I’m going to kill this motherfucker.
She glances up at me with those green eyes that should belong to me and only me, and I can’t help but think,That’s right, Princess. Eyes on me.
“Joel Macomb,” my bastard of a brother murmurs, his lips still grazing the back of her hand, and her eyes leave mine and back to his.
“Macomb? Brother?” she asks, glancing between us, and we both nod.
“I’m the younger, better looking one.”
She laughs out loud again, her eyes dancing, and goddammit I’ve never hated my brother as much as I do in this moment.
This fucker.
He’s charming and funny and it pisses me off because I’m neither of those things. He’s wearing a pair of jeans and another one of his tightly fitted t-shirts that show off all the work he does at the gym. With his dark hair, dark eyes, and glasses, he’s a good-looking dude and he fucking knows it.
“I’m Louise Miller,” she says, pulling her hand away from Joel’s. She ladles a scoop of waffle batter into the iron and closes it, twisting it so that it rotates a full 180 degrees in the cradle.
“And how did you meet this grumpy old man?” Joel asks, hiking a thumb in my direction. I slurp another swallow of my coffee to keep from punching him.
She laughs again. “I just moved in next door a couple weeks ago.”
“Well, I’m glad my brother has welcomed you to the neighborhood,” Joel says and winks at her.
I’m gonna kill him. Slowly. Painfully.
“He’s been very welcoming,” she says, then turns to plate up the scrambled eggs and bacon. She cuts the first waffle in half, placing half on two plates. “I watched the girls last night while he was out on a fire call, thought I’d feed these girls since I wasn’t sure how late he’d sleep.”
“You’re just getting up, you lazy bones? I’ve been up for hours,” he says, smacking my chest with the back of his hand as Louise steps around us toward the kitchen bar carrying the two plates. Chloe and Bailey climb up into the barstools on the opposite side. “We were on the same call last night and you don’t see me sleeping until almost noon.”
“Oh, you’re a firefighter, too?” she asks, eyes wide.
“All three of us are,” Joel says, nodding as he helps himself to a cup of coffee.
“All three of you?” Lou asks, her blonde brows drawing close as she comes back to the stove. She looks around the room, like she’s expecting another person to pop up out of thin air.
“Our oldest brother is a wildland firefighter in Washington state,” I say, fighting a grin.
“Ahhh. So, there’s three of you? Are you all outrageously attractive or just you two?” she asks, laughing as she places the third plate at the counter for Abi.
“Eww, they are not,” Abi groans, shaking her head. “Gross.”
Louise laughs, and fuck me if her dimples don’t completely disarm me like always. “My apologies, you are absolutely correct. They’re all trolls.”
She looks up at me from beneath the brim of that hat and winks at me.
I feel that wink in my fucking dick.
Joel hitches his thumb at me again and addresses my oldest daughter, “Aww come on, Abs, don’t be lumping me in with this brute. That’s not fair.”
Abi shrugs her shoulders, sticking a bite of the waffle in her mouth. “Sorry, Uncle Joel. I can’t take it back.”
“Can’t or won’t?” he asks, narrowing his eyes on her.
“Won’t,” she affirms around a bite of scrambled eggs, grinning.
Joel clutches at his chest in feigned pain, making Abi and Bailey laugh.
“I think you and Daddy are very handsome,” Chloe says, picking up her bacon and tearing off a bite with her teeth—the front two missing. “And Uncle Xander. But we never get to see him because he works so far away.”
