Flirting with Destiny

by Christyne Butler

  Yes, her initial attraction to him had been based on a long-ago memory of a shared night of physical desire. What else could it have been, as they’d known so little about each other?

  But now...now she knew him.

  She knew his strength and humor in overcoming his personal demons. Admired his loyalty to both his family’s business and his volunteer work. Respected his newfound dedication in recovering from an event that could’ve taken his life.

  An event that almost had.

  Even though he’d physically survived, the accident last summer had taken something from Devlin, something deep inside, a sense of self-worth that he was finding again.

  Thanks to her. At least according to him.

  That thought caused the sting of tears to press against her eyelids. She squeezed them shut as he broke their kiss, tracing her jaw with his lips until he reached her ear.

  “I lost you,” he whispered against her skin. “Where did you go?”

  His question brought her out of the fog created by what a remarkable man she’d come to find Dev was. “I’m right here.”

  “Yes, you are. Finally.”

  * * *

  It took some doing, but Tanya finally convinced him they had to get out of the water. Neither one of them knew the exact time, but she was sure they were going to be overrun with Murphys at any moment.

  Dev couldn’t have cared less.

  He had held her in his arms and kissed her, with the promise of more to come now that they were at last going on a date.

  And it’d been at her invitation.

  He watched her walk up the pool steps in front of him, the water streaming from her curves in a way that made his mouth water. The new swimsuit fit her perfectly, but he wasn’t entirely sure he wanted her to wear it again.

  Then again, he was absolutely sure he wanted her out of it.

  “Let me get you a towel,” he said, stepping up on the patio and heading straight for a nearby cabinet where his mother always kept a neat stack. “Here, cover yourself and please be quick about it.”

  “Oh, I thought you liked my swimsuit,” Tanya drawled, taking her time unfolding the oversize towel and draping it over her shoulders.

  “I love it, which is why I don’t want anyone else—mainly my brothers—to see you in it,” Dev said, wrapping his own towel around his waist, tucking the ends in to keep it in place. “Or my body’s reaction to you in it.”

  Tanya blushed, and he wanted to kiss her again.

  And again.

  “So what time are you picking me up for our date tonight...”

  Dev’s voice faded as a familiar whop-whop noise filled the air.

  He immediately looked skyward, already knowing what he was searching for. His stomach took a nosedive, not stopping until it landed at his feet. Then, an arctic chill raced across his skin, raising goose bumps everywhere despite the warm temperatures.

  “What is that?” Tanya asked.

  Dev glanced at her; she was searching the skies, too. “It’s a helicopter,” he said, pointing as it moved in closer, becoming more defined just as his mother came out of the kitchen, drying her hands on a dish towel.

  “I thought I heard... Oh!” Elise cried. “It’s them! I wonder if your dad or Liam— Yes, there they are!”

  She waved and the men acknowledged her with waves of their own from the other end of the yard nearer to the lake.

  “Looks like the gang’s all here,” Dev muttered. “Adam, Fay and A.J. are heading this way from the parking lot.”

  They, too, had stopped and joined everyone else in looking upward.

  Dev tracked the helo’s progress, knowing his brother was at the controls. Determined not to allow the fear racing inside him to show on his face, he reached for his sunglasses but then realized he’d left them on top of the cabinet.

  “Were you expecting this visit?” Tanya asked.

  Dev nodded, but turned his face away from her and his mother, keeping his gaze on the sky. “That’s my brother, Bryant, in the family’s new flying machine. His wife, Laurie, is riding shotgun.”

  The next moment he felt Tanya lace her fingers with his, giving them a quick squeeze. “Just think how close we were to being caught making out in the pool. By everyone and from every angle.”

  He smiled, appreciating her attempt to distract him, but seconds later when the helicopter dipped lower for a moment, Dev’s breath vanished from his chest and he gripped her hand in his.

  That’s how it had started for him.

  A sudden drop in altitude, a loss of pressure.

  An easy fix. He was a trained pilot. He could handle the situation.

  Yeah, right.

  Tanya covered their joined hands with her other one, and he realized just how hard he’d been holding on to her.

  For no reason.

  It was easy to see that Bryant wasn’t having any issues as he held the helicopter steady overhead for a moment before continuing on their way.

  Dev eased his hold on Tanya as his family joined them poolside, Adam with a cell phone to his ear.

  “It’s Laurie,” he said, speaking to everyone. “Everything is going great. They’re heading back to the airstrip and should be here in less than an hour.”

  Dev untangled his hand from Tanya’s and headed for the house, not looking at her or anyone else. “Excuse me. I’m going inside to change.”

  * * *

  With every Murphy present on this beautiful May afternoon, except for the youngest brother, Ric, who was serving overseas in the Air Force, the backyard was crowded with kids and adults.

  Alastair, the family patriarch, manned the grill with the precision of a general, having commandeered the barbecue tools from Nolan and Adam when they’d fought over how many times to flip the second round of hamburgers and hotdogs.

  Elise sat nearby at the umbrella table with Laurie, Fay and Katie, who Tanya had quickly figured out was more like family than an employee to the Murphys. Abby sat with them, too, the teenager refusing to join the touch-football game between her brothers and her uncles, even though her dad promised he’d keep the twins from cheating.

  Or accidently knocking her into the pool.

  Still, Abby declined and Tanya couldn’t blame her.

  From where she stood at the far end of the deck near a table overloaded with food, the game seemed to be more about the guys tackling each other than any kind of organized sports activity.

  At the moment, Bryant had one of his teenage nephews in some sort of makeshift choke hold as Liam casually stuck out his foot, sending Nolan, and the football he’d been carrying, toward the goal line that was marked by someone’s sneakers, flying in two different directions. All the men started laughing.

