Reid hopped off his spot on the floor, wincing a bit as he stretched to his full height. The knee. Must be giving him trouble. But she wouldn't dare mention it. Some men didn't want the attention. They saw fussing as pointing out their weaknesses, and Reid definitely wouldn't want his weaknesses emphasized.
He smacked Jonah on the back of his shoulder. “Next time, pal. I'm gonna walk Brynne to her room.”
No. Nuh-uh. With her luck, he'd weasel his way inside and they'd wind up in one of those crazy make-out sessions. This was his mother's house. What if the woman heard them?
She held up her hand. “I'm okay. Thanks. Really.”
He gave her a nudge toward the door. “Whatever. I'm walking you.”
“But—” Jonah looked over, studied her with squinty eyes. She ignored him, went on tiptoes so she could keep her voice down. “My plan. Remember?”
Reid laughed. “Honey, all I think about is that plan. Now, let's go. I'll say good night at your door. Besides, my mother is in this house and she still scares me. Just so you know, I called Mags earlier to check on your intruder. She hasn't called me back yet, but she will. Don't worry about it, though. He'll be dealt with.”
He walked her two doors down to the guest bedroom where she'd dumped her overnight bag. The room had a set of French doors that led to an outside balcony. She'd never slept here before, but Evie had shown her the room when they'd first moved in and Brynne had helped decorate it. One thing her life in New York had taught her was a sense of style.
He propped his shoulder against the wall, flicked the knob on the door, and pushed it open. “Good night.”
“Good night.”
“And, about today. In front of the shop?”
Okay. Apparently they were going to talk about it. Good for him. “Yes?”
“What you said about this place not being enough.”
“I overreacted. I'm sorry.”
“Don't apologize. When I hit a hot button, I'd rather you tell me. So I know.”
He tugged on the end of her hair and his knuckles skimmed the rise of her breast. A little zing shot right to her core.
“I want you to know,” he said, “I'm gonna think about what you said. I don't know if I agree, but I'll think on it.”
What could she say to that? Her ex wouldn't have given her that much. He'd have made up twelve reasons why all of it was her fault.
“Thank you.”
“For what?”
“I don't know. Being you, I guess. Being comfortable enough, being man enough to at least consider you might be wrong.”
“Ah, hell. I'm wrong ten times a day. That's no big deal.” He leaned in a little, dipped his head close to her ear. “I want to kiss you.”
His breath whisked across her skin and as close as he was, she wanted closer. To crawl right inside him and stay there where she'd be safe from Nelson dying and strange men attacking her. And why shouldn't she give herself the comfort of Reid Steele? This wasn't a marriage. Why couldn't it just be sex and comfort and fun? Why did it have to be an all-or-nothing thing?
She tilted her head, allowing him to nuzzle her ear. “Is there a 'but' coming?”
“After what happened today, I'm not sure it's appropriate.” He backed away. “Besides, it's probably a five-year plan violation.”
She reached up, slapped her hand over the back of his head, let her fingers play in the silky dark strands. “When have you ever been concerned about appropriate?”
She kissed him. Just let him have it by driving her tongue into his mouth and arching into him, pressing her body against his. His arms came around her, his hands, those long fingers cradling her butt where he pulled her into him, held her snug.
Down the hall, a noise came from Jonah's room and Brynne leaped back, bumped the doorframe, smacking her head against it. “Ow.”
“Holy shit.” Reid laughed and set his hand on her head, gently rubbing the spot. “You okay?”
“I'm fine. It was just…silly. You kind of unnerve me sometimes.”
He hit her with one of his flashing Reid smiles. “I think I like that.”
“I know I do.”
I'm such a fool. A fool who'd be heartbroken when he got bored and took that job in Georgia.
“You know,” he said, “I got a question.”
“What?”
“Don't get mad.”
“Oh, boy.”
“No. I'm just curious and I don't mean anything by it.”
“All right. Ask your question.”
“Now that you're divorced, what's with the fancy hair and all the makeup?”
