Good to know, but she was done with him for one day.
“Forget it. Thanks for the ride.” Her boots thumped against the steps as she put her back to him and jogged up to the porch.
“And you say I’m the one who storms off?” He asked in a low voice.
Just when she thought he couldn’t get worse about reading her mood . . . boom. She turned around and shot him her best you-better-run glare. “You want to have it out? Right here in the front yard? I’m happy to call your brothers over and let them watch. Let’s go.”
“Please say yes.” Leah’s voice came first then she opened the screen door and stepped outside. “I would pay money to see that prize fight.”
“Do you mind?” Walker’s comment managed to mix an exhale and a question.
“I do because I live here.” Leah’s glare almost dared him to say anything to that.
Mallory decided to shut down that possibility. “And I’ll tell her whatever boneheaded thing you do or say anyway.”
His complexion turned gray. “You’re kidding.”
The look of pure male horror on his face made the last few minutes worth the ride over here. There was nothing quite as satisfying was when a guy realized women got together and talked about things. Real things, like the idiotic choices the males in their lives made. It was an integral part of the female bond, and if Walker kept giving her the communication freeze he would become the main topic of conversation.
“You go take care of your work thing or whatever it is that keeps your phone ringing.” She thought to shoo him off but he just stood there, looking all hot and befuddled. “Problem?”
Walker’s gaze shot to Leah then back to Mallory. “I came to help.”
Because Mallory had no clue what he meant. “Be more specific.”
She hit the mental rewind and remembered asking for a ride. He grabbed the keys without asking for more information but maybe the ride wasn’t a simple favor after all.
Walker glanced around. “I’m working here today.”
“At this house?” Leah asked.
“Yes.”
The man had many skills, but none of the ones Mallory had seen or been on the receiving end of were house-related. Not technically. “Do you plan to argue the floorboards to death? Arrest a sofa?”
He didn’t even flinch. “I’m helping Tom.”
“Huh.” Leah eyed him up. “This might be worth watching.”
But Walker’s attention stayed on Mallory. “I do have skills that don’t include a business suit, you know.”
Leah stepped between them with a hand on Mallory’s shoulder. “Please don’t respond to that.”
Too late. A list ran through Mallory’s mind. The first few options dealt with what he could do with that tongue. “Well, to be fair he does.”
“If he conducts a live demonstration of any of those I’m moving.” Leah treated them to a dramatic shudder as she said it.
“That’s probably a good way to end this conversation.” Walker exhaled, throwing them both a settle-down glance before heading for the door. “If you’ll excuse me, I have to change.”
“You make the comebacks almost too easy.” Changing is exactly what Mallory hoped to accomplish. Not a wholesale shift of his personality. No, she loved most everything about the guy. The hot and grumpy thing sure worked for her. The unnecessary information lockout didn’t.
So, she was asking for a tiny change, really. One that, if she were lucky and so far there hadn’t been much evidence of that, would come before she pulled her hair out.
“Try not to get into trouble while I’m inside,” he said right before he disappeared into the house.
Leah just stood there, staring at the closed screen door. She turned back around on her heel. “So, I guess he’s working here.”
The comment brought Mallory some relief. At least she wasn’t the only one confused. “I’m as surprised as you are.”
“Do you two talk or is sex the only thing on the agenda?”
That struck a bit too close to the problem Mallory needed to solve. “Keep that up and I’m going to give you the play-by-play on the sex.”
“Please don’t.”
Ready to get inside for some girl time, Mallory hooked her arm around Leah’s shoulders. “I need coffee.”
They walked inside and toward the low rumble of conversation. It came from the nerve center of the big house—the kitchen. Mallory could smell bacon and something buttery. Man, she hoped that wasn’t some sort of delusion brought on by male-induced frustration.
They turned the corner and stepped through the kitchen doorway into a buzz of activity. Every ounce the mom, Kim wore an apron as she shifted from the stove to the counter, cutting up fruit and moving food around. Pancake batter waited, as did a pile of eggs. Looked like there was a lot of cooking ahead.
Grace placed homemade muffins on a plate. Blueberry, maybe. Whatever they were Mallory wanted ten. Arguing with Walker made her hungry, which basically meant she ate all day and night right now.
As they entered the room, Kim glanced up and a warm smile spread across her face. “Good morning, honey.”
“Hello.” Not having a mother or anyone who provided that type of automatic acceptance, Mallory soaked up every ounce Kim sent her way. “How many people are coming? Like three or four hundred?”
Grace peeled a muffin wrapper down and looked ready to take a bite. “There aren’t enough people in Sweetwater to eat all of this.”
“I used to feed three growing boys.” Kim dumped the last of the apple pieces on the top of a bowl of fruit salad. “Bulk cooking was a matter of survival. If one kid thought he didn’t get as much as another things got very loud.”
A harsh cough nearly doubled Grace over. It took her another few seconds to be able to say anything. “Are you serious?”
Kim winced. “The grocery bills are going to make you cry even if you have only one boy.”
“That’s not comforting.” Grace rubbed her belly as she said it.
