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Trace. Arden’s brother and the most stunning man to ever see me at my worst. Those dark green eyes flashed in my mind again. So full of concern, with a healthy dose of pissed off.
Boy Band Bangers. I hit play, and *NSYNC’s Tearin’ Up My Heart filled the room. My preteen heart soared.
Booyah
I swore I heard something else, too. A banging. But I was too worried about potentially blowing myself up to seek out the source. I should have. Because I was frantically opening cabinets one second, and the next, a dark god of fury was striding into my kitchen. I gaped as the man hauled open the oven and sprayed something inside to douse the flames.
That was it. I was going to hell. “For the love of God, put this on.” I tugged off my tee and handed it to her. Ellie flushed, the color deepening the apples of her cheeks and only making her look more beautiful. “Sorry, I, uh, just got out of the shower.” “You’re making it worse,” I groaned, pinching the bridge of my nose.
“Has anyone ever told you that you’re a grouch?” “You’re the one who almost set the neighborhood on fire.” “You’re the one who broke into my house.”
I opened my mouth to speak, but the smoke detector cut out, finally signaling that the smoke had abated somewhat. But it didn’t leave us in silence. Instead, it left us with some god-awful pop ballad about promises and lifetimes. “What in the actual—?” I stopped myself from cursing. “What is that?” A little of the fatigue left Ellie’s expression, and her lips trembled as if fighting a smile. “What do you have against the classic vocal stylings of *NSYNC?” My face screwed up. “I think I’d take Arden’s ear-bleeding metal over this.” “You can’t tell me you’ve never jammed out to It’s Gonna Be
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“Goodnight, Trace,” Ellie said, hovering in the entryway as she waited for me to leave. Hearing her say my name was beauty and pain all at once. “‘Night, Blaze. Try not to start any more fires.”
Cope has renamed this group to Anyone Got Any Singles? I frowned at the screen. What the hell did that mean? Cope I heard from a little birdie that Trace did a striptease last night.
Return of the group chat!
“Is he having a stroke?” “There’s a good chance,” Shep agreed. Anson wiped beneath his eyes. “Sorry, just picturing Trace coming face-to-face with a safety violation and you in all your post-shower glory. If anyone had a stroke, it’s him.” That got Shep laughing. “Now that I know what really happened, I’m going to give him so much shit.”
“Ow,” she groaned. “Careful,” I barked. “Don’t yell at me,” Ellie shot back. “I didn’t egg myself.” Egg. Not a bullet. Nothing that put her in danger of dying. A stupid prank.
I leaned back in my chair and reached for the one beer I allowed myself. Never more than one. I’d never risk activating the addiction genes running through me.
Ellie gaped at me for a moment and then moved so fast I didn’t have a prayer. She grabbed the spray nozzle connected to the faucet, pointed it straight at me, and turned it on full blast. The yelp that escaped as the freezing-cold water hit my chest was anything but masculine, but it couldn’t be helped. I dove for Ellie, and she shrieked as I wrestled the nozzle from her hands, keeping an arm around her waist so she couldn’t escape.
“Well, well, well,” a familiar, older feminine voice cut in. “What do we have here?”
Lolli!
Save a horse, ride a cowboy?” “Why would you ride a cowboy, Supergran? That seems silly. Or is it like a piggyback ride?” Keely asked innocently. Trace’s scowl morphed into a glare. “Thanks so much, Lolls.” She just laughed. “Just like that, my girl.” Keely looked up at her dad, beaming. “I wanna save a horse and ride a cowboy.” “Dear God, take me now,” Trace muttered, pinching the bridge of his nose.
The image of her in my Mercer County Sheriff’s Department shirt with her bare legs and wet hair filled my mind. It wouldn’t have mattered if the whole house had been burning down around us. All I would’ve seen was her.
“You’re nothing like him. Wouldn’t be surprised if you sprang from nothing but magic and fairy dust. Because that’s what you leave in your wake.” “Oh.” My lips formed the shape right along with the word. “Yeah, oh. And if you keep talking down about yourself, you and I are gonna have problems.”
“I wanna be a veggie queen,” Keely called from where she was coloring with Gremlin on her lap. “Do you want to give up pepperoni on your pizza?” I asked. Keely’s face scrunched. “A halfsies veggie queen?”
You’re good with dairy, right?” Ellie pinned me with a hard stare. “Pry cheese out of my cold, dead hands.”
Everything in me tightened, and I battled not to grip Ellie harder. To keep my contact gentle. Instead, I lifted a hand to her face, my thumb tracking under her eye, the same one that had been bruised yet hidden beneath coats of makeup. “Who hurt you?”
!!!!!!
My head lowered, lips hovering just above hers— “OH MY GOD!” Keely screeched. “You got a goat! Can we get a goat, Daddy? Pretty please, can we?” My daughter barreled across the lawn toward us, and I leveled Ellie with a stern glare. “I’m going to make you pay for this.” Ellie just burst out laughing. And it was the best sound I’d ever heard.
“You’re killing me, Blaze. And there’s only so much I can take before I break.” My breaths came quicker, escaping in short pants as Gremlin growled. “And what happens if you break?” “Neither of us will leave this house for days, and I really want to show you something. So, do me a favor. Turn around and walk that perfect ass upstairs and cover it with some pants, okay?” I tugged my lip between my teeth, fighting not to laugh. “Okay.”
“How about you help me come up with a concept for Ellie’s diamond painting? I need to make her one now that she’s in her new house.” “Like that’s any less corrupting,” Shep muttered, taking a pull from his beer.
