“Isn’t it?” She arches a brow. “I told him some guy kept flirting with me at a party once, and the next day, I found out he just… happened to stop by the guy’s job. He said he wanted to introduce himself.” She adds air quotes again at the end.
“What’s wrong with being friendly?” I counter.
She looks back at Brinley, dead serious now. “He’s overprotective. He just disguises it as being helpful.”
“That’s not entirely true.”
Brinley’s smile curves slow, like she’s enjoying every second of this. “I can see that about him already.”
“Traitor,” I mutter.
Atlee ignores me. “Just thought you should have the full picture.”
Before I can retaliate, she’s already digging her phone out of her back pocket.
“We should hang out,” she says to Brinley. “Maybe catch one of his games together.”
“I’d like that,” Brinley answers easily.
Atlee grins. “Perfect. We’ll get seats behind the net. I’ll bring a sign too. He hates it when he knows I’m chirping him.”
“I will burn it.”
“I’ll make one too.” Brinley smiles.
I groan. Atlee laughs, backing toward her car. “Be good,” she calls over her shoulder. “Or at least act like you are.”
Atlee climbs back into her BMW and pulls away, kicking up gravel as she takes off.
Brinley steps closer, sliding her arms around my waist. I pull her in without thinking, needing to soak up the warmth of her body and the feel of her close to me again.
“Your sister’s great,” she says.
“She is,” I tell her. “Even when she’s a menace.”
She tilts her head back to look at me. “You’re different with her. Maybe a little overprotective, like she said… but I like it.”
“Yeah?”
She nods.
I kiss her before I can talk myself out of it, desperately wanting to change the conversation. Her fingers bunch in the front of my shirt like they always do, like she needs something solid to hold on to.
When we pull back, she smiles. “So. You gonna put me to work or what?”
I huff out a laugh. “You volunteering for farm labor now?”
She grins. “I told you I would. Plus, I want to see the animals.”
I grab an extra pair of gloves off the fence post and hand them to her. “Rule number one: don’t stand directly behind anything bigger than you.”
“It’s super reassuring the way you just tossed that out there.”
I glance down at her. “I’m not gonna let anything happen to you.”
She smirks. It’s softer now, and falls into step beside me as I lead her toward the first pen with our highland cows.
“This is my girl, Defense,” I say, resting my forearms along the fence.