Mallory wanted to laugh at the look of knowing pity on Kim’s face and the one of abject fear on Grace’s. “It’s probably better you know the truth now.”
“In order to save my sanity I’m going to change the subject.” Grace walked over and handed a warm muffin to Leah and another one to Mallory before sitting down at the table. “Did I see Walker come in with you?”
Not a conversation Mallory wanted to have since she had no idea why he was here. Constantly having to say “I don’t know” in relation to something Walker was saying or doing made her feel like an outsider in her own life. Everyone knew they slept together. She didn’t want it to be general knowledge that Walker shared almost nothing about his life with her.
But since Leah looked ready to jump in and spill all she knew, Mallory told what little she knew. “He’s upstairs changing his clothes.”
Leah sat down across from Grace. “So he can help the men outside.”
“What?” Grace mumbled the question over the muffin piece in her mouth.
Leah shrugged. “Apparently he has skills. And, no, I’m not sure I want to know what that means either. He said it. I ignored it.”
It was Grace’s turn to wince. “What are the chances of them killing each other out there?”
“Tom will stop it before it gets to that point.” Kim waved off the concerns but did turn to look out the window over the sink.
Whatever she saw in the yard had her glued to it. Mallory had to fight the urge to stalk over there and take a peek. Mallory tried to get a hint. “You have a lot of faith in him.”
“He’s a good man.” When Kim spun around again she wore a smile. “And know that if you ask a personal question about my relationship with Tom, I will then feel free to ask personal questions about your relationships.”
Leah snorted. “There’s a conversation killer.”
“Just being clear.” Kim delivered the not-so-subtle warning as she went back to moving around the kitchen. Glasses clanked a
gainst the counter then she grabbed the orange juice cartons out of the refrigerator.
“She gave the boys the same ultimatum a few weeks back when they tried to interfere with her dating choices,” Leah said as she set the table.
Mallory started to count the place settings but the conversation kept racing around her. Trying to keep up while ignoring the pull from wondering what was happening outside and thinking about going out there had her head spinning.
“I would have paid money to see Callen’s face when you delivered that line.” Grace took plates of food off the counter and loaded them onto the big table.
“He didn’t pass out.” Kim picked up two eggs then put them back down. She leaned toward the window with her palms braced against the counter. “Speaking of which.”
The tone. Mallory knew something was coming. “What?”
“I’m not sure what skills Walker has or if I want you tell me, but he does look ready to work.” Kim nodded. “Pretty impressive, actually.”
Leah scrambled over to the sink and froze. “Whoa.”
Oh, God. “What do you see?”
“Huh.” Leah tapped a finger against her lips. “Who knew what he hid under those suits?”
Time to check. Behind Leah and up on her tiptoes, Mallory to get a good look. Then she understood. Walker wearing casual clothes packed a powerful punch. “Actually, I did.”
Grace skipped subtlety and went straight to the back door and peeked out the window. “You’re talking sex and Kim is standing right there.”
“Oh, please.” Kim chuckled. “Kim has seen a naked man and knows how sex works.”
Talking about herself in the third person did them all in. They all burst out laughing. Mallory joined in even though she’d lost most of the air in her lungs when she saw Walker dressed in faded jeans and a slim-fitting tee as he marched across the backyard toward the other men.
“I’m going to tell Declan you said that part about the sex.” Leah stepped back and picked up the pancake batter bowl. “He might cry a little.”
Kim rolled her eyes. “How does he think he got here?”
“They never want to think about that sort of thing.” Grace tapped her palm against her stomach. “I doubt this one will be any different.”
“If nothing else I think we can agree we’ve discovered one more way Walker is like his brothers.” Kim handed Leah a spatula. “That is a man who’s spent some time working outdoors and keeps in good shape. I’d bet my life on it.”
Leah glanced over her shoulder at Mallory. “Is that true about the outdoors?”
Good question. “I don’t know.”
Mallory added that to the already long and growing list of things she didn’t know about the man she loved. It would be easier to concentrate on the things she did know because that list would only take a second to read.
Being in love sucked.
Chapter Nineteen
With the first step across the backyard the other men stared. By the time Walker got halfway to what the brothers called the caretaker cottage Declan, Tom and Callen had all stopped working. Walker almost looked down to make sure he zipped his fly but decided to play it cool, or as cool as he could play it with Mallory’s voice still ringing in his ears and his mind playing tricks that he’d forgotten to put on pants.
He waited until he stood directly in front of Callen. “Problem?”
“Depends.” Callen pointed up and down Walker’s body. “What is this about?”
“I don’t understand the question.” Or the thing where everyone acted like him out of a suit amounted to a national miracle.
Mallory crawled all over him when he put on jeans last time, which he loved. Made him think he should invest more money in the non-suit portion of his wardrobe. The unrestrained sexuality and confidence in what she wanted were just about the hottest things he’d ever experienced. She made him forget every shitty thing in his life.
Except this morning. Without warning they went from sex to her giving him the silent treatment to arguing on the front lawn in about two hours. A guy could get fucking whiplash.
