Page 89 of Burning For You

“Why are you nervous?” he asked when she was still sitting there looking at him rather than getting out. “You’re not the one in the hot seat.”

She unbuckled her seatbelt. “Really? Don’t bet on it. You’ve been in this house years longer than me.”

“Doesn’t mean I might not be ambushed,” he said, his voice so sarcastic she burst out laughing.

“Come on. No one is going to do that to you. You’re like the fifth son.”

“Don’t be so sure,” he mumbled.

She reached for his hand when they were out, threaded their fingers together for just a second and then let go.

“It’s going to be fine.”

“It will now that everyone saw that,” he said cheerfully. “So, thanks.”

“Saw what?” she asked, turning to see what he was talking about.

He pointed to the top of the front porch, just around the eaves. “That camera. The one on the back porch crosses over. Wave. They are watching now.”

Her jaw dropped, then without thought, she lifted her hand and flipped them the bird. “I didn’t know about them. How long have they been there?”

He laughed. “A few years.”

When they walked in the back door, Corbin was standing there waiting for them, the grin on his face. “Whose side are you on?” she asked her brother.

She could see he was struggling to answer. “Both of yours.”

“Don’t make him pick sides,” he said. “That’s not fair to anyone.”

“Ash is right,” Corbin said. “I don’t want to pick sides. I told Mom this might be too much having us all here, but she wasn’t going to pass up the chance to do it again.”

“So you’re warning me before we go in there?”

“I don’t know what I’m doing,” Corbin said, looking back and forth between his sister and his best friend. “I really came in here for a beer and then heard Brenna yell you just flipped off the camera. Dad has his laptop up watching you come in.”

She groaned even louder.

One reason she’d never brought a man home.

She always thought it’d be hard with brothers, but it was really Jim Lancaster she was worried about.

The guy always wanted a daughter to spoil. He got two of them later in life, but she never wanted to be spoiled.

She never felt she needed to be watched over that much either.

It never sat well with her as much as it did them.

Corbin pulled out a bottle of iced tea and tossed it to Ash, not even asking him about the beer.

Then she remembered he’d said he didn’t drink before a shift. He was going in in the morning.

“What about mine?”

“You can get your own shit,” Corbin said, tugging on her ponytail and walking out.

“Might as well get it over with,” Ash whispered and followed her brother to the front of the house.

“You should have seen your face,” Brenna said, wiping the tears from her cheeks. “The minute Ash pointed out the cameras.”