Picture This (Bryant Brothers Book 4)

by Tami Lund

  He shook his head. There was Duane’s unannounced visit yesterday and her dad’s decision to not move the board meeting so that he could oust her as COO. He couldn’t leave her alone right now.

  No way.

  Either he stayed with her and missed out on an important family event, or… “Do you want to go with me?”

  Her eyes widened even farther as they darted to his parents, who were standing by the edge of the pool. “Um, is that appropriate?”

  “Of course it is,” Mom said before Elliot could open his mouth. “The drive over will give us a chance to get to know one another.”

  “Uh-uh,” Elliot said. “We’re driving separately.” He could at least spare Amelia that before throwing her to the wolves when they arrived and all of his siblings, plus their spouses, and probably his grandparents and Camila’s parents and grandparents were all there. None of them would miss something like the birth of the first grandchild.

  “Well, hurry up,” Mom said. “I know babies aren’t usually in a hurry to get out, but I still want to get over there as quickly as possible.”

  With his hand still on her waist, Elliot guided Amelia toward the shallow end. She balanced herself on the stair railing while he climbed out and snagged two towels. And then, because he suspected she would not want him to carry her around while his parents watched, he said, “Why don’t you two go ahead? We need to go to Amelia’s house first, and then we’ll head over. Do we go to Tommy’s place or the hospital?”

  “We’re going to stay at Philip and Maecie’s for a few days,” Mom said, “so we’re going to drop Freddy at the house and then head to the hospital. I’d say you two should go straight to the hospital.”

  “Will do,” he said, and, thank Christ, his parents hurried into the house. He turned to Amelia. “Can you hang out here for a minute? I’ll go grab our clothes. We can take the towels with us to put on the seats of the car, but I think we should go back to your house to change.”

  Whatever he needed to do to keep her away from his parents. He didn’t need them mentioning that he lived here, nor did he need Mom to start grilling her about her favorite flowers for a wedding bouquet.

  “Sure, that’s fine.”

  He bolted, rushed inside, scooped up their belongings, and hightailed it back outside, shouting out a goodbye as he closed the sliding glass door.

  Amelia had managed to wrap the towel around her midsection, which was a damn shame because so much of her utterly delectable flesh was now hidden from view, and, honestly, he should not be thinking about what could have transpired between them right now.

  He really did want to get over to the west side of the state, to be there for his brother and Camila. He also needed to give Amelia the lowdown on the family dynamics in case Mom became distracted from imminent grandparent-hood and focused on what she thought was going on between Elliot and Amelia instead.

  As they headed back to Amelia’s place, he said, “Say the word. If you don’t want to go, I’ll stay here with you.”

  “I couldn’t do that to you. It’s obvious your family is important to you and this is a big deal. Is this the first grandchild?”

  He nodded. “My oldest brother, Tommy, and his wife, Camila. They own Rogers Speedway—have you ever heard of it?”

  She shook her head.

  “Tommy bought the track the year he decided to retire, and he and Camila run it together now.”

  “I take it your family is pretty close?”

  He barked out a laugh. “Sometimes too close.”

  “I’m not sure that’s possible,” she murmured, and he winced, because, no doubt, having meddling parents and overprotective brothers and sisters-in-law was better, in her eyes, than a father and brother teaming up to boot her out of a position she loved, a job she was damn good at.

  They arrived at her condo, and he carried her straight upstairs to her bedroom. “I’m going to get dressed, and I’ll be right back,” he said.

  In no time at all, they were ready to go again. Or so he thought.

  “My laptop,” Amelia said. “And our phone chargers. Oh, and my pain pills. Also, I’m hungry. We have stuff to make sandwiches, don’t we? Do you want to do that or stop on the way to grab a bite?”

  “I’ll make sandwiches,” he said, and did just that.

  They were about to head out the door when he abruptly rushed back to the living room.

  “What are you doing?” Amelia asked.

