very much older than Gavin’s mom but he carries himself as if he were a powerful leader, and considering the way everyone stops what they are doing when he enters, I’m assuming that’s not too far off. His prominent features resemble Jack’s and Gavin’s, which means he must be another brother of Gavin’s dad.

Gavin comes to my side and addresses the intimidating man. “Aella, this is my uncle Hagen. He is my father’s older brother.” He turns apologetic eyes on me, making me worry. “Uncle Hagen, this is the girl I was telling you about.”

I’m sure the shock is very noticeable across my pale face. Gavin has been telling everyone in his family about me and although it is flattering in a way, red flags fly up in my head, making me extremely concerned as to what this meeting is really about.

Hagen reaches his hand out for me to shake, which I do. “Miss Lundon.” is all he says with a slight nod.

“Um, it’s nice to meet you, Mr. Cole.” I give him a weary smile, suddenly feeling very intimidated.

Hagen’s face is emotionless and a little cold. I get no returning smile and I feel like I need to curtsy at him or something, but