Releasing a sigh, I chuckled. “Not a chance. He’s the oneriest of my three brothers and closest to me in age. He thinks he needs to look out for me.”
“Three?” The barest hint of worry laced Austin’s voice.
“Don’t worry. I know how to get rid of him. I got this.” I disentangled myself from Austin, reluctantly. But I didn’t miss his whispered words as I marched over to my annoying brother. “Yes, you do.” His husky timbre sent delicious chills along my spine. Oh, yes. This is what I’ve been missing from my past relationships.
“Look, thanks for showing up. Not that you bother to check in with me to let me know when big things are happening inyourlife. Oh, and speaking of not keeping me in the loop, what is really going on with you and Callie?”
Hunter’s ears turned red and his lips thinned. He stood in front of me, arms crossed, feet spread apart as if he could intimidate me into backing down. Ha. I had his number, and where we were once a united team against Walker and Roman, something had changed recently. He’d become more secretive about his personal life.
But right now, I needed him to back the heck out of mine. I was thirty-four, and I may have needed him when I was nineteen, on the verge of a messy divorce, I was no longer the naive girl who needed her big brother vetting every man who showed an interest in me.
“Yeah, well, that’s part of the reason I came over. Callie and I are…hell, I’m not sure what we are.”
The anguish in his tone piqued my interest, but he didn’t give me time to question what was going on with him and one of my best friends. And in typical Hunter fashion, he rolled on without pausing.
“And yeah, I know we haven’t spoken in a while, but you’re always on deadline. Sometimes I really miss when you were anaccountant. Now all you do is create stories about love and…and hell, forever happily ever with babies and shit.” Hunter glared at Austin over my shoulder.
Damn him. I didn’t dare turn to look at Austin’s reaction. Out of everyone in my family, Hunter had been the least enthusiastic when I’d quit my job as a mid-level and average accountant a couple of years ago to go full time as a writer. I didn’t expect him to jump for joy, not like my sisters-in-law who were my biggest supporters, but he could at least be happy for me.
“First, it’s called happily ever after, you Neanderthal, and second, you love babies. They’re not ‘some shit.’ So, why are you really here? To lecture me about the oven fire or about Austin? Because, according to my sources, you two don’t even work the same shift.” Crossing my arms, I lifted my chin, daring him to argue. I swear I could smell smoke coming out of his ears. And maybe, okay, yeah, I went a little hard on him, but dang it, I so didn’t want to have this conversation right now. I wanted to see where things were leading with Austin.
“Since you’re here, Cap, maybe you could help me get the oven inside. I don’t want to come between you and your sister. But whether anything happens between us is entirely up to her. And her connection to you has no effect on how I feel about her.”
Austin’s words made me spin around, searching his gaze for the truth. My brother’s concerns and evasion of my question about Callie and him were forgotten. I knew I’d eventually get the truth from her soon enough. And if they were secretly finding their way, I’d be the first one to congratulate them.
Smiling, I mouthed, “Thank you” to Austin. Whatever the reason was for showing up with the replacement oven; whether he was a do-good firefighter or just a man interested in me, and based on that kiss, I chose to believe the latter, I appreciated how he stood up for me.
Now to get my brother to help Austin bring in the oven, then kick Hunter out so Austin and I could explore our fast-moving attraction.
The next half hour was filled with more grunts and hand signals than actual conversation between the two men as they removed the old oven and brought in the new one. It was quite comical to watch.
“Okay, thanks. I’ll take it from here.” Austin held out his hand to Hunter, who hesitated but eventually shook it.
“Yeah. Sorry for the intrusion. You have a sister?” Hunter asked.
“Two of them, actually.”
“Hopefully yours aren’t anywhere near a pain in the ass as mine. There was this time when I was a junior and Stassi spied on me and my date as we watched a movie and she?—”
“Okay, that’s all the time we have tonight. Thanks for playing along, but it’s time for you to leave, big brother.”
Smirking, Hunter let me off the hook. I knew he’d share the rest of the story with Austin at a different time, but for now I didn’t want my juvenile hatred for Leslie Johnston and the ensuing chaos caused by two mice I’d trapped end up ruining what I hoped was the start of a promising evening with Austin.
“Fine. And if you two are going to date, or whatever, I don’t have a problem with it. Much. Just treat her well, and I won’t have to show up here unannounced again. Oh, and get her a fire extinguisher.” Hunter’s steely gaze didn’t waver until Austin acknowledged him with a slight nod.
Then Austin turned to me and grinned. And oh, my! My heartbeat hadn’t completely settled from our earlier kiss. Now it kicked back into high gear.
“I’ve got one in the cab of my truck.” Austin answered, but his gaze hadn’t left mine. “Guess we have his blessing?”
“It’s as close to one as we’re going to get.” Patting Hunter on the shoulder, I said, “Okay, that’s your cue to leave. Let me know when your next day off is, and we’ll get together and talk about your Callie problem, okay? Bye now.”
I walked my brother to the door as he sputtered about not having any problem with my friend, then I not so gently pushed him over the threshold, taking an inordinate amount of pleasure in shutting it behind him. Austin’s deep laughter rang in my ears as I came back into the kitchen.
“Too harsh, you think?”
“Oh, Stassi, I think it was just enough. And really, I didn’t come here using the oven to pressure you into anything. I just wanted?—”
Marching up to Austin, I didn’t let him finish as I stood on my tiptoes, took his handsome face in my hands and kissed him.