  “My camera. Gotta capture this moment for posterity.”

  After retrieving his camera bag, which also contained his personal laptop, they were finally strapped into her sweet-ass car and pulling out the driveway.

  “It’s going to take us about two and a half hours to get there,” he noted.

  “Guess we’re about to find out if we’re compatible,” she quipped, and he laughed.

  Guess they were.

  Once they were on the highway, she said, “Tell me about your other brothers. How many of you are there?”

  “Four. The only reason they had me was because Mom wanted a girl and was willing to try one more time. I was supposed to be Emily.”

  She chuckled. “Could you imagine being the only girl and the youngest of four?”

  He snorted. “My brothers were so damn overprotective of me as it was. If I had been a girl…” He pretended to shudder, and she laughed.

  “Okay,” she said, “there’s Tommy, who’s married to Camila. And he’s the oldest.”

  “Yep. Philip is next. He’s married to Maecie. He runs security for Tommy’s track, and Maecie’s an awesome hair stylist, if you’re ever in the market.”

  She touched her curls, which she’d hastily twisted into a knot behind her head. “I hope she isn’t a judgmental stylist, because I am definitely not at my best right now.”

  He shook his head. “She’s one of the sweetest people you’ll ever meet. And your hair looks great.”

  “Thanks. So that’s two.”

  “Kyle’s next. He and Maddy got married about a year and a half ago.” He blew out a breath. Should he mention his history with Maddy? Would it matter to Amelia?

  If she were simply his boss, no. But after that kiss, well, he was definitely keen on investigating a whole new side to their relationship, as soon as possible. One that involved a distinct lack of clothing and no thought whatsoever of the workplace.

  “What do Kyle and Maddy do?”

  “Maddy is a nurse, and Kyle is a mechanic. He can fix pretty much anything, but he specializes in motorcycles. When Tommy was racing, he wouldn’t let anyone but Kyle touch his bikes.”

  She smiled at that and then noted, “You’re the last one left.”

  “Yeah, speaking of that, I should warn you about my mother.”

  “It’s pretty obvious she’s already jumped to the wrong conclusion about us.”

  The wrong conclusion? He glanced at Amelia before turning his attention back to the road. “We were kissing in the pool when they got home.” And he’d been about to untie the top of her bikini so he could get an eyeful of what he was certain would be the most spectacular breasts he’d ever seen.

  She flapped her hand. “They didn’t actually catch us, though. Besides, it was just a kiss.”

  It was? She’d wrapped her legs around his waist, canted her head, and thrust her chest at him, encouraging him to move beyond just a kiss. If they’d managed to get that far, would it have been just a fuck?

  “Why are you so tense all of a sudden?” she asked.

  He squeezed the steering wheel and clenched his back teeth. “Just thinking about my brother, that’s all.” It was a total lie, but they were now officially stuck together on this road trip, so he probably shouldn’t push a subject that was likely to upset her.

  Or him.

  “Your parents didn’t seem worried. Just excited. I’m sure everything is fine.”

  He nodded. “I would have heard from someone by now if it weren’t.”

  As if his words summ
oned it, his phone vibrated in his pocket. He fished it out and pressed the button to set it to speaker. “Hey, Kyle.”

  “You on your way over there?”

  “Yep. Just got on the highway. What about you?”

  “Madison’s on her way home from the hospital right now, then we’re getting on the road. Mom says you have a girlfriend and you’re bringing her with you.”

  Elliot glanced over at Amelia, whose eyes widened as she stared at his phone.

  “Not a girlfriend. Just a friend. Well, technically, she’s my boss.”

  “Yeah, Madison said Chelsea helped get you a job. I take it you’re liking it?”

  He liked his boss, that was for damn sure. And he liked working with her. The job itself was just admin work, nothing he couldn’t handle, but nothing to get excited about either. Well, other than his need to be a protective barrier between Amelia and her brother and father. Until Thursday, anyway.