Her heart slammed a little and she fought the surging insecurity that came with constantly fretting over her looks. “You don't like it?”
“I didn't say that. I think you rock fancy hair and makeup. Total bombshell vixen. You just…You don't need it. I want to see you without it. A ponytail and no makeup. I'd bet you're even more beautiful that way.”
She shrugged. “I guess after my ex told me not to be a 'country bumpkin,' it stuck in my head. If you hear it enough, you start to believe it and now I'm…”
“What?”
She couldn't admit it. Couldn't. A man like Reid wouldn't understand.
“Huh,” he said. “I think I get it. You're afraid if you give up all the makeup and hair that you'll be exactly what he said. A country bumpkin.”
There. He'd said it for her. She closed her eyes, let the relief wash over her because somehow, this god of a man understood.
She opened her eyes. “He sent me out shopping one day and I made a pit stop at a hair salon along the way. They had a makeup artist so I got my hair dyed and styled and my makeup done.” She held her hand to her face. “I came home with this and he loved it. I guess that's what's locked in my brain. That I'm better this way.”
“I'm sorry.”
“For what?”
“That you married a douchebag.”
Only Reid. Brynne snorted. “I should take offense at that.”
“Why? It's not your fault he's a douche.”
Huh. He might have a point there. Despite herself, she smiled. “Thank you. That means more to me than you could know.”
“You're welcome.” He leaned in, pecked her on the lips. “Do me a favor, don't let this guy ruin you. You're too special. Now go to bed before I risk my mother's wrath and invite myself into your room.”
* * *
Mom shoveled a mound of grits onto Reid's plate and he nudged the bacon aside. No cross-contamination happening here.
“Thanks. I swear, I dreamed about your grits when I was overseas.”
“You're welcome, baby.”
After setting the pan in the sink, she turned back to him. Today's wardrobe choice included a pair of loose khaki pants and a short-sleeved pullover with a pair of—God help him—Chuck Taylors. His mother, the hipster.
“I made a plate for Jonah,” she said. “Don't eat it.”
“Yes, ma'am. I'll behave.”
“That'll be the day. I heard one of the girls up and in the shower already. I know that's not Evie at seven o'clock on a Saturday.”
“Yeah, probably Brynne. She doesn't strike me as one to laze around.”
“You're probably right. I noticed the clothes she'd thrown in the dryer last night were gone.”
Freaked after the intruder tried to jerk off in her underwear drawer, Brynne refused to use anything from there and had grabbed her dirty laundry before coming to the Hill so she could do a load of…uh…unmentionables.
But Reid couldn't think about Brynne's underwear while sitting in front of his mother. “I guess everything was quiet upstairs last night?”
“Of course. With the way you have this place wired, I'm afraid to touch anything.”
Not wanting to tempt himself to sneak into Brynne's room, but concerned over leaving to sleep in the bunkhouse, Reid had slept on the sofa. As far from Brynne as he could get while still inside the house.
These past months of slee
ping in a bed must have made him soft because suddenly everything hurt. His back, his neck, his hips, all of it.
So much for being able to sleep anywhere.
Jesus, he had to get used to this life. Whether he liked it or not.
His mother kissed him on top of the head. “I'm running into town for some shrimp. Thinking we'll do a family dinner tonight.”
Reid perked up. “Shrimp boil?”
“You know it, baby.”
Damn, he had a good mama.
“Hey, Meathead. Morning, Mom.”
“Morning to my other baby. I'm going upstairs for a minute and then heading into town if you need anything.”
Jonah grunted—sort of—and shuffled into the kitchen, his normal sleepy-eyed, hair-poking-up look firmly in place. For him, seven o'clock might as well be four.
“You're up early.”
“I couldn't sleep. Just so you know, I'm meeting with an architect later.”
“For the training center?”
“Yeah. He worked up some ideas. He's gonna be out of town for two weeks and wants us to look at it while he's gone.”
