Payback (Harris Brothers, #6)

by Amy Daws

A big black pickup is parked by the curb, smack dab in front of the door. Standing up on the tailgate is a well over six-foot blonde, bearded animal with a man bun, inked arms, and a shit-eating grin to rival Jack Nicholson. As if his location in the bed of the truck alone isn’t conspicuous enough, he’s holding up a large sign that reads: WELCOME HOME FROM PRISON, COUSIN ALICE.

And Tanner admits he’s in the middle of taking a naked tour of East London…Whatever the hell that means.

His light brown eyes are shockingly dazzling. They look like those filters you can apply to brighten eyes on a photo, but he is clearly without a filter right in front of me. His full lips look so soft and pliable that I want to reach out and squeeze them to see if they would melt like caramel.

He would have been so perfect for my plan…If only he wasn’t trying to be so perfect.

But something tells me I would regret it forever if I decided to exchange a night with you in that sexy fucking dress for a team-building exercise with the Harris Brothers.”

but first tell me how long we have to stay down here, because all I can think about is the fact that I felt a goddamned garter belt through the fabric of your dress.”

“It’s no problem!” Camden bellows cheerily. “As long as you ignore me yelling ‘goal’ from inside the shower, you’ll be a great flatmate.”

A lot of Tanner’s facial expressions resemble the look of a predatory stalker, but that’s evidently just his face.

“This is her welcome to London night, and I won’t have you stealing her away from us. I don’t like the idea of bacon-sandwiching my own cousin, but I’ll do it if I have to.”

If I’m being honest, I’ve thought about her at least twenty thousand times since that night.

Mac’s green eyes twinkle with challenge. “DeWalt, you’re shooketh if ever I’ve seen a shooketh! Now get it telt what’s crawled up your arse.”

How the fuck did Allie Harris manage to get even more beautiful than I remember? I suppose that dark, creepy photo I took of her when she was asleep wasn’t necessarily a good representation of her.

Seriously, why are they all completely naked? Don’t they get cold? I thought shrinkage was a real thing! Nothing in this room is shrunken. Shranked? Whatever…I can’t grammar right now, there’s dicks everywhere!

“You must be the footballers!” she states with a bright smile. “What makes you say that?” Mac asks in an accusatory tone. She sniffs the air in front of him and replies in her American accent, “The scent of balls and Icy Hot gives you away.”

“Can I walk you to the door, or do you think Camden will come out and kick me in the balls?”

“Why don’t you shut up and kiss me already, Lis? You’ve been staring at my lips all night, and it’s getting kind of pathetic.” “I have not—” I exclaim, but my voice is cut off by those wonderful lips of his. Okay, maybe I was staring at them all night.

“Not a chance, Gareth! Roan and I have a bromance that cannot be broken.” Belle’s eyes fly wide. “You better not let Camden hear you say that. He’ll get all awkward and start sending you chocolates.”

As I depart, Roan calls out, “My name looks good on you, mooi.”

A minute later, the studio fills with the song “At Last” by Etta James. With no effort, I begin waltzing us through a series of four natural turns and four side-steps.

“We didn’t learn a turn,” she exclaims, impressed by how easily she flowed through the movement. “I needed some space,” I say with a shrug. “You were taking my breath away.”

I cringe when I catch sight of Mac stomping on Freya’s foot. She howls in agony, so he drops down to his knees to rub the pain away. She whacks him on the head and yanks him back up to resume dancing.

When the song draws to a close, I twirl her once more and end the move with a dip that has her long hair dangling to the floor. As I lean over her, our mouths only a couple of inches apart, I add, “This could be our wedding song for all you know.”

“Hotter than the wedding night on Outlander.” I giggle at her response. “Oh my God, Jamie Fraser is so sexy in season one!” “He’s sexy in all of them, but you’re right. Season one was his prime. And that episode had the best foreplay in cinematic history.”

Without pause, I grab Roan by the shirt and state, “Let’s go Jamie Fraser on the dance floor.”

“Grannies naked, baby ducks being murdered, Chewbacca on a holiday, bulldogs eating oatmeal.”

“Promises, promises.” She giggles as soon as the words tumble out of her mouth. It’s so cute, I think I want to fucking marry her.

“Jealousy can be fucking sexy when there’s trust attached to it.”

“How old are you?” She drops the whistle out of her mouth. “Old enough to red flag you.”

“Just let me be fucking romantic, mooi.” “Well, okay. But only because you said fucking.” She giggles and nestles herself under my arm.

Mac is right. I am different around her than I have been with others. I’m more…me. From day one, I’ve pushed for more with her because I like who I am when I’m around her. She feels like home. And it’s addictive to be with someone you can be your true self with.

And when I look over at Roan and see his reaction to his grandmother embracing me, I know exactly why I am here. I am in love with him. And I am in love with his family.

“I’m glad the world has changed because it made it possible for me to see true love in my grandson’s eyes.”

“The truth is, you’re the most beautiful woman here tonight and I’m a lucky bastard because I know that’s the least interesting thing about you.”

My heart thunders in my chest because I realise in this exact moment that I want to watch Allie Harris laugh for the rest of my life.

Tanner nods knowingly. “I do have to hand it to you, Allie. It is a grade-A fuck-up and I’m mildly jealous about losing the Biggest Harris Screw-up throne.”

But we can survive it together because you belong with me. You are mine and I am yours. I want to be your home and your family. Hell, I want to marry you.”

“Allie Harris, you say you’re not a dancer, but what you don’t know is that dancing is just skipping in circles. And from the moment you skipped into my life, I haven’t been the same. And I don’t want to be the same. I want to be who I am when I’m with you. I would do anything for you, mooi. And I want to do anything for you for the rest of our lives. Will you marry me?”