  What was going to happen then? If she didn’t win over the board, would they both be out of a job? It hadn’t even occurred to him until now that he might become unemployed yet again. He supposed it was possible Duane would allow him to stay on, but Elliot’s loyalties lay with Amelia, so if she was ousted, he was going too.

  Unfortunately, he wasn’t going to get the severance she probably would, and if the personal side of their relationship was just a kiss, it was a very real possibility that, once the shitshow on Thursday was over and her leg was healed enough that she could get around on her own, he’d be right back where he’d been two days ago.

  Jobless and living with his parents.

  “Yeah, it’s fine.”

  “It must be if you’re taking your boss to meet your first niece or nephew. How did Mom get the wrong idea about—what’s her name?”

  “Amelia. And we didn’t do anything that gave Mom the wrong idea. You know how she is. Amelia’s a girl, so therefore we must be dating.”

  Kyle’s chuckle bounced around the interior of the vehicle. “True. Only here’s the thing: she’s never been wrong.”

  Elliot and Maddy had dated in college. He’d been the first of all the brothers to bring a girl home to meet their parents, and yet they were the only couple who hadn’t ended up married.

  “And you and Madison don’t count, if that’s what you’re thinking right now,” Kyle said. “Mom never pushed you two together. She never made any assumptions.”

  He could feel Amelia tensing next to him. Guess he was going to have to explain his history with Maddy after all.

  “Madison just got home, so I’m going to get off the phone. I’ll see you in a few hours.”

  As soon as he disconnected, Amelia asked, “Who’s Madison?” He wanted to believe that was jealousy in her tone, only because that would mean what they’d shared hadn’t been just a kiss.

  Christ, was he ever going to get over that phrase?

  “She’s my brother’s wife.”

  “Who also happens to be connected to Chelsea. And you.”

  He grimaced. “We dated. In college. She and Chelsea were roommates, so that’s how Chelsea and I got to know each other.”

  “How did she go from dating you to marrying your brother?”

  Funny story, that. “We went to school at Purdue. Kyle took a long weekend to come visit me, and we were at this local bar when we met Maddy. We both flirted with her, but she left with her friends and no one exchanged numbers and that probably would have been the end of the story, except she and I bumped into each other on campus a few days later, and I asked her out. We dated for about a year, but, honestly, we were lousy together.”

  “How so?”

  He shrugged. “She’s one of these types—just like my brother Kyle, by the way—who always has to have a plan. And I’m not like that. I can go with the flow, whereas the two of them need to analyze everything before making a decision. I bet they’ve had a plan laid out for what they’ll do when Camila goes into labor for at least six months now.

  “Anyway, she’s Camila’s sister, and since Camila and Tommy were together, Maddy came to pretty much every family function, and she and Kyle became close.”

  He didn’t think it was pertinent to mention that the reason they became close was because Elliot hadn’t dealt well with the breakup. It had been yet another in what felt like a long string of screwups for him, and he hadn’t been proud of his actions, but neither had he seen fit to change them, at least not until he discovered Kyle and Maddy had fallen in love.

  “So let me get this straight,” Amelia said slowly. “Your mother thinks we’re dating. And we’re on our way across the state to meet your soon-to-be-born niece or nephew, whose mother is your ex-girlfriend’s sister. And your ex-girlfriend happens to be married to another one of your brothers. Have I covered everything?”

  “Not quite everything. Wait until you meet Grandma Bryant.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  What the hell was going on with her? Was she seriously jealous over Elliot’s ex-girlfriend? Who was married—happily, she presumed—to someone else? And Elliot sure as hell wasn’t acting like he was still in love with the woman.

  Wait, Amelia needed to back this truck up and ask the most important question of all: why was she jealous at all?

  Whatever his mother may believe, they weren’t dating. They’d shared one kiss—one spectacular kiss that probably ruined her for all men going forward—but that was it. They hadn’t even gotten to second base, for God’s sake.

