She’s at my house, isn’t she?
You know what I mean. Give my grambaby a kiss. Love you both.
Will do. Love you too mom.
I’m pouring my coffee when Clover walks in. Her short, dark curls are a mess. A chunk of blonde is standing almost straight out of her head at a 90-degree angle. I stifle a laugh, and she rubs her eyes with the heels of her palms groggily.
“Mornin’,” she grumbles, her voice raspy with sleep. She makes her way to the coffee pot like a zombie on its way to brains, then stares at it.
“Mugs are right above you,” I direct. Her response is a grunt, followed by the drag of ceramic along the bottom of the shelf as she pulls one towards her.
“You’re up awfully early,” I comment. I’m shocked. She’s never been a morning person. She definitely still doesn’t seem like one, but she’s up nevertheless.
“Stupid time zones,” she replies. “It would be seven in Florida right now. Still too early,” she grumbles. “I heard you crashing through the house like a bull in a china shop, and I can’t go back to sleep once I wake up.”
“I barely made any noise!”
“Your alarm clock sounds like the emergency warning for impending nuclear warfare.”
Okay. She has a point.
She pads to the refrigerator and opens it, peering in.
“Thank you, God and Mary Hollis,” she sighs in relief, pulling out the Italian sweet cream and pouring it into her coffee.
“Speaking of Mary Hollis,” I start cautiously. “I have to get out and go check on the animals and check the land. It’s raining pretty good, and I need to make sure nothing’s washed out.”
She finishes stirring the sugar in her coffee and takes a sip, her eyes rolling back in her head as the caffeine hits.
My dick absolutely takes note of the way her big brown eyes look when they roll back. It was bad enough when my brain caught up with the fact that she was wearing my clothes. The sweatpants are comically large on her, but she’s rolled the waistband to make them a reasonable length. My hoodie is wrapped around her like I’m still holding her against me the way I was last night.
Get it together, man. I move to stand behind the island, blocking her view of my reaction. I’m just tired, and I haven’t gotten off in a while. This is Clover, for God’s sake. The annoying little shit that grew up bothering me just as much as my sister.
But Clover ain’t a little anything anymore. She’s not a gangly little thing, all limbs and sharp edges. The clothes I gave her are hiding all of it, and it’s a damn shame. The way her wet clothes were clinging to her last night left almost nothing to the imagination. I wasn’t even as mad as I probably came off last night. I was trying to distract myself from the way her nipples were threatening to tear her sweater.
“And?” She asks, interrupting my runaway thoughts of her tits. She’s holding her mug in both hands, sipping slowly now and then.
“And usually, Mom comes and hangs out with Lennon in the mornings while I go check on stuff and do the chores I take care of before the guys get here.”
“Mary’s coming?” Her face lights up, and I actually hate that my mom isn’t coming now.
“Nah, not today. She texted and said their road is flooded and they’re not able to get out. That’s another reason I need to get out there as soon as I can.”
“What are you waiting for, then? Go on.” She motions to the back door with her chin.
“I have to go wake Lennon up and get her ready to head out with me.”
“In this weather? Just let her sleep. She was up late.”
“What, and just leave my kid withyou?”
“Jesus, Beckett,” she says, putting her coffee down.
“I think it’s a fair question. You can’t even take care of yourself most of the time, much less?—”
“Wow. Fucking wow,” she whispers, her eyes wide. “You get a single fucking glimpse at my life, which, by the way, is probably the worst time I’ve had since Mom, and suddenly you know everything about how the last thirteen years of my life have gone.”
Her eyes are full of fire, and I know she’s right, but now I’m mad, too.
