His mother peered at the both of us and giggled.
“Here comes Josh,” Tyler interrupted.
“Late as usual,” Mr. Townsend grumbled.
“Lay off me, old man. I was busy selling properties, makingyourcompany a few million,” Joshua stated nonchalantly, as he slowly removed his sunglasses and placed them into the pocket of his jeans.
Surprising me again, Mr. Townsend laughed off hisold mancomment, patting Joshua on his back. “Only a few million?”
“It was a slow week.” Joshua turned dark eyes on me. “Michelle Clarke, how nice to meet your acquaintance again.” He pulled my extended hand to his lips while peering at Carter from the corner of his eye. Before his lips were even able to make contact with the back of my palm, Carter’s firm grip was pulling my hand free.
“Lips to yourself.”
A sly grin met Carter’s jealousy. Joshua turned to me, eyes glittering with humor. “My brother can hunt terrorists halfway around the world without batting an eye. Pulls people from burning buildings daily and barely thinks twice about it. But greet his woman a little too friendly and he responds like a trapped animal.”
I covered Carter’s abdomen with my free hand, stopping his lunge in Joshua’s direction. But his darkened eyes remained trained on his brother.
Joshua’s gaze fell to my hand on his brother, and the sparkle grew even more. He didn’t say anything else to Carter, instead pivoting in the direction of their father.
“Anyway, why’re you on my case for being late when Aaron hasn’t even shown yet?”
I swallowed at the mention of their missing brother. Aaron made me nervous for some reason.
“Because unlike my third youngest son, Aaron had the courtesy of calling to inform us that he would be a little late.”
“And here he comes now,” Tyler interjected.
We all turned to see Aaron making his way across the field. As opposed to everyone else who’d shown up, he was dressed in a full-on three piece suit, and paired with shiny, expensive looking shoes. The dark, tailored suit jacket was unbuttoned, and his left hand rested inside his pocket as he confidently strode our way. The scowl I’d seen on his face the two times I’d ever seen him was present on the field as well.
“Aaron,” Mr. Townsend spoke first.
“Father, Mother,” he greeted, leaning down to present his mother with a kiss on her cheek. He shook hands with his father and then all his brother’s before turning dark, scowling eyes on me.
“Don’t fucking stare at her like that,” Carter began.
Aaron slow blinked, turning hazel eyes from me to Carter. “I wasn’t staring at her like anything. Simply waiting for an introduction.”
“You’ve already met.”
“A refresher is in order, don’t you think?”
A scowl appeared on Carter’s face that matched his brother’s. “Aaron, Michelle. Michelle, Aaron.”
He reached out his hand and I extended mine, shaking his. Unlike his other two brothers, he did not even attempt to flirt, if even just to get under Carter’s skin.
“And this is her son, Diego.”
For the first time I looked down, realizing Diego hadn’t returned his hello. To my amazement, Diego seemed … awestruck. Not afraid as I had guessed, but he was simply staring at Aaron, as if seeing something he couldn’t believe.
“Diego, say hi to Mr. Aaron,” I encouraged.
“You have fairies!” my son said instead.
I frowned, looking from Diego to Carter.
“Kids always seem to respond to Aaron … strangely.”
I lifted an eyebrow, tilting my head. Carter just shrugged a shoulder.
