Page 4 of Falling for the Maverick

“Are you ready now?” she asked him in a quiet voice.

“For what?”

Tilting her head back, she said, “To claim two new brothers.”

* * *

Lucas smiled. Now he knew what she was talking about when she’d asked earlier if he was ready. It wasn’t about them getting together; she was referring to their extended families. “Yes, it’s perfect timing. I’ll invite them to Big Doggo so we can watch the games.”

Her eyebrows rose questioningly. “Games?”

“They’ll be back from their honeymoon in time for the World Series, then after that it’s football, basketball and hockey.” Lucas wanted to laugh when Michelle’s delicate jaw dropped.

“Have you forgotten that Ellis and Shane are newlyweds and would prefer spending time with their wives rather than with a bunch of dudes guzzling beer and acting like armchair quarterbacks?”

He dipped his head, his mouth close to her ear. “Ladies are also invited. Or do you want me to send you a special invitation?”

“Lucas Brandt, could you please flirt with the young lady at another time? I need you to move over here so I can take pictures of the wedding party.”

Lucas tried not to glare at the photographer for the Bronco Bulletin. The periodical was one of several where he advertised his parents’ dry-cleaning businesses. Lucas knew the man had come to Tenacity to cover the wedding for the paper’s social column because the Hawkinses were Bronco celebrities, but he was none too pleased to have everyone staring at him and Michelle.

“Sorry about that,” he whispered to her.

“It’s okay.”

Lucas wanted to tell her it wasn’t okay. He didn’t want to send the wrong message. Especially not with her family giving him questioning looks.

* * *

Although she’d told Lucas she was okay, Michelle realized she wasn’t, not with everyone staring at her. She had never been one for public displays of affection. She wanted to tell the presumptuous photographer that Lucas wasn’t flirting but decided not to let the taunt negatively affect her mood.

Her brothers had married the loves of their lives, and their wives were now her sisters. Even before the wedding, Remi, Tiffany and Michelle had discussed planning girl’s-only get-togethers at the Circle C, which would also include Amy Hawkins-Aventura and Faith Strom, Remi’s cousins.

Michelle went completely still, then relaxed against Lucas’s hand, splayed at the small of her back as he directed her over to where the wedding party had gathered. She and the bridesmaids posed with the brides, then as couples with the groomsmen, flanking the brides and their husbands. There were more family group photos with the Brandts, Hawkinses and Coreys.

It took more than an hour for the photographer and videographer to capture the images for future generations.

Her sigh of relief echoed others once the photo session ended, and the wedding party reentered the ballroom to applause and the Black Eyed Peas classic club hit “I Gotta Feeling” blaring from the sound system. Michelle was suddenly in a party mood because she wanted the night to be a good night indeed. She was ready to eat, dance and toast the newlyweds.

Once she was seated next to Lucas at the wedding party table, that high disappeared. Now she wondered how she was going to survive the evening because being that close to him was playing havoc with her emotions. It wasn’t only the warmth from his body but also the scent of his masculine cologne that made it virtually impossible for her to dismiss him as just another man.

Lucas Brandt wasn’t just that. He was someone she’d been crushing on since their first meeting. She’d asked herself over and over if it was his good looks, yet she knew that wasn’t the whole sum of the man. It was the sound of his deep voice and the way he looked at her that made her feel something she hadn’t experienced in a long time.

Desire.

She shook off the thought. She did not want to believe she was lusting after a stranger.

But she was.

Despite her friendship with Tiffany, Michelle wasn’t able to tell her that she liked her brother. Once burned and twice shy. However, in her naiveté, she’d believed Keith Matthews was in love with her, then discovered he was sleeping with her and another teacher at the same time.

No, she thought, shaking her head. That would not happen again. Not with Lucas Brandt.

“Is something wrong?” Lucas asked her.

Shifting slightly in her chair, she met his eyes, which seemed to darken the longer he looked at her. “No. Why would you ask?”

“You just shook your head.”