by Natalie Ann
“I guess you make a valid point,” she told Jeremy.
“However,” Marcus said, “I think you’d kill it at development and you know it. You’d bring in all sorts of money and programs. That’s right up your alley. Are you considering it? I thought you loved what you did.”
“I do and I don’t want to admit Mom is right, but I can’t do this forever. I’m young yet, but now I’ve got a house and more that I’m responsible for. My time is limited.”
“We can help you if you need things done,” Jeremy said.
“Please. You guys have less time than me.”
“But you wanted to get a treadmill,” Marcus said. “I know that. Let us know when and we’ll make sure we are there when it’s delivered to get it in the basement and put together for you.”
She wanted to grind her teeth that they didn’t think she could do it herself. “It’s done,” she could proudly say.
“What?” Marcus asked. “There is no way you were able to get something like that downstairs by yourself.”
“No,” she said and now realized she would have to tell them about Evan. Maybe she wanted to though. Her brothers were the only people she had to talk to at times. At least since Erin was gone.
“Then how?” Marcus asked.
“My neighbor across the street.”
“The guy that owns the development? The one that built your house?” Jeremy asked. “Didn’t you get all pissy when we jokingly said you could ask him for things if you had issues?”
She wrinkled her nose at him for pointing that out. “Yes, that’s him. Evan is nice and we got talking about one of my packages being shipped to him. One of his got sent to me and I had to bring it over.” She paused a few minutes and finally added. “We’ve been on a few dates.”
“I want to meet him,” Marcus said firmly.
“Get over yourself,” she said. “I don’t need my older brothers to come riding in on some white horse.”
“Marcus and I don’t like horses and you know it,” Jeremy said. “This has more to do with you’re our baby sister and though you can take care of yourself and all that bullshit, we want to meet the guy. Period.”
There was no use arguing. They’d been more protective after everything that happened to Erin. She couldn’t blame them. “It’s been a few dates. We are hardly at a point where my brothers need to beat their fists against their chest in front of him.” She held her hand up when they went to talk again. “But I will bring it up to him when I see him tomorrow.”
Her brothers looked at each other and changed the conversation after that. Her father even came over ten minutes later to talk with them.
None of them asked what was going on with him and their mother. Mainly because they didn’t want to know.
And two hours later when her mother introduced her to Jason Whitmire, an executive that worked for her father at GE, she knew exactly what today’s agenda was about.
Jason was everything her mother was looking for in a man herself many, many years ago. There was no way Parker was letting anyone pick out a guy for her.
Especially when she was sure she had a good one that she’d be spending some time with tomorrow. One she managed to get on her own just fine on top of it.
18
Having It Bad
“I think you’ve got company.”
“What?” Parker asked.
The two of them were sitting on her deck in the back on Sunday afternoon. It was around three and Evan had walked over about an hour ago. They’d had no set time, but he’d gotten up and done some chores around the house, watched the sports highlights and tried to think of anything else he could to kill time wondering which one of them would fall on the blade first and reach out.
When his phone went off at noon asking what time worked for him, he was glad he managed that with no blood. And because he was still irked over his family commenting on him “having it bad” yesterday, he decided to say he was in the middle of something and two worked.
And to not make it look like he was making something up or lying, he went to his workshop and made a wooden sign for Parker with her house number on it. He’d let her paint it what she wanted. It was a good housewarming gift in his mind.
Then he wondered if it smacked more of him “having it bad” if his family found out.
But he pushed it from his mind and was happy he did when she loved it and said she was going to paint it a bright color to stand out. Then joked, “Maybe the delivery people would get it right next time. Though I can’t complain about the results of their mix-up.”
She set the sign aside and had gone in and gotten him a beer and her a bottle of water. They were relaxing when he heard the car doors shut.
“Two car doors closed out front. It’s not my house, it’s too loud and I would have gotten an alert on my phone from my security system that someone was there. It’s got to be your house.”’
“I’m not sure who it could be,” she said. A few minutes went by and she turned her head when she caught his eyes on the two men walking around back. “I knew it! I almost told you two to not even think about it when I mentioned I was spending time with Evan today.”
By the looks of the two men, he had a feeling he was going to be meeting Parker’s brothers. They were both tall, but not as tall as his six foot three inches and not as bulky either. Not that he thought he was that bulky, but he had muscles from years of working with his hands.
Both these men worked with their hands too, just not like him.
“Your brothers?” he asked, just to be sure. Later he’d find out how or why his name came up in conversation with her family. Though it could have been nothing more than how her name came up yesterday at the wedding.
Accidental but now it was out there. Not a bad thing in his eyes.
“Of course.” She waited until they got closer to the deck and then walked up. “Evan, these are my brothers, Marcus and Jeremy. Boys, Evan Butler. But you know that and that is why you are here.”
