“I couldn’t ask you to do that!” Laken said.
“Oh, but I’m offering. As payment for hiding me”
Laken grinned. “And I’m guessing not telling Eli and Kellan about this?”
“Yep. Please.”
“All right. I’ll even keep Shaw quiet. I have stuff on him.” Laken winked at her. “By the way, Eli and Kellan said we have you to thank for Shaw smiling again.”
“I really don’t think that’s true,” Arabella told her.
“Oh, I don’t know. I haven’t seen him smile since before he was injured. And now you’re here and he’s smiling and joking. I think you’ve given him something else to focus on.”
“Um. What’s that?” she asked.
“Getting you together with his brothers,” Laken said with a grin.
“Not happening. That’s not . . . we’re not . . . no.”
Laken giggled. “Oh, we’re going to be good friends. Come on, let me show you the steamer.”
An hour later, she left the shop with Horse with a smile on her face and only one burn from the steamer.
Oh, and a new friend.
She was going to take that as a win.
“Really? She ducked away from us?”Eli asked as Shaw told him about his encounter with Arabella that morning.
They were all at Duncan’s place. He was cooking them dinner on the grill. Remington was here as well.
Eli shared a look with Kellan. Why would she run from them?
“Relax, guys, I think it’s a good thing,” Shaw said. There was a flush of red on his cheeks and Eli felt something ease inside him. He’d been so stressed about losing Shaw.
“Yeah, I always consider it a good thing when women run from me,” Remington joked.
“I would think you’d be pretty used to it,” Kellan said.
Shaw and Remington turned to gape at Kellan. Even Duncan turned away from the grill to stare. And Duncan took his grilling seriously.
Laken was inside sitting with her feet up. Which Duncan had been very firm about.
Eli completely agreed. She looked exhausted. If she was his wife, he didn’t think he’d let her work at all while pregnant.
Suddenly an image of Arabella with a large belly filled his mind. Jeez. Did he want that?
Part of him did.
He needed to calm down. He could barely get her to talk to them. Hell, she’d just run from them today. And the other morning she wouldn’t have eaten breakfast with them if he hadn’t been so pushy about it.
“Did you just make a joke?” Remington asked. “He did, didn’t he? I didn’t imagine that.”
“I don’t joke,” Kellan said. “I just figured that most sensible women would run from you.”
“Asshole.” But Remington smiled.
“What are you going to do? Do you want to pursue this girl?” Duncan asked. “Because it sounds like she’s not so sure about that.”
