Why did touching him feel so natural?
Rhett closed his eyes, sighing deeply. When he opened them again, they were a cool shade of brown. They crinkled when he smiled at me and said, “I hope you’re ready for the circus.”
He wasn’t kidding.
The moment we started up the walkway, the front door flew open. A young man charged us at full speed, long blonde hair whipping around his boyish face. Rhett pushed me out of the way just in time, catching his attack with a grunt.
The young man wrapped his arms too tightly around Rhett’s neck, using his body weight to topple him off the path and into the snow. I stared slack-jawed, half expecting this to turn into a fistfight.
Rhett was a trained assassin or whatever. This had to be the moment he went all James Bond and knocked someone out cold.
I backed away, hitting the warm hood of the SUV. What did I do? Should I help him? Throw a snowball?
Rhett didn’t pull any deadly kung fu moves. He laughed hard and long, rolling in the snow and getting the upper hand on the young man. They were closely matched in build, but Rhett was taller and broader.
I looked closer, realizing our blonde attacker was barely more than a teenager.
Rhett scooped a handful of snow off the ground and rubbed it into the kid’s face as he howled for mercy.
“You little shit.”
“Better than being a big shit!”
Rhett climbed off the kid, offering him a hand and pulling him up.
“Angie, meet the biggest pain in my ass,” he said, wrapping an arm casually over my shoulder.
I was still blinking, pumped full of adrenaline at the sudden wrestling match. My lips parted, searching for a response, but I couldn’t stop staring at Rhett. His entire body had relaxed, his face animated.
What would it take to get a man like him to smile at me like that?
The kid grinned at me, extending a hand. He was all dimples and blue eyes. Rhett shared zero resemblance with him. “Holy shit! No kidding?”
Rhett batted his hand away, and he laughed.
“Right, I forgot.” The kid stuffed his hands in his pockets and said, “Hi Angie! I’m Ross. Thank God you’re here. Mom was going to start arranging matches for us if one of us didn’t mate soon.”
“She wasn’t going to arrange any matches for you, kid,” Rhett argued, ruffling Ross’s hair.
“She already has a few she-wolves in mind ‘when we’re of age.’”
“Take this.” Rhett hefted his abused suitcase out of the snow where Ross tackled him. “I need to feed Angie.”
Ross obediently rolled the suitcase up the front walk, waving us in the front door. The scent of savory food filled the air, and my mouth watered.
Yes, please feed me.
We stepped into a simple foyer and removed our shoes. The walls were pale yellow, and there was a framed picture of six happy faces beaming at me next to the coat hanger. Rhett helped me remove his coat and layers, hanging them on the overfull hooks. There were gloves and shoes scattered all around the floor, and I wondered how much younger the rest of Rhett’s brothers were.
Male voices murmured from somewhere just out of sight. A crisp, feminine voice cut them off as she yelled, “You need butter and flour!”
“I know how to make a roux, Mom. Relax.”
“And the potatoes—“
“Woman, you asked me to cook for you because you know how good my cooking is. Now stop fussing and go watch ThePrice is Right, or whatever you old ladies do these days.”
I froze behind Ross as he led us around the corner, uncertainty gripping me as I waited for the sharp response. Kitchen cabinets slamming. Any sign that the argument was boiling over and we were in the danger zone.
