“See? One person down. That should make it so much easier to grab some alone time for a quickie.”

“Uh-huh. Good luck with that.”

“Now you’re challenging me. You know how much I love a challenge.”

He walked away, shaking his head. As if he didn’t believe she could find a way to get him alone in his parents’ house for sex. Did he not know her at all? When she was determined to have something, nothing got in her way.

Not even a houseful of Rileys.

She went upstairs to change. Gavin came up to change, too, and they headed over to his parents’ house. As soon as they walked in, the smell of baked bread assailed her. Her stomach growled. Gavin looked over at her.

“Hungry?”

“Ravenous.” She gave him a direct look.

“I believe you’re trying to seduce me.”

She saw Gavin’s mother coming toward them down the hall, so she gave him a quick smile. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

She hugged Kathleen, then Jimmy, who’d entered the room behind Kathleen. The house was full, the women gathered in the kitchen and the guys in the living room. She made her way into the throng of females, all talking over each other in groups.

“And then he said he wanted a bigger house,” Tara said with a roll of her eyes.

“Bigger than the five bedroom?” Kathleen asked. “For what?”

“I have no idea. Maybe he thinks we’re going to have six more kids or something. If he does, he’s going to need to practice polygamy, because this uterus is closed for business.”

Liz laughed and poured a glass of iced tea. “What? You’re not going to pop out two or three more?”

“I don’t think so. I have an eighteen-year-old son and one that’s just about ready to walk. That’s more than enough children for me to handle.”

“Maybe he doesn’t like the house,” Jenna suggested, popping a cherry tomato into her mouth.

“I saw that Jenna. Those are for the salad.”

“Sorry, Mom.” Jenna winked at Liz, who smiled at her.

“He loves the house. It has plenty of room both inside and out. Plus there’s the game room. So I don’t know what he was thinking.”

“Does he miss living in San Francisco? Do you?”

Liz caught the look of concern on Kathleen’s face.

“Not at all, Mom. Mick’s only there for home games with the Sabers, and the condo there is fine for him. St. Louis is home to us—to me and to Nathan and to Sam. This is where we’re staying.”

“Okay. I just wanted to be sure.”

Tara slid off the bar stood and went over to hug Kathleen. “Don’t worry about us leaving. We’re happy here. My guess is Mick thinks I want a bigger office space, or maybe a separate place to house an office.”

“Do you?”

“No. I like working outside the house. I need my retail space where clients can see me. Plus, would we really want my staff traipsing in and out of our house?”