“Nope, and neither did you.”
Despite rolling his eyes, he knew his uncle was right.He’d seen genuine fear in Maura’s eyes last night and wondered, if she had to, could she actually have fired the gun at him?
Handing him two more gallons of semi-gloss paint, Dan continued.“She told me she’d been in an abusive relationship and finally got the courage to leave the guy.She has no family and decided to travel a bit before figuring out where she wants to settle down.She’s afraid the ex-boyfriend will come after her.”
“That would explain the gun.”
Dan froze in surprise.“Gun?What gun?”
He reached over and grabbed the paint cans his uncle held suspended in mid-air.“The one she pulled on me when I let myself into the cottage at two in the morning.”
Dan chuckled.“Got the jump on you,eh?I would’ve given good money to see that.”
“You could have warned me, you know.”
“But where would the fun be in that?”Dan laughed louder as he slapped his oldest nephew on the back.The two of them gathered the empty boxes and tossed them into the rear stock room before heading back to the front of the store.Jimmy, the teenager who worked at the store after school, would break the boxes down later for recycling.
KC followed his uncle to the counter, crouching to rub Jinx’s belly.Snoring on his back in a sunbeam by the front door, the large dog slept with all four paws in the air.As he straightened again, KC muttered, “Useless mutt.”
His uncle began to restock a rack of batteries behind the counter.“Jinx would resent that if he was awake.”
“When I see him earn his keep, maybe I’ll change my opinion of him.Until then, he’s nothing but a useless mutt.”
Dan looked over his shoulder and eyed his nephew curiously.“So, what did you think?”
Unsure what the man was talking about, KC tilted his head.“About what?”
“Not what,who.Maura.She’s a looker, don’t you think?”
Glancing around the store, he avoided making eye contact with his uncle.“I really hadn’t noticed.”
The bald-faced lie received a loud snort.“Sure you didn’t.”
KC knew better than to deny it further—of course, he’d fucking noticed.After all, he was a healthy, heterosexual male, and Maura wasn’t just a looker, she was downright fucking gorgeous.In the middle of the night, after he closed his bedroom door, he’d been hard as granite, and it wasn’t from the adrenaline of having a gun pointed at him.It’d been a response to all her exposed, feminine flesh.Ever since he’d eyed those long, sexy legs extending downward from the skimpy T-shirt she’d apparently worn to bed, he could think of nothing else.Well, except maybe what the T-shirt hadn’t shown.It had hung on her slim figure, molding itself to her curves in all the right places.The darkness of her nipples had been visible through the thin cotton.He could imagine the weight of her breasts in his hands as his thumbs brushed over their stiff peaks.
She had beautiful, auburn hair, which fell to the middle of her back.He’d been disappointed to see it pulled up into a ponytail when he found her in the kitchen earlier.His hand had itched for him to walk over and release the silky strands from their bondage.The reddish-brown color was a perfect contrast to her pale, porcelain skin and sexy, baby-blue eyes.She was an erotic beauty from head to toe.As his younger brother Sean would say, she was a walking hard-on.Yup, he had definitely noticed.
Shaking the vision from his mind before his body could react to it again, he changed the subject.“I was a little surprised you rented the house.None of us have stayed there for more than a week or two in years.Hell, since you live above this place, I’m amazed you never sold it.It’s got to be worth a small fortune in today’s market.”
“Renting it to someone in need is one thing, but you know I would never sell it.”His uncle sounded wistful.“Annie and I bought the place a few weeks after we were married.Scraped together every penny we could and mortgaged it to the hilt.Even when money was tight, your aunt decorated the place really nice.She and I painted every room ourselves after she spent hours picking out just the right colors.Annie would scour yard sales and make something useful and beautiful from other people’s junk.Even on her sickest days, she would be telling me to move something, or dust something, or fluff something, just to be sure everything was perfect.”
KC smiled.He’d heard this story many times since he was a kid, and as it always did, it made him wish he’d known his aunt.She had passed away long before the Malone brothers were born, but they were raised with stories of Aunt Annie.He knew a small bit of his Uncle Dan had died along with his wife many years ago.
“Even though we only had two wonderful years together there, it will always be our place.I could never give it up.And someday it will belong to you and your brothers ...”He pointed to KC with a frown.“And if you ever sell it, I’ll come back from the grave and haunt your sorry asses!”
KC’s smile got even bigger.“I’m sure you will.But now that you’ve rented it temporarily, I need a place to crash, so I guess it’ll be on your couch.”
“Um, that’s impossible.”
“Why?”he asked as his eyes narrowed.When his uncle avoided looking him straight in the face, his suspicions grew.
“Well, you see ...Jinx kind of ate something which didn’t agree with him last week and got sick all over the couch.It stunk to high heaven, and I couldn’t get the stains out, so I had to get rid of it.I haven’t had time to pick out a new one yet.”
The younger man frowned, and he glared at the sleeping dog.“I told you he was a useless mutt.Now, I have to find another place to crash for four weeks or until you replace your damn couch.Guess I’ll call Brian.”
“Uh, that won’t work either.”
Sigh.“Why the hell not?”