No offense, but Reid hadn't even given Jonah a list of specs. Sure they'd talked general ideas, but what the hell did a nine-to-fiver know about building an elite training center? Plus, hello, Reid had already contacted a couple of architects. Barely into this and Jonah was stepping on his toes.
“Were you going to consult me on this?”
Jonah grabbed his plate from the counter, ripped the foil off, and flopped across from Reid.
“Didn't I just consult with you? He's giving us a jumping-off point. Don't get your shorts in a wad.”
“Good morning, guys.”
The two of them turned to see Brynne strolling into the kitchen. With her hair in a ponytail.
Nice.
He'd requested it and she'd done it, but—and not to be ungrateful—this girl, based on her own admission, had a tendency to do what the men in her life expected.
And that, he didn't want.
At least she'd still packed on the makeup, so maybe the ponytail was a compromise. Who the hell knew with women?
Jonah circled his fork at her. “Your hair is pretty in a ponytail.”
“Thank you. I decided to take the day off. My part-timers are covering the store.”
Excellent. And Reid didn't even have to suggest it. “There's breakfast, if you want.”
“Just coffee for now. Thanks. Y'all are up early.”
“I'm always up early. Jonah has an appointment.”
“Whatever.” Jonah shoved a load of grits in his mouth and swallowed. “All I'm doing is getting the guy's ideas. You look at them and give it a thumbs-up or down. We have to start somewhere.”
“I could have given you a list to start with. You probably paid this guy a fortune for a concept that won't work. And, FYI, I already called a couple of architects. We're duplicating efforts.”
Brynne cleared her throat. “What are y'all talking about?”
“Nothing,” Jonah said.
“The training center,” Reid said.
“Oh, fun.”
Reid pouted over his coffee. Why he was pissed about this whole thing, he didn't know, but make no mistake, he was pissed.
“Screw off, Reid. You should have told me you were making calls. Believe me, I got enough to do. Do me a favor and decide where you are on this project. Two days ago you were bitching at me that you'd help get it built, but that was all. Now you're pissed because I'm not checking in with every move. I can't stop every three seconds to ask you if I'm doing this right.”
Reid shot out of his chair, sent the damned thing flying. Across the table, Jonah did the same.
Mom stormed in carrying her purse and car keys. ““You boys! Knock it off. Whatever this is, take it outside. Right now. You two will not ruin my kitchen. Or my furniture.” She pointed at the back door. “You heard me. Out!”
More than ready to hand his brother an ass-kicking, Reid started for the door with Jonah on his heels and Brynne following behind.
“Guys, don't fight.”
“Honey,” Mom said, “save your breath. They're so stubborn they won't listen. They'll go outside and work this out the way they always do.” She pointed at Jonah and Reid. “I'm going to the store, if y'all kill each other before my family dinner, I'll be upset. I swear you boys never grow up.”
Jonah jogged down the porch steps behind him. “Great job, Meathead. Now she's pissed at us.”
“Me? All you had to do was clue me in that you were talking to the architect and I'd have spit out a list of what we'd absolutely need.”
“Yeah, but, again, on Thursday you were whining about how I forced you into this. Decide what you want. Either help me or get the fuck out of the way.”
Above their heads, Evie's bedroom window flew open. “Oh. My. God! You two are such jerks! The first morning I can sleep in and you're screaming at each other. Shut up!”
Oh, jeez. Poor kid. Waking Jonah up was one thing, but Evie was a sweet kid. She didn't deserve this. “Sorry, Eves. Go back to bed.”
“Yeah, well, good luck with that!”
She slammed the window down, the smacking sound sending a flock of birds flapping and running for cover.
“Those fucking birds!” Jonah hollered. “Every damned morning outside my window chirping and waking me up. You think your life sucks? That I roped you into this? How the hell do you think I feel? You assholes crack jokes about the Baby Billionaire, but I put my ass on the line here. This whole thing could go bust and I'm out millions.”
Whoa.
Reid knew it was a lot, but they'd never talked hard numbers. He tipped his head back, stared up at a glaring morning sun, let the rays warm his face. Selfish prick that he was, he'd never thought about Jonah's sacrifices. Dumbass.
