by Marla Monroe
“You ready to head back?” Brian’s voice broke into her thoughts.
“Hmm? Yeah.” She started to get up and Lamar was immediately there helping her up.
“Have a good afternoon, Caitlyn.”
She smiled at him. “Thanks. Bye, Brody.”
She followed the others out of the diner and back toward the store. She couldn’t get Lamar’s remarks out of her head that maybe she should let someone else worry about things for a change. Would she ever be able to trust anyone again enough to let down her guard? Caitlyn wasn’t sure she would.
* * * *
Lamar watched her leave with the others. He sat back down with Brody moving to the other side of the table.
“What?” he asked.
“We don’t have a lot of time, brother. She’ll be here for the next three weeks. If we don’t convince her to marry us before then, we’ll have to go back and forth to Austin and court her.”
“If we don’t convince her before she moves to Austin, little brother, we’ve lost out. She’s not going to change her mind once she leaves here where everyone is relaxed about sharing.”
“Then we’ve got to work fast and hard. I can’t imagine my life without her, Brody. She’s perfect for us.”
“She’s just getting out of one marriage. I don’t see her jumping into another one anytime soon.”
Lamar wiped a hand over his face and huffed out a breath. “What do you suggest we do? Give up without even trying?”
“No. I’m just saying this isn’t going to be easy.”
“Nothing worth having ever is, Brody. We both know that.”
Lamar knew what was eating Brody. He didn’t like that there was an ex involved. The last woman they had been serious about had an ex and eventually went back to him. Brody had been pretty messed up over that and hadn’t wanted to date anyone right out of a relationship because of it. He didn’t trust that they wouldn’t jump right back into it.
The fact that Caitlyn was married or recently divorced bothered Brody. If he hadn’t already gotten attached to her, Lamar had no doubt that he wouldn’t even be considering her. She would have been off limits as far as he was concerned.
He watched Brody for any sign of what he was thinking. The other man was a master at hiding his feelings behind a hard exterior that few could break through. If Lamar wasn’t already half in love with Caitlyn, he wouldn’t force his brother’s hand, but he was. She was the one for them. He knew it in his heart and felt it in his soul.
“I’m willing to try, Lamar, but I’m not getting my hopes up. She can change her mind just as easily as she can make it up.”
“She’s not like Cindy. She’s been hurt, too, Brody. Give her a chance.”
“So had Cindy, Lamar. We were there to pick up the pieces and she still went back to that son of a bitch.”
“Forget about her. All that matters now is Caitlyn. Where do we start?”
Brody sighed and leaned back in the chair. Lamar could tell that he was torn between wanting her and not wanting to go through the pain of rejection again. It had hurt Brody far more than it had hurt him. Brody had thought she would be a good wife for them. It had hurt his pride that she’d chosen the douche bag over them.
“Well, we have Brian and Andy’s shelves about ready. Let’s take one of them over tomorrow and see if it works. We can talk to her some more and see how she is doing.”
“Good idea.”
“Maybe we can convince her to let us buy her dinner.”
“We can take each of the shelves over there on a different day until she agrees to go out with us.” Lamar nodded. “I like that.”
“Let’s just hope that Brian is still okay with us courting her. We don’t know what the circumstances are behind Caitlyn’s marriage breaking up. If he changes his mind, we’ve got a fight on our hands.”
“He won’t. He knows we’ll take good care of her.”
“I hope you’re right.” Brody stood up and dropped several bills on the table for the tip. Then he took the ticket and headed toward the cash register.
Lamar followed, pleased to see that Mattie was at the register. She and her husbands Nate and Bruce owned the diner.
“Hey, Mattie. How are you all doing?”
“Fine. Business has been brisk lately. How are you boys doing?”
“Been busy as well.” Brody nodded.
“Brian’s sister is quite a good-looking woman. What do you think?” Mattie grinned at Lamar.
Brody grunted, but Lamar answered her. “She definitely is.”
“Thinking about courting her?”
“We’re thinking about it, but she’s talking about moving to Austin instead of here. We’ve got our work cut out for us.”
Mattie nodded. “Looks like you might need some help to convince her she’d rather live here.”
“We’ll take all the help we can get.” Lamar waited while Brody paid their ticket.
“Good luck, you two. It’s about time you found someone to settle you down.”
They waved and walked through the door outside. Lamar followed Brody over to the truck and climbed in without saying anything. He could tell that his brother wanted to say something but was weighing his words first. Usually when he did that, it was important. Lamar hoped it wouldn’t be anything that they would end up fighting about.
The made it back to the shop and had been working for nearly thirty minutes before Brody finally spit it out.
“If she’s still married, Lamar, I’m backing off. I’m not getting mixed up with a married woman. If you’re still interested in her once her divorce is final, I’ll be willing to court her then, but I’m not messing with a married woman.”
Lamar had to count to ten before he threw the part he was working on across the room. Fuck, Brody! He should have known he would figure out a way to put a hold on it. He had been thinking too much about Cindy.
“Don’t say anything, Lamar. You know I’m right.”