That would teach him to leave the room to take a call. That fast her mood switched and he’d been playing defense ever since. So taking an offensive strike against Callen had a certain appeal.
“For two seconds act like you’re related and don’t attack each other.” Tom, who had been partway up the ladder, started back down. He stepped off and reached over to shake Walker’s hand. “Thanks for coming.”
Declan dropped his hammer to the ground and wiped his hands on his dirty jeans. “Wait, you said you have a new roof guy. It’s Walker?”
“Yeah.”
Callen looked from Walker to the roof in question. “Was everyone else in Oregon busy?”
“You want me to leave?” Much more shit and he just might. It wasn’t as if he didn’t have other things to do today. From the call he knew his boss had a hard-on to get him back to DC to answer questions. The internal investigation had kicked in.
He had a job to save and a woman to please. When Tom mentioned the roof the other night at the family dinner, Walker offered his help. It had been years since this qualified as his area of expertise but the idea of working with his hands and getting lost in a repetitive motion that kept him from thinking sounded pretty damn good.
Unless he killed Callen first.
As usual Callen led with attitude. “I don’t want you to mess up the roof.”
“I won’t.” Walker would stay up there all damn day if needed to prove he could do the work. No way would he give Callen the satisfaction of anything else.
“You’re saying you know about roofing.” Since the comment came from Declan it lacked Callen’s judgment and verbal slap.
So, Walker gave Declan a decent answer. “How do you think I paid for college?”
“Actually, we have no fucking idea,” Callen said.
The answer stopped Walker for a second. The delivery reminded him so much of Mallory and her anger this morning, just with added profanity. Walker blinked a few times to make sure it was Callen, not Mallory, in front of him . . . and, unfortunately, it was Callen.
“A scholarship covered most of my tuition and roofing took care of everything else.” Walker debated taking one more step. Saying that one thing that could piss them off even though this time he didn’t mean to. Who knew what they would find insulting. Still, he saw the opening and took it. “Unlike Beck who pretends he can’t work with tools but can, I can but usually don’t.”
“Well, I have to give you credit.” Declan picked up the hammer and handed it to Walker. “That sentence actually sounded like Beck.”
“Because it was confusing?” Callen asked.
Declan nodded. “Pretty much.”
“I volunteered to help out but if you’d rather pay someone . . .” Walker knew about them saving the house from foreclosure and how much work they were putting into making the place livable and safe. Unless they did have Charlie’s stash somewhere, that had to mean money was tight.
Tom headed back up the ladder. “Even these two can’t be so stupid as to turn down free labor.”
“You found a winning argument.” Declan gestured toward the top of the cottage. “Get up there.”
“Just don’t fall off anything and sue us,” Callen said. “Though it would be interesting to see you and Beck have a lawyer battle. I imagine you standing around quoting law to each other or something equally boring.”
Walker held the bottom of the ladder while Tom climbed; then he’d follow and take a look around. See how much work lay ahead. “All I want is a few hours of manual labor. I promise to stay out of your way and not talk.”
Callen folded his arms in front him. Nodded and kept nodding. “Oh, now I get it.”
Walker ran back through what he’d said and couldn’t come up with what caused that reaction. “What?”
“Woman trouble,” Declan said. “Again. Or should I say still?”
Callen nodde
d. “Yeah, this seems to be a constant state with you.”
Walker’s hands tightened on the ladder. “No, I didn’t—”
Declan and Callen stood side by side now. Even Tom watched from above. It was a lot of attention when Walker preferred none. These meetings with the brothers were starting to haunt him. They chipped away at what was left of his anger at them and poked around in his private life. He wasn’t a fan of either thing but each time it happened it got easier for him to open up. He didn’t love that either.
“What did you do now?” Callen’s nodding switched to head shaking.
Walker didn’t find the gesture change any less annoying. “Nothing.”
“Does Mallory think it’s nothing?” Declan asked. “Because I totally get the thing where you think everything is fine in the relationship and then the drawer-slamming begins. I’ve been stung by that situation more than once.”
Callen swore under his breath as he kicked at a group of pebbles in the dirt in front of him. “I fucking hate that ‘what did I do’ feeling.”
While there was something to be said for this form of male bonding, Walker sensed that agreeing to anything would somehow get back to Mallory and just tick her off more. If that was even possible. “Just because you guys can’t control your women doesn’t mean I suffer from that problem.”
Callen’s eyes narrowed. “That feels like a challenge.”
“How about we focus all this energy into actually working?” Tom called the question from over the edge of the roof.
“In a second.” Declan moved in closer to Walker. “Are you getting yelled at or are you getting the silent treatment?”
There was no need to lie or ignore. And maybe these two could help, though the thought of that made Walker realize just how desperate he was when it came to Mallory. “Both. Kind of an I’m-only-going-to-answer-with-yes-or-no thing.”
Callen hissed. “Oh, shit.”
“Man . . . I feel your pain.” Declan ended the obvious sympathy with a hard slap on Walker’s back. “Damn, that’s harsh.”
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