“What was Lacey’s idea?” Evie asked.
Brennan didn’t doubt his sister had a hand in it. How, though, he wasn’t entirely sure, aside from one particular point he planned on grilling her about.
“To trap him at your place,” Corbin added. “Well, all of it, really. She came to us.”
“Bro.” Rowan slapped Corbin on the back. “Tossing her to the wolves, not cool. We were in on it as much as she was.” The two of them had in the past been mistaken for twins because of their similar looks, but once you knew them, you’d never make that mistake again. Rowan was the chill, laid-back brother who took life as it came, whereas Corbin was more like a tornado, searching for the next thing of interest.
“Next time,” Brennan said, “at least make sure I can’t pinpoint the location of the photo if you don’t want to raise suspicions.” Plus, the trees in the photo Rowan sent would’ve taken more than a day to clear and Brennan hadn’t spotted a sign of a fallen tree, let alone any leftover debris from the cleanup.
“Suspicions? Are you saying that’s all that was rai—” Rhett snapped his mouth shut when Brennan’s gaze slammed into his.
“Don’t even go there,” Brennan growled. “What happens between Evie and I is none of your business.” Evie coughed beside him but the smile on her lips, and the fact she was still holding his hand and not running for the hills, suggested she wasn’t too horrified by his siblings’ behavior.
“As long as something happened.” Rhett winked at Evie. “That’s all we wanted. You needed a nudge.”
“Kick up the backside more like it.” Lacey joined the group and slipped her arm through his.
“And you.” Brennan dropped a kiss on the top of Lacey’s head. “You lied to me.”
“What lie?”
Now, with Lacey, unlike Corbin, she’d perfected the innocent tone and look before she’d even hit her teens, but the sparkle in her chocolate brown eyes was a dead giveaway. She was far too happy about the current situation to give it her all.
“Evie doesn’t like storms. Ring a bell?”
“Technically,” Lacey said, “I didn’t lie. What I said was, she has a problem with storms.”
“But I don’t.” Evie shook her head. “I’m absolutely fine with them.”
Lacey rolled her eyes. “Yes. That’s the problem. You like them. The crazier the better. That is not normal.”
“Why did you want to set us up?” Evie asked.
“Because the idiot,”—Rowan drew out the word—“has been pining over you for a year.”
“And,” Lacey added, “you needed him. I knew he was perfect for you ages ago. Figured if we could get the two of you alone, maybe one of you would actually do something about it. Turns out we were right. The storm and trees legitimately stranding you two together was a bonus.”
Brennan turned to Emmett, the tallest and most intimidating of the siblings. Built like a brick but softest of them all on the inside—if you could get through, that was. “Did you have anything to do with the power cut?”
“What?” Emmett frowned. “No. We’d never mess with things like that.”
“It was back on this morning,” Brennan said. “Way quicker than I would’ve expected.”
Corbin held up his hands. “I swear, it wasn’t me, either. I’ll cop to the dodgy Photoshop, and the school set up, but?—”
“School?” Evie said. “What about the school?”
“I signed up to come to your class but pulled out and got him to replace me. Wanted you two to see a different side of each other.” Corbin grinned. “Sue me. It worked, didn’t it?”
“Anything else I should know?” Brennan focused on Lacey. “Like how long you’ve been planning this?”
“Technically, a couple of months,” Lacey admitted. “Though not so much planning as hoping for opportunities to make the most of.”
Brennan turned to Evie. "You still want in on this?"
Evie's lips lifted at both corners into a soft, sweet smile. Her eyes sparkled with a mix of amusement and contentment. Yes, he was already learning to read her better. She raised her hand, slipped it behind his neck, and moved in closer.
He breathed in the delicate scent of apples, roses, and the ever-present hint of paint that surrounded her, and savored the brush of her lips against his cheek.
