Smirking, she answered Hallie, “I was in New York visiting the fam, so I thought I’d stop by and say hello. You must be Major.” Tabitha approached, holding out a hand.
“Indeed.” Major finally found his feet and closed the distance. Tabitha’s perfume was subtle but enticing, and he wanted to bathe in her scent. He clasped her outstretched hand and brought it to his lips. He inhaled, and in that moment, heknew this female was something special. What he didn’t expect, though, was for Tabitha to place a hand over her stomach as her eyes squeezed shut.
“Are you okay?”
“Fine. Just…” Tabitha waved her free hand in the air. “Not expecting you to be so gentlemanly.”
“Let me guess. Your brother told you what happened in West Virginia.”
“My brother, my mother, and my father.” Tabitha winked at him, and Major’s heart skipped a beat.
“And you still wanted to meet me?”
“Definitely. Why don’t you show me around?”
Major held out his hand. “After you.”
“Don’t mind me. I’ll just sit here and file my nails,” Hallie deadpanned.
Major stuck his tongue out at his cousin. She just wiggled her eyebrows since she knew how long Major had wanted to meet Tabitha. After showing her around the building, they stepped into Major’s office. “Do you have plans tonight?”
“Why, Mister Lazlo, are you asking me out?”
“Yes, Miss Stone. I am. We can start with dinner or a drink and see where the night takes us?”
“I would love to see where we end up,” she husked. Major was in deep trouble with this one, and he was there for it.
It was the best seventy hours of his life. They would have had more time together, but Tabitha had to return to Atlanta for a job. They exchanged numbers, and since that weekend, they had talked, texted, and video chatted often. As the saying goes, Tabitha Stone ruined him for all others.
Major was still frustrated when he pulled into his twin’s driveway. Not because of Tabitha. She always put a smile on his face. No, his bad mood was due to Fallon. The female couldn’t take a hint. Shutting off hisHarley, he heeled the kickstand down. After dismounting, Major rolled his shoulder, easing the ache from where Fallon punched him. He took a few seconds to shake off his bad mood, refusing to bring it into his twin’s home. Once inside, Major called out, “Hey, Marsh,” as he made his way to the kitchen. It was Marshall’s turn to cook for their weekly get-together. Growing up, the two were thick as thieves, but the older they got, the more their interests varied. Major worked for Steele Securities, a company owned by Mason Steele, a Gargoyle from Atlanta, who had opened a second office in New York. Marshall had always been the quieter of the two, and he preferred art over chasing down assholes. He had taken over their uncle Hayden’s job of painting motorcycles and sidecars, while their cousin Kayden built bikes and did the mechanic work.
Marshall’s smile was soft, just like its owner. Major’s twin might look like a badass, but he had the kindest soul of anyone Major knew. “Why’s your face like that?” Marshall waved the wooden spoon he was holding in a circle.
So much for shaking off his mood. “Fucking Fallon.”
Marshall went back to stirring whatever was in the pot. “What’d she do this time?”
“I ran into her at Ripley’s, and she wouldn’t leave me alone. I got up to leave, and she said she’d come with me. When I didn’t wait on her, she caught up with me in the parking lot and punched me from behind.”
Marshall’s gaze hardened. “What’d you do?”
“I didn’t have to do anything. Nahla tackled her.”
Just like that, Marshall’s face broke into a lopsided grin, his eyes lit with joy. “No shit?”
“No shit. Fallon was in such a hurry to catch me, sheleft her credit card behind, and Nahla had come outside to give it to her. I tell ya, Brother, I might have to get snippy with her, ‘cause she ain’t getting the hint.”
“Or you could simply tell her you’re interested in someone else.” Marshall turned the burner off and placed a colander over the pot, dumping hot water down the drain.
Major helped himself to a beer out of the fridge, popped the top, and tossed the cap into the garbage can. He downed half the brew in one go. “If that someone else lived close by, I’d definitely tell her that. With Tabitha in Atlanta, I don’t see that it matters.”
“Have you thought of moving to Atlanta? You already work for Mason, and I don’t doubt he’d let you relocate.”
Major picked at the label with his thumbnail. “I have, but you’re here. The girls are here. With Lolly and Daddo moving to Vermont, I don’t want to leave y’all.” It might sound odd for someone who’d been born and raised in Upstate New York to speak Southern, but he got it from his dad who was originally from Texas.
Marshall returned the pot to the stove, then began layering one of Major’s favorite dishes – baked spaghetti. “Any chance she’d move here? Her parents are close by.”
“True, but her twin is in Atlanta, as are her forty-eleven cousins.” Major downed the rest of the beer and tossed the bottle in the recycling bin. He got another brew before sitting at the island.
