Still.
Oh yes, I had it in my head to seduce this man. No matter what it takes. The fact that he’s my brother’s best friend is only a slight hiccup in that plan.
“I assume he doesn’t know you’re coming, does he?”
“How do you know that?”
Briggs looks me in the eye, his lips curl up into the first smile I’ve seen from him, and he shakes his head. “Because I happen to know that Jamie left this morning on a three-day training exercise in the backcountry. He’ll be gone until Thursday sometime.”
Briggs
I seethe panic in her eyes as her sexy bravado finally falls away to reveal the innocent girl I believe her to truly be.
“Three days?”
“At least.”
“But…what am I…” She glances around, as if the answer lies somewhere in the Den. It doesn’t. Ma keeps a few rooms upstairs for out-of-towners, but there is no way I’m letting this innocent little thing stay upstairs. Not with the likes of Joey Cartwright lurking around. “Thursday? You’re sure?”
“I’m sure.” I nod. “It’s a backcountry training exercise that we join in on with a few of the other S&R groups around here. In fact, I think he was driving out to Granite Falls to meet up with the others and catch the chopper.”
“A helicopter?”
Again, I nod. “You know what? We might still be able to catch him before he goes out of service.” I pull my phone from my back pocket and put it on the table between us before flipping easily to the number in my favorites. Like I said, Jamie is my best friend. Which made it very inconvenient that, ever since laying eyes on his sexpot of a baby sister, my dick has been at half-mast.
“Yes.” She slides forward eagerly and shoves her bowl of chili aside. “Let’s try him.” She gives me the nod, and I push the button to connect the call.
“I should have let him know,” she says while the phone rings. “I just didn’t think that he’d go?—”
“Hey, Wolf!” the call connects, and Jamie’s voice booms through the speaker. “You just caught me. We’re expecting our chopper any second. Everything okay?”
I glance at Mia and raise my eyebrows before shaking my head with a chuckle. “Everything’s good here, man. But I did want to let you know that a little situation has come up.”
“Oh?”
I don’t take my eyes off Mia as I fill him in.
“She’s what?” Jamie’s voice is a mixture of panic and anger. “What the fuck is she doing in Rock Creek?”
I shoot Mia a look, and she blows out a breath.
“Hi, Jamie.” Her voice is so sweet and lacking all sassy traces of the sexy vixen she was pretending to be earlier. “Surprise.”
“Surprise? What the hell, Mia? You’re supposed to be at home, getting ready for med school.”
Mia glances down at the mention of school and a blush creeps over her cheeks. It’s an interesting response, and I can’thelp but notice how she avoids mentioning school at all when she responds.
“I had a few days off and I missed my big brother, so I thought I’d surprise you.”
“Well, shit, Mia.” Jamie’s voice softens. “It would have been a nice surprise, but I have this training thing and I can’t get out of it. We’re just about to leave.”
“It’s okay. I’ll just?—”
“You need to take the next bus out of there, Mia. Rock Creek isn’t safe for young girls.”
She straightens, her chest sticking out. “I’m not a young girl, Jamie. I’m twenty-two years old.”
Damn.That was young in my books.
