Wes points at the floor. A six-pack sits trapped between his feet. “Helps to know the owner.”
I bend and grab one. It’s a bitter IPA, not something I’d usually drink but like hell I’m going to complain about it to Wes. He’d revoke my man card without hesitation or mercy. With one hand, I catch the bottle opener Wes tosses at me.
Tenley and Dakota laugh loudly, holding their hands over their mouths after they realize we’re all looking over at them. Tenley’s cheeks are flushed. Not from the wine. From pleasure. Sheer happiness.
And I’m the fool smiling at it all.
“Anna who?” Wyatt says, drawing my attention from Tenley. He does a head shake smirk combination that’s pretty fucking obnoxious.
“Go fuck yourself,” I mutter, my mouth poised on the rim of the bottle as the murky brown liquid fills my mouth.
Wyatt laughs. “Too late, I’ve already done that once today.”
Wes snickers. Wyatt grins, proud to have made his oldest brother, and usually the most unyielding, laugh.
Wyatt irritates me. He’s milking the youngest son act and it’s starting to grate on my nerves. Today is a perfect example. Wes and I spent the better part of the day in the Gator, riding the perimeter of our property. Wes is hell-bent on keeping his eyes on our land, and I was roped into joining him simply because I’m his right-hand man.
Where was Wyatt today while Wes and I were working? Who the hell knows. He’s a horse whisperer, a veritable magician of the equine variety, and this skill appears to have granted him carte blanche. He comes and goes from the ranch as he pleases. I don’t understand it, and the one time I broached the subject with my father, I was instructed to put my nose back where it belonged.
I am a grown ass man. When is my little brother going to grow up as well?
“You don’t have to get your pretty panties in a bunch,” Wyatt says, winking at me in a way that makes me want to deck him. “You’re allowed to move on.”
I snort. “You’re handing out relationship advice? That’s rich, coming from the guy whose number of serious relationships were equal to Wes’s up until he met Dakota. That is to say,none.”
Wyatt gives me a hard look. Jo walks in carrying a gigantic board bearing too many different foods to count. Meats, cheeses, tiny pickles, dried fruits and nuts, and other things I can’t even name.
Derrick and Andrea, Wes’s friends from high school, walk in behind Jo. Dakota makes introductions with Tenley, and I watch both of them try not to lose their shit over meeting her. Tenley pretends not to notice their stammering. Her lips curve into a trained smile, much like the one she gave Jo when we walked in.
Dakota orders us to sit. Tenley motions for me to sit beside her, and I try not to let it show how happy this makes me. Dish after dish arrives at the table. Dakota keeps ordering, and I quickly realize some of what’s coming out isn’t even on the menu. I switch from Wes’s IPA to wine and ignore his dirty look. It’s a wine bar, for Christ’s sake.
Tenley sparkles, as if a thousand diamonds live inside her. She is witty, sharp with her comebacks when Wyatt displays the chip wedged in his shoulder blades, and dry with her responses to Wes when his gruff sarcasm comes out. My brothers love her. Far more than they ever cared for Anna, and they aren’t trying to hide it at all. It has nothing to do with her being a famous actress, either, because neither of my brothers give a shit about fame.Doesn’t matter how pretty your outside is when you’re rotten inside.That’s what our grandma used to say.
Tenley laughs, a big belly laugh, at something Dakota said. I miss the joke entirely. I’m too busy sitting in the ambient glow of Tenley, soaking up her goodness.
Dessert wine appears on the table, but I decline. “Driving,” I remind Tenley, pointing a finger back at myself. A grin slips out the side of her mouth. Her eyes are glossy, her motions fluid. The wine has loosened her movements.
Wyatt reaches under his seat and stands. His gaze zeroes in on Tenley as he thrusts a small white box in her direction. “I got you something.”
I bristle. Isn’t it enough Wyatt has Tenley sleeping in his bed? While I’m three hundred yards away thinking about her lying between my little brother’s sheets.
Tenley takes the cube-shaped box. She glances at Wyatt as she lifts the lid, reluctant. She, like me, has no idea what could be inside. Because of this, she leans her body back, angling the box away so nobody can peek. Her eyes widen, and she quickly puts the lid back on the box.
She stares at Wyatt, who’s sitting across the table looking way too pleased. “How?” She’s astonished, and the rest of us are clueless.
Wyatt shrugs as if it’s no big deal, but the asshole can’t seem to wipe the satisfied smirk from his face. “It wasn’t hard to track down, once you learn people’s motivations.”
Her lip curls up in disgust. “Were they being sold?”
His answering nod is tiny. Tenley groans.
“Fucking Christ,” Wes complains, raking a hand down his face. “Tell us what the fuck is in that box.”
Thank God someone besides me said it. I’d look like a jealous asshole if it’d come from my mouth. Wes just looks like a regular asshole.
Tenley glances around the table, lips twisting. To Andrea, Derrick, and Jo, she says, “I’ve been staying at the Hayden ranch because someone broke into the house the studio rented for me. They only stole one thing, and Wyatt somehow managed to get it back.” She runs a finger over the box now sitting in front of her on the table.
Her underwear.Inside that box are her underwear. Touched by my brother, because they didn’t grow legs and climb in by themselves. Wyatt and I have been in plenty of fights over the years, but I’ve never wanted to snap off his fingers more than in this moment.