Lamar could feel his blood pressure rise. It didn’t help that Brody was right. He hadn’t planned on her being married. He had been hoping she was divorced already. Maybe it had been wishful thinking, but he wasn’t going to give up.
“We can still be friends with her until her divorce goes through,” Lamar managed to get out through gritted teeth.
“I guess we can as long as you draw the line at anything physical. No kissing, Lamar.”
“I hear you loud and clear, Brody. Fuck! Just forget about it for now.”
Lamar didn’t want to forget about anything, but if they were going to keep from arguing the rest of the day, they needed to back off of the subject. He sighed and finished the motor part he’d been working on. Tomorrow was a new day, and he couldn’t wait for it to get there.
Chapter Five
Caitlyn laid down the pencil and rubbed her eyes. Then she keyed in the final figures on the spreadsheet and hit save. One down and half a dozen more stacks to go. She was slowly plowing through their invoices and entering them into a database for them to use to track their sales and run reports. The spreadsheet was mainly for her. She wanted to keep track and make sure the database worked so she was using it as a tick-and-tie method.
“How are things going, Sis?”
“Slow, but they’re really going well. The database is working just like it’s supposed to. I’ll keep the spreadsheet until I leave to be sure the other doesn’t have any glitches in it. You don’t have to keep up with both of them. I feel sure it will work great for you.”
“You don’t know how much I appreciate this, Caity. The accountant here in town didn’t even have enough time to spare for a lesson. I sure wish you would think about moving here. You would have more business than you would know what to do with.”
“Brian, I honestly don’t think that it would be a good idea. I like the sound of living in Austin. I would be close enough to visit on a regular basis but far enough away that we wouldn’t get on each other’s nerves.”
“And I
’ll worry about you all the time. You’ll be alone without anyone you know to help you if you need it. What happens if you lock yourself out of your house or car?”
“I’m a big girl. I’ll deal with it. You can’t live my life for me. Yeah, I screwed up, but that doesn’t mean I’m not capable of making decisions.”
“I never said you couldn’t make decisions, Caity. Just think about it, all right? I can’t help but want you close. We’re all either of us has left.”
“That’s not true anymore, Brian. You’ve got Tish and Andy now. You’re building your own family.”
“It doesn’t mean I don’t need you. You’re my sister.”
Caitlyn sighed. Brian wasn’t going to give up. Part of her really wanted to stick around Riverbend. It seemed like a nice place from what she had seen so far. But part of her knew that staying close to Brian would mean that he would try to run her life.
So, aren’t you strong enough to say no if you need to? Why move so far away when you could live close enough to watch his family grow?
Thoughts of Lamar and Brody intruded into her mind. She tried to push them back out. She didn’t need to even think about another relationship right then, maybe never. She obviously had poor taste when it came to men. What made her think that they were any different?
A clanging noise toward the front of the store jostled her from her thoughts. She wondered what was going on, but didn’t bother getting up from the desk. Brian and Tish were out there. If something was wrong, they would call out. She continued working on the files she was entering into their new database.
A few seconds later, the door next to the office opened and Brody backed into the storage area in the back of the store. He was carrying one end of a metal storage shelf of some type that looked as if it had been custom made. As he disappeared farther into the shop, Lamar emerged with the other end of the thing followed closely by Tish, Brian, and Andy.
“Okay, put it over there against that wall. That’s it.” Tish had no trouble directing the men where she wanted the rack.
Once it was in place, they stood back and admired their work with Lamar grabbing a drill off one of the counters and proceeding to secure it in place.
“It looks perfect. When will the other two be ready?” Tish was fairly bouncing with excitement.
“We’ll bring one over tomorrow and the other one on Thursday,” Brody told her.
“Caitlyn, come look at our custom-made shelves.” Tish indicated the impressive assembly. “Lamar and Brody weld, and they’re making our shelving units for us. It was going to cost an arm and a leg to get just the standard ones shipped, and then we were going to have to put them together.”
“These are cheaper, better made, and already come assembled.” Brian grinned at her.
“Well, they do for some people, anyway.” Lamar chuckled.
She walked out of the office and admired them. They were well made and looked like they would be perfect for the type of merchandise that they carried.
“I’m impressed. They fit the store perfectly and have all the bells and whistles, too. That holds shipping paper, doesn’t it?” She pointed out the spool that was mounted on the end of the unit.
“That’s right.” Brody grabbed a roll of paper and demonstrated how it worked.
“The two of you would really rack up the sales for stuff like this in a bigger city.”
Brody’s facial expression grew tight. “We don’t want to live in a big city. We like Riverbend just fine.”
For some reason, Caitlyn felt as if she’d hurt his feelings.
“I don’t blame you for wanting to live here. It’s a perfect little town. I don’t really like all the traffic and hordes of people either.”
“Then why move to Austin when you can easily move here? You already have all your stuff with you.” Lamar jumped in when Brody remained silent.
“Austin isn’t as large as some cities, and it has a smaller-town feel to it. I just think that living so close to Brian would be asking for fights,” she finally admitted.