He shook hands with both men, and then they sat down and got comfortable. “How about getting us a beer, Parker?” Marcus asked.
She narrowed her eyes at him. “I’m taking that as you are staying for a while?”
“We are,” Jeremy said. “No reason to pretend when we want to check your boyfriend out.”
Evan laughed when she started to sputter. “I never said he was my boyfriend.”
“No,” Evan said. “But we did say exclusive.”
Both men looked at him and gave him the same stare with narrowed eyes as their sister was doing. He didn’t care. He was going to make sure the entire Reed family knew he couldn’t or wouldn’t be intimidated.
Parker turned and walked back into her house and returned with the beers while the three men sat there, no one saying a word. The ball was in their court. They wanted to check him out, they could ask the questions. He suspected there was a tidal wave of them coming his way too.
When everyone had their beers opened and were seated, Parker said, “I can’t believe you two did this and didn’t even tell me you were coming over. What if we weren’t here? Or we were...busy?”
Evan grinned this time knowing she was going to play right along with her brothers. When they scowled, he wondered if she was trying to start trouble with them and him or this was her way of giving them shit. Kind of like she’d given to him a few times.
“You weren’t,” Marcus said.
“Though we weren’t sure,” Jeremy said, “because we knocked and you didn’t answer. Marcus peeked in the garage and saw both cars.”
Parker still was frowning. “I’m an adult and don’t need my brothers watching out for me.”
“I’ve heard that plenty of times from Kaelyn,” he said. Then he looked at her brothers. “I’ve got a younger sister and would have done the same thing you are now so I’d be the pot calling the kettle if I said a word.”
“Gee, thanks,” she said. “You guys are talking like I’m not even here.�
�
“It’s hard to not notice you,” Marcus said. “So, what is for dinner?”
Evan laughed this time. He couldn’t be pissed at these two guys that were almost exactly like him and Christian were with their younger sister. And he didn’t have to suffer the loss that they did with Erin. Not that he’d mention that because Parker had asked that he not say a word.
“What I was going to cook I don’t have enough of with you guys here.”
“Then run to the store,” Jeremy said. “We can keep Evan company.”
“I’d go for you, but I’ve been drinking,” he said with a big grin.
Both of her brothers laughed. “You guys are asses. And you,” she said, pointing her finger at Evan. “Don’t think I don’t know what this is about.”
“What’s that?” he asked.
“You men wanting to howl at the moon and see who is louder,” she said.
He wanted to laugh but knew it wouldn’t be wise. “I think it has more to do with the fact your brothers and I need to come to terms and it’s easier to do that with you gone.”
“Go,” Marcus said. “Evan is right. I’m sure he’ll still be here when you get back. If not, then he’s not the man you might think he is.”
Evan’s smile dropped, knowing he was being baited at that point.
And the minute Parker left, her brothers turned to him, Marcus first, “So, what is going on with you two?”
“That would be a question for your sister,” he said.
The two brothers looked at each other and then laughed. “Which means you have no idea.”
He didn’t want to acknowledge that and said, “It’s new and it’s exclusive as I said. She has a demanding job and I’m in my busy season. My guess is since my name came up you know who I am and what I do?”
“We do,” Jeremy said. “When she told us before that she’d met you, we’d joked that you were handy to have across the street if she had any issues and she all but ripped our heads off.”
Normally he’d be annoyed to hear that, but instead said, “So she’s always been that way about accepting help?”
“Pretty much. My mother insisted that she raise independent children, but she drilled one lecture into our sisters and another into us,” Marcus said.
“And what is the difference?” he asked. When neither of them said a word, he said, “I think you owe it to me to say that at the very least.”
He could tell they were torn, but Jeremy finally said, “If we were successful enough we’d get the pick of what we wanted in life. Jobs, homes, women. And if our sisters were, then they’d have men wanting them and they’d have the pick of who they’d care to associate with. It didn’t work out so well with our one sister.”
He was slightly shocked they were bringing Erin up and assumed that he knew she wasn’t with them anymore. “I’m sorry about what happened with Erin.”
“You know?” Marcus asked. He didn’t say a word and Marcus said, “It’s fine if you do. Parker doesn’t tell many and if she told you then that means she trusts you. The fact you don’t even want to admit you know means she judged you well.”
“Which is why I can understand why you are being so protective of Parker, but I don’t have a lot of answers for you and if I did, I wouldn’t give them anyway.”
“How old are you?” Jeremy asked.
“Thirty-four,” he said. “Older than your sister and I believe around the same age as you so don’t ask me why I’m still single if you are.”
Marcus laughed. “We’ve been in school a long time. We’ve got no time for a woman.”
“I’ve got a family business that means a great deal to me and I’m the oldest of my generation. I’ve had time for women but not to the extent they may have wanted.”
That was all he was willing to say. They didn’t need to know that he wished he could spend more time with Parker. No reason to tell her brothers that when he wasn’t telling it to Parker.