  Oh Lord, had she wanted to. She still did. If he pulled into the next rest stop and asked her to climb into his lap, she’d do it. She’d never had an inkling of a desire to have sex in a car, but she was willing to give it a try for Elliot.

  What was wrong with her? She was jealous over a past relationship that had occurred well before they ever met and she was fantasizing about screwing the guy in the front seat of her car. Was this all her mind’s way of keeping her distracted from the very real fact that her life was going to fall apart in two days?

  His phone must have vibrated again because his gaze dropped to it before pushing the button to turn on the speaker.

  “Hey, Phil.”

  “You’re on your way, right?” the voice on the phone said.

  “Yeah. About another hour to go.”

  “If you want to crash at my place tonight, you can.”

  Elliot glanced at her before speaking. “Can’t. I have to work tomorrow.”

  “I heard you started a new job. Congrats. You liking it?”

  There was a distinct pause, just like when his other brother asked. She assumed this, too was a brother. Phil—must be Philip. Brother number two, if she recalled correctly.

  “Yeah, I do,” he finally said, staring straight ahead at the road laid out before them.

  “I also heard you’re dating someone. Or at least, that’s what Mom says.”

  “Christ. Did she call every single one of you just to tell you that?”

  His brother laughed. “Probably. I mean, this is our mother we’re talking about, and you are the last of the Mohicans.”

  What did he mean by that?

  “I am not dating anyone.” Another pause. “But I am bringing someone with me to the hospital.”

  “Who?”

  “Amelia.”

  “Wait. That’s who Mom thinks you’re dating. Is this wise?”

  “Didn’t have a choice.”

  Amelia turned to stare out the side window. Great. She was a burden now. She’d felt that way since she banged up her knee, but Elliot hadn’t remotely implied as much, until now.

  “What do you mean?” Phil asked.

  “Amelia’s leg is messed up, and I’ve been taking care of her. I didn’t want to leave her alone. So either I didn’t go or she came with.”

  “Well, I’m glad she came with. I hope you warned her about our mother. And Grandma Bryant.”

  Amelia couldn’t decide if she was excited or frightened to meet the rest of Elliot’s family. They all sounde
d cheerful enough and obviously all got along, but these warnings were a tad concerning. What could possibly be wrong with his grandmother that she needed to be warned?

  “She’s already met Mom, hence the wrong assumption that we’re dating.”

  “Mom can sense things about us and the women we ultimately end up falling in love with, so you’d best be careful, bro.”

  Amelia watched as Elliot’s hands tightened on the steering wheel before he ground out, “Not gonna happen.”

  “Well, Maecie’s trying to push me out the door, so I’m going to let you go. See you at the hospital.”

  Elliot disconnected the call, and Amelia paused, waiting to see if his phone would light up again. When it didn’t, she asked, “What do I need to know about your grandmother?”

  He shook his head. “Just that she has no filter. And she has no problems speaking her mind. And it’s usually awkward as hell when she does.”

  “Please tell me this is the better choice versus potentially dealing with my brother and father alone.”

  He shocked her by reaching over and squeezing her leg for a moment. “It is, I promise. Generally, it’s fun being around my family. It’s just my mom really wants me to be happy, like my brothers are, and other than Maddy, you’re the only girl I’ve allowed them to meet.”

  “Have you dated a lot?”

  “Nope. Only girlfriend I’ve ever had was Maddy. I wasn’t keen on the aftermath when we broke up, so I haven’t been interested in going down that road again.”

  Well, that was good to know. Wasn’t it? Amelia wasn’t looking for anything either. Okay, yes, she definitely wanted to have sex with the guy, but that didn’t mean she was looking for any sort of happily ever after.

  She’d be satisfied with one steamy encounter with this delectable morsel of a man, wouldn’t she? She didn’t have much of a choice anyway, considering she was his boss and they weren’t even supposed to do that much together.

  Only until Thursday, a voice in her head whispered. It sounded uncomfortably like her father.