“Look, Jonah—”
Jonah put his hands up. “No. I'm done talking. I'm going back to Seattle. Or anywhere away from here. You fuckwads can take care of all this shit. From now on, I'm just the money guy.”
Hold on there, cowboy. What the hell was he saying now?
Beyond Jonah, Britt's truck roared up the drive. What did he want now?
Jonah slapped his hands on top of his head. “Great. Now we get to spend the next hour listening to him lecture us.”
“Go inside. I'll deal with him.”
Britt drove off the path, pulled the truck right into the yard before Jonah could make his getaway. Their older brother hopped out and whipped his sunglasses off.
Before he could start in, Reid got the jump on him. “Mom'll fry your ass if she sees this truck in the yard.”
“Considering she just called me, I'm not concerned.”
“Ah, shit!”
Jonah was totally melting down here.
“She called you?”
“Yeah. She said you idiots were screaming at each other and she wants a family dinner tonight. She told me to get over here and straighten it out.”
Jeez with the melodrama. “Seems to me,” Reid said, “there's only one way to settle this.”
Britt waved them up the steps. “Let's go inside and talk it out.”
“No,” Reid said. “I got something better. Wait here. And someone call Grif. Get him over here. We're gonna get all this shit out in the open. Right now.”
He climbed the steps, found Brynne in the kitchen, cleaning up the dishes.
“Honey, you don't have to do that. You're a guest here. We'll do it.”
“It's all right. I like to earn my keep. And I didn't want to intrude so it's keeping me busy. You fight like that a lot?”
“With three brothers? All of us alphas in one way or another? Yeah, fairly common. We're gonna work it out.”
“How?”
He jerked his chin to the door. “Go outside and you'll see.”
Two minutes later, he swung through the back door carrying the four boxes he'd picked up at the post office the other day. He hadn't intended to use them
so soon, but they'd hit DEFCON 2, the second highest state of alert used by the military.
DEFCON 1 meant nuclear war and nuclear war Steele style wouldn't just be ugly, it'd be fugly.
Outside, Jonah stood with his arms crossed, listening to Britt—nothing unusual there. Britt spent half his life taking care of everyone and the other half lecturing them on lessons he'd learned the hard way.
He was a pain in the ass, but when you needed a wingman, Britt was the guy.
Evie had made her way downstairs, dressed in flannel pajama pants and a pink sweatshirt. She stood at the base of the porch with Brynne, eyeballing the boxes.
She poked a finger at him. “What's that?”
“Nothing for you to worry about. Is Grif on his way?”
Britt scratched the back of his head. “Yeah. He said ten minutes. I think we…uh…interrupted something.”
Grif. Fucking horndog. The lucky bastard.
“Were they—”
“Reid,” Brynne said, “please. Just stop talking.”
Brynne was shaking her head, but laughing at him. What? So he was curious. Big deal.
He set the boxes on the ground, checked the labels. “Jonah, this is you. Don't open it yet. We're waiting on Grif.”
He shoved the box over to Jonah, checked the next one. Mine. Heh, heh, heh.
Always wanting to get in on the action, Evie wandered over. “Why are there only four? Don't I get one?”
“Sorry, kid. Boys only this time.”
“This time? Try every time.”
Well, that was probably true, but she could get hurt with this shit. Still, maybe he could order her one, teach her to use it.
Grif's car, that flashy Maserati he refused to give up, swung into the driveway. Finally.
Unlike Britt, he parked in front of the house and walked around the side with Carlie Beth bringing up the rear. At least Grif was in basketball shorts and a T-shirt rather than his normal GQ crap. His hair was wet, leading Reid to wonder if they'd interrupted something happening in the shower. He glanced back at Brynne, still happily yapping with Evie, and his mind went places. Places that involved a shower.
And the two of them doing naughty things.
Hokay. Back to business here.
Grif waved his arms. “You jackasses want to tell me why I got dragged here so early?”
Living Fast: Steele Ridge Series Page 17