Yessss
“Some part of me believes you. Because you’re magic,” Trace rasped. “Good,” I whispered. “Not afraid to use a little witchcraft to banish evil.” Trace lifted his hand and trailed his thumb across my lower lip as if memorizing the swell. “Maybe I’m the one under your spell.”
A grin spread across my brother’s face. “You were jealous, weren’t you?” “Shut up.” Kye cackle-laughed. “You really like her.” “Oh, fuck off,” I clipped. Arden gaped at me. “You cursed.” Hell. I would never hear the end of it now. Kye’s grin only grew wider until he looked like a maniacal evil genius. “You way more than like her, and you are so totally screwed.”
“Life will always have pain. I just want to own mine.”
“You deserve so much more.” Trace’s hand dropped to my hip, urging me back slowly until I hit the door. His head bent, his lips skimming my brow. “You deserve to be in your power.” His mouth trailed lower, featherlight touches until he reached my lips. And there he stayed, speaking against them. “You deserve someone on their knees for you, not someone forcing you to yours.”
“Don’t talk about my soulmate like that,” I clipped. “And I took Grem to the vet. He’s a hundred percent healthy, even though he’s a little underweight.” Trace’s mouth twisted into a grin. “Soulmate, huh? Fits. You did leave claw marks on my shoulder.” I gaped at him. “I didn’t.” He only grinned wider. “You did. Don’t worry, I wear your marks with pride.”
It was Dex’s turn for silence. “Who is she?” That was the million-dollar question. I went with the simple truth. “Someone important.”
Supergran says she wants to go to the cowboy bar with you so you can save a horse.” She looked up at me then. “She’s always talkin’ about saving those horses. She’s real dedicated.” A million different curses circled in my mind. “I’m going to kill my grandmother.”
Maybe Lolli can loan me some psychedelic mushrooms.” “The two of you are a disaster waiting to happen,” I muttered.
“Maybe I just want a pat down from the chief.” My dick twitched. “Sheriff.” “Prove it. Show me your badge.” “You make that sound dirty.” “I meant it to.”
“You open it?” “Did you get me a sex toy?” A low, husky chuckle sounded across the line, and it felt like echoes of Trace’s callused fingertips skating over my skin. “Pretty sure it qualifies,” he said. “Chief…” “Not going to make promises I can’t keep. Might not be able to get my hands on you in real time, but I can control that with an app on my phone.” A grin tugged at my lips. “I admire the ingenuity.” “What do you think, Blaze? You want to play?” The deep rasp of Trace’s voice and the intent behind his words had my skin heating in an instant flush. “Yeah, Chief. I wanna play.”
Bro
“All I could think about was pulling those bottoms down, gripping your hips, and sinking so deep inside you that I’d brand myself on your bones.”
“My main man,” Linc greeted, holding out his fist for a bump. Benny’s gaze turned suspicious, but he tapped his knuckles to my brother’s. “Are you looking out for my girlfriend?” Linc chuckled as he wrapped an arm around Arden. “I’m doing my best, but you know she’s hard to rein in.” Benny beamed up at Arden as if she’d hung the moon. “You look beautiful, Miss Arden.” “You are just the sweetest, Benny,” Arden praised.
Benny!
Benny turned his focus on Linc again, making a two-fingered gesture from Linc’s eyes to his. “Don’t forget, I’m watching you.” I looked up at Linc, trying not to laugh. “What’d you do?” “He stole my girlfriend,” Benny announced. “Right out from under my nose.”
Keely looked up at the two of them. “Are you two bleep buddies?” Everyone in the circle froze, slowly turning to the woman with a rainbow extension in her hair and a headband with little mushrooms springing off it… And almost in unison yelled, “Lolli!”
“She changed what love meant. I don’t think I understood until she came into my life. What it could truly be. She’s made me a better father. A better brother. A better son. She’s made me a better man. And I will do everything in my power to be a good steward of that love. To honor it. To protect it. To protect her
“I hope that doesn’t mean you’re insecure because you’re lacking in other departments,” Lolli said, arching a brow. Cope’s jaw went slack and then his face screwed up like he was a little sick to his stomach. “Did my grandma just insult my dick size?” Kye clapped him on the shoulder. “Truth hurts, Puck Boy.” Cope whirled to Sutton. “Tell them that’s not true.” She instantly started laughing. “I am not telling your family you have a big dick. Sorry. That’s where I draw the line.” “See,” Cope demanded. “She said it. Big dick.”
Fallon leaned into me. “Not what I was expecting when Anson talked about his hacker friend.” My gaze flicked over to her. “What do you mean?” She blinked back at me. “Geez, you really are a goner.” “Huh?” Fallon chuckled. “He’s gorgeous. Like some mountain man with a professor-geek-chic edge. There’s something about those glasses.” Kye stepped up to our huddle just as Fallon finished speaking, and he frowned down at her. “What’s so great about glasses?” Fallon just sent me a sidelong look. “Men. So oblivious.” That only made Kye’s frown deepen. “I wear glasses sometimes when I do the books at
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“Weak,” Helen spat. “You always have been. I thought you had what it took to be with my Bradley, but you obviously don’t.”
Yikes homicidal boy mom
Lolli moved to the living room and set down all her bags. “You,” she said to Dex as her gaze roamed him. “You know I’m not usually one for the law-and-order types, but I’d climb you like a tree.” Dex’s eyes widened, a little fear filling them. “Uhhhhh…” Lolli pulled out a bedazzled tin decorated with mushrooms and rainbows. “These are a thank-you for saving my Ellie girl. She’s the most fun of all this lot, and I’d be lost without her.”
