“Istaybold, woman, and again, this is not my home, this is the fiancé’s home.”
“Oh yes, the man that you sister will marry and spend the rest of her life with.”
He opened the door and stepped out, mutteringnot if I have anything to do with it.
Stormy slipped on her shoes and opened the door, stepping onto the metal step before hopping down to the ground.
Was it a rule in the older brother handbook that said they had to dislike any man their younger sisters fell in love with? In the case of Chad, her brother genuinely never liked him, but Stormy couldn’t tell if Lucas was pretending not to like Merlee’s fiancé or if he genuinely didn’t like him.
The front door of the house flew open as they walked up the paved driveway, and a tall rawboned woman in T-shirt and jeans ran out in her bare feet. From nearly seven feet away, the younger woman launched herself in the air and Lucas plucked her out of it and spun her as if she was weightless.
Lucas’s sister sobbed, wrapping her arms around his neck and holding on as if she never should have let him go the last time they’d seen each other. The embrace reflected love, but there was also grief and fear in Merlee’s eyes. There was also the unspoken commitment that these two would always be there for each other…no matter what. It was the nature of thewhatthey were facing that concerned Stormy.
“Look at you, Luc,” Merlee said when Lucas lowered her to the ground. She stepped back and took him in. “You’re practically skinny!”
“Been doing yoga,” Lucas boasted, side-eyeing Stormy, daring her to say different. He was so brazen with his lies.
“Thanks for getting him back home in one piece,” Merlee said, surprising Stormy when she pulled her into a quick strong hug. “Mama didn’t exaggerate when she said how damn gorgeous you are. When she said you may be the one woman that could bring my brother to heel I didn’t believe her; now I’m beginning to wonder.”
“We’re just good friends sharing an adventure,” Stormy said, though her face felt heated.
“Mama’s got stars in her eyes because of Zeus and Sabrina, and it’s made her loopy,” Lucas added.
Merlee pulled a cell phone from her back pocket. Her green eyes had the same teasingly mischievous gleam that Lucas’s had but with none of the shadows. “Bet you won’t say that to Mama’s face.”
“And you’d win. Don’t mean I’m too scared to say it now.”
Merlee laughed and pulled him in for another hug.
“Y’all come on in. Garret’s out back frying up some catfish but everything else is done, so we’ll be sitting down to eat once you get settled.”
A wave of nostalgia hit Stormy the moment she walked into the house and the scent of food welcomed them. It reminded her of the times she and her family had gone back to Louisiana. No matter the time of day or night they arrived, there was always a meal warming on the stove for them, there was always a tumble of folks coming out to greet them despite their state of wakefulness or dress.
In that moment she knew the next leg of this journey would be to her birth state and her own family less than four hours away.
“How’s Will?” Lucas asked as Merlee led them to the kitchen, toward the left of the house.
“Doc Grove said he should heal up just fine as long as he doesn’t give himself a coronary over missing the county fair.”
“Tell him I’m here and he’ll stop worrying. He knows I’ll take care of everything that needs to be done,” Lucas said.
“The prodigal son returns.”
Stormy and Lucas turned to see a man entering the house from the back. Merlee’s infamous fiancéstepped through the French doors holding a large pan of fried fish. He had a slim athletic build and was about the same height as Merlee, maybe six feet. With sandy blond hair and blue eyes sheltered by black plastic-framed glasses, Merlee’s fiancé looked like a sexy nerd.
Placing the pan on the huge marble-topped island, he extended a hand to Stormy, then pulled her in for a gentle hug. Stormy liked him instantly. He had kind eyes which filled with mischief when he pulled away and settled his arm around her shoulder. “If you ever think of leaving me, Merlee Jean, don’t, ’cause I got the woman I’ll replace you with right here. Welcome to my home, beautiful.”
“Look here, cousin—” Lucas said before Stormy could respond. “You’re about two seconds from making Merlee a widow before she becomes a wife. Keep fucking around…” He smiled, pointing his finger in Garret’s face. “Yeah boy…just keep fucking around and see what happens.”
Garret placed a kiss on Stormy’s temple, smiling as if he could dismiss the threat in Lucas’s words because they had been uttered amicably. Maybe he believed Merlee’s love protected him.
In either case he was wrong.
Lucas snatched Garret away and Stormy stumbled. When she righted herself, Garret’s feet were inches from the ground and Lucas had Garret’s arms pinned to his side, locking him in a bear hug. By the flexing of the muscles in his upper body, Lucas’s hold was constricting tighter and tighter, causing Garret’s skin to flush.
“Now it’s bad enough that you went and asked my sister to marry you without asking my blessing—”
“Let him go Lucas! This is 2018, not 1818, and he doesn’t need your blessing,” Merlee said as she tried to pry Garret from Lucas’s grip. Her fiancé was turning bright red from the pressure.