Both of them looked at each other and then nodded their heads. “Fine. She’s not easy to handle anyway. She’s very independent and likes it that way.”
“So I’ve noticed,” he said. “That works for me...until it doesn’t.”
“Like watching her trying to bring a treadmill down to the basement on her own?” Jeremy asked.
“I’d be a class A dick if I did that. But she happened to mention she wanted one and I offered my truck to get it. It was almost an all out war to get her to accept the help then to put it together.”
“What did she give you in return?” Marcus asked.
“I don’t want to know,” Jeremy said quickly.
“Dinner,” he said and held in his laughter. He knew how they were feeling because he wouldn’t want to know those details about his sister either. He could see Marcus regretted even asking it. “She said she’d cooked you guys dinner when you put her grill together so I said she could do that for me. She agreed.”
“So you played her?” Marcus asked.
“Didn’t you over the grill?”
Marcus picked his beer up and put it to his lips. “Yeah. Don’t mess her up. She’s had a hard enough time with men in the past and even women putting her in a category and thinking she was someone she wasn’t.”
“I’m not into playing games,” he said. He never was in his life and he sure the hell didn’t plan on starting now.
19
To Handle You
“You are all getting chicken and I don’t want to hear a word about it,” Parker said when she walked onto the deck thirty minutes later.
She hated that her brothers kicked her out and even more so that Evan was agreeing with them, but then realized maybe it was a good idea because if she had to sit there listening to them talking she might start throwing things.
She should have expected her brothers would do this and though she loved them, she wasn’t a child.
“I’m not saying anything to the person who wants to give me food,” Evan said.
“Good to know,” she said. “Of course by the looks of your fridge you live off of sandwiches and takeout.”
“Sounds like my fridge,” Marcus said.
“Not mine,” Jeremy said. “That isn’t good for your heart.”
“Put a cork in it,” Parker said. “You eat healthy but don’t do a lot of cooking.”
“Nope. I order out, but I make sure it’s not fast food or processed crap,” Jeremy said.
“Whatever,” she said. “I’ve got the chicken marinating for now. I’ll make potato salad to go with it and grabbed some corn on the cob. You guys can shuck it out here while I’m getting the potato salad ready. Any complaints?”
She looked around and saw all three of them shaking their heads. “I’ll run across the street and get some more beer,” Evan said.
“I bought more. Who is the driver of you two?” she asked her brothers.
“Me,” Marcus said. “Jeremy drove last time. This is my lone beer right here.”
“Then I’ll get Marcus and me another one,” Evan said. “Guess you get water.”
“Iced tea,” she said. “Marcus likes tea.”
Evan stood up and followed her into the kitchen to get the beers and she put the corn on the counter. “You want me to take this out with me?”
“I do,” she said. “In a minute. What did my brothers say to you?”
“Does it matter?” he asked. “I’m still here and I’m smiling. Neither of them had to put their medical degrees to work and patch anyone up.”
She wasn’t sure she liked the humor in his voice. “They are protective of me even though I’ve told them to cut the crap.”
“I know that. I can understand that since I’ve got a baby sister too.”
“One that has a baby of her own. I’m sure she doesn’t like to be referred to as a baby either.”
“She doesn’t, but I’m sure your brothers are always going to think of you like that just like I will with Kaelyn. Even if her husband is bigger than me, I don
’t care.”
“And worth more,” she said.
He hesitated and she wondered if he was thinking he shouldn’t have told her about Harris during one of their talks. “Worth is irrelevant.”
“I guess so. That was tacky on my part. You and your family have plenty of your own.”
“We do. I don’t think you are all that impressed with it, but maybe I’m wrong.”
“I’m not,” she said. “I don’t need a man and I want you to know that. I slipped and sounded like my mother just now and that is my penance for acknowledging some of her might have rubbed off on me.”
He moved closer and had her caged against the counter. “You needed me bad enough the other night. I was kind of hoping for more of the same tonight, but now that we’ve got guests, I’m assuming that isn’t going to happen.”
She was glad to know he got her. That he didn’t think she was after his money. “I can and do support myself. I shouldn’t have brought up money and my only excuse is that I’m raw over what happened with my mother yesterday and it’s lingering.”
“What’s that?” he asked.
“It’s not the time.”
“It is the time,” he said. “I’m not moving from this spot until you tell me.”
“She tried to set me up with someone. Or her version of it.”
“And you told her you were seeing me?” he asked.
“No. My brothers knew beforehand. Your name came up when one of them mentioned the treadmill. My mother wasn’t there. When I started to put things together on what her plan was, I got pissed. I’m not interested in some executive that works with my father.”
He laughed. “I can’t see you with some suit and tie guy. Never,” he said. “They wouldn’t be able to handle you.”
“Handle me?” she asked, feeling herself getting all worked up.