She didn’t see why they were so interested in her moving to Riverbend. They barely knew her. They had spent a day together, but it didn’t mean they were best pals or anything. She still would have wanted to move to Austin despite their being good friends just to assure that her brother didn’t jump in her business. Speaking of which, she needed to go through the finances and make sure she had covered all her bases, and Harold hadn’t gotten away with anything other than pulling the wool over her eyes.
“Gee, thanks, Sis.” Brian crossed his arms and frowned at her.
“You know it’s true. You like to boss me around, and I like to ignore you.”
“Those are typical brother-and-sister actions.” Tish wrapped an arm around Caitlyn’s waist. “My sisters and I don’t get along when we’re around each other too much.”
“I’m sure Brian is only looking out for your best interests,” Brody pointed out.
“Well, he tends to get a bit too involved with my personal life, though.”
“If you had listened to me, you wouldn’t have married Harold in the first place.”
“Brian!” Tish’s shout wasn’t in time to prevent him from cutting Caitlyn to the quick.
She ground her teeth together and walked toward the front of the building.
“I’m going to take a walk around town. I’ll be back later.”
“Caitlyn…”
“Don’t, Brian. You’ve said enough.” She kept walking until she was outside and heading toward the middle of the little town.
There were several shops on both sides of the street she hadn’t looked at and several empty buildings as well. She walked toward the little department store down the block. She could spend some time in there while she calmed down.
“He didn’t mean to say that, Caity.” Lamar walked up on one side of her while Brody took the other side.
“I didn’t ask for your opinion, and I didn’t ask for company.”
“Well, you’ve got both.” Brody stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. “Why are you so upset?”
“Why am I so…He effectively said I told you so and did it in front of virtual strangers.” She refused to cry.
Tears pricked at the back of her eyes despite her willing them to stay away. What were they doing following her anyway? She was just a friend’s sister. If anyone should have followed her it should have been Brian or Andy.
“He didn’t mean to hurt your feelings, Caity. He’s cursing himself back there now.”
“No, Tish is cursing him. He doesn’t see that he said anything wrong. Don’t try and tell me how my brother is feeling. I’ve known him a lot longer than you have.”
She pulled away from Brody and continued toward the department store. She didn’t expect them to continue following her, so when one of them opened the door to the store, she stared.
“What?” Lamar asked with a grin.
“Why are you still following me?”
“Because we’re trying to get up the nerve to ask you out to dinner tonight.”
“Why?” She could only stare at them even harder now.
“We want to get to know you better before you leave.”
“I don’t get it. What’s the point?”
“We like you, and with Brian living here, you’re bound to visit him on a regular basis.” Lamar grinned.
“And you want to see me anytime I’m here. If I say yes, will you behave?”
“Define behave.” Lamar seemed to be doing all the talking.
Somehow, she figured there was a reason for that. She narrowed her eyes at Brody. He was watching her with hooded eyes. If she didn’t know better, she would say he was horny. She couldn’t help but drop her eyes, and sure enough, the outline of his cock was apparent against his jeans. Her mouth dropped open, and she jerked her eyes back up only to find a knowing smile there. She felt her insides melt as her panties grew wet with her arousal.
“Maybe we should take this
over to our shop where we can talk without being overheard.” Lamar wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her out of the doorway and farther down the sidewalk.
“W–we don’t have anything to talk about.”
“Sure we do.” Brody’s hand went to the small of her back as they ushered her along.
“Like what?” She looked over at Lamar and found he had the same knowing smile on his face.
“How about the fact that you’re soaking wet right now, and I’m hard as a fucking rock.”
She stopped walking and stared at Brody as if he’d just admitted to being a Martian. She couldn’t believe he had the nerve to talk that way to her. They didn’t even know each other for God’s sake.
“Come on, Caitlyn, you don’t want to have this conversation in public.” Lamar took her hand and pulled her around a corner.
After a few more steps, Brody stopped and unlocked a building that looked like a warehouse. She looked around before they herded her inside. She didn’t recognize anything around her. She hadn’t been paying attention to where they had been heading. How would she ever make it back to the store?
“Don’t worry, baby. We’ll make sure you get back safe and sound—after our talk.”
“What talk?” She turned to Brody.
He backed her against Lamar with his body. She should have been frightened, but for some reason, she wasn’t scared of him. She was turned on and pissed off, but not frightened. When he lowered his head to hers, she could have turned away, but she didn’t. All she could think about was the intense need in his dark eyes.
When his mouth touched hers, she opened instinctively. Greedy lips sipped at her lower lip then sucked at it. His tongue caressed hers before exploring the rest of her open mouth. He devoured her from the inside out then nipped around her jaw to her earlobe.
Lamar was the steady rock behind her that kept her from melting from the onslaught of sensations Brody created with his hot mouth. He whispered naughty thoughts in her ear as his brother licked and nipped along her neck.
“Your pretty pussy is creaming for us, isn’t it, baby? I bet if I put my hands down your jeans right now they’d end up wet and tasty.”