  Including Dev.

  Standing nearby on the grass, dressed in cargo shorts and a faded blue T-shirt featuring the mascot of the Destiny High Blue Devils, Dev held his nephew, A.J., in his arms, having agreed to act as referee and makeshift babysitter.

  Not that he’d really had any choice. There was no way he could’ve joined in on the roughhousing, but he didn’t seem bothered by that as he laughed and traded verbal barbs with his brothers.

  It was wonderful to see him so relaxed after witnessing the range of emotions that had crossed his face earlier today when Bryant had flown overheard in the family’s helicopter.

  Tanya had wanted to race after him when he’d disappeared inside the house, but instead had gone to use one of the guest bathrooms to shower and change, not surprised when Dev took almost an hour before joining them again.

  He’d given her a quick nod when she’d asked if he was okay, making it clear he didn’t want to talk about what had happened earlier.

  “Boy, you’ve got it bad.”

  The plate full o
f freshly cut fruit Tanya was carrying almost slipped from her hand, but she flexed her still-aching fingers and held on to it. She turned to look at Mac. “What are you talking about?”

  Mac gestured with his glass of iced tea.

  “You’ll have to be more specific than that, Mac.”

  “This...” Her grandfather kept his voice low as he again waved his glass in the air. “The big house, all the siblings, kids and grandkids. This is what you’ve always wanted.”

  Tanya stared at him. How did he know that?

  “You used to live with me, remember? I wasn’t a drunk all the time back then. On those days I was sober we would sit and watch old reruns of The Waltons while your mom was working. You always said you wanted what they had, lots of brothers and sisters, to be part of a big family.”

  Swallowing hard against the sudden lump in her throat, Tanya looked away. She couldn’t believe he remembered those shared afternoons when she’d wanted to be one of those kids calling out goodnight to each other as the day ended. “I was an only child whose father had disappeared. Of course I wanted a family.”

  “And you got one. Eventually.”

  Yes, she did, but she and her mother had been on their own for many years by then, and with all the wisdom of a teenager, she’d believed she had long ago let go of her dream.

  By the time her stepfather had come into the picture, and the twins followed not too long afterwards, Tanya had been a rebellious teen who’d often felt left out of the new life her mother had found for herself.

  Thankfully, Tanya had been able to bridge the distance between her and her family years ago, but she had to admit there were times she still felt like an outsider when visiting them.

  “You said something the other night about finding your destiny,” Mac went on. “I thought you were talking about your upcoming trip, but maybe you meant it literally. As if what you’ve always been searching for is right here under your nose.”

  The lump in her throat had grown to the size of a volleyball and Tanya desperately needed a cold drink to wash it down. Grabbing her iced tea, she quickly gulped down half the glass.

  Devlin Murphy—and his family—were not her destiny.

  He was a mild distraction for the next few weeks.

  Nothing more.

  And if her heart said something different, then she would just wrestle it back into submission.

  She was going to London, and that was that.

  * * *

  “Didn’t your mama ever tell you it’s impolite to stare? Even if the lady in question is quite stareable.”

  Dev blinked, grabbing baby A.J.’s chubby hand before the kid slapped at his face again. He looked at Liam, annoyance racing through him at the sight of his brother’s amused expression. “Is stareable even a word?”

  Liam shrugged. “Who knows? It should be, because your lady is definitely stareable. You know, one who is easily stared at.”

  “Something you’ve been doing for the past ten minutes,” Adam added, joining them and taking his son from Dev’s arms. “Instead of watching my amazing touchdown pass to munchkin nephew number 1. But you saw your daddy’s great arm, didn’t you, pal?”

  A.J. agreed by sending an all-out gum grin at his father.

  “Hey, are we taking a break?” Nolan stepped up to the circle. “Please tell me we are. I’m getting too old for this stuff.”

  “Yes, we’re taking a break.” Dev leveled his gaze on Liam. “That goes for all of us.”

  Nolan waved off his sons, and the twins headed for the food.

  “Who wants a drink?” Bryant asked, using the end of his T-shirt to wipe his sweaty face. “I’m buying.”

  All the brothers held up their hands, Dev included, wishing for a moment Bry would come back with five cold beers instead of four and whatever he grabbed for him.

  Boy, he really wanted a drink right now.

  No, scratch that.

  He’d wanted a drink from the moment he’d seen the family’s new bird appear over the backyard, and a non-alcoholic beverage just wasn’t going to cut it.

  From the looks he’d gotten from everyone from Tanya to his mother while they ate, he’d taken longer in the shower than normal. At least the pounding spray had drowned the clicking, whooshing and whining noises from a different helo that echoed inside his head.

  Just when he’d thought he’d gotten rid of them, he was struck by the vision of his instrument panel dying—

  “So, what are we talking about?” Nolan asked.

  “Dev’s girlfriend,” Liam said.

  Dev blinked, his brother’s label pulling him back into their discussion. He realized too late that he had, in fact, been staring at Tanya.

  What could he say?

  She looked hot in a long white skirt that reached her ankles. A thin sliver of skin appeared between where her skirt met her hips and her colorful tank top, which looked as if his mother’s fruit salad had exploded on it. Her hair was loose around her shoulders, and Dev’s fingers itched to touch it again.

  “Tanya is not my girlfriend.”

  “Okay, Dev’s latest conquest.”

  He cuffed Liam on the back of the head. “She’s not that, either.”

  “So, what is she?” Adam asked. “Other than your therapist?”

  Dev stared at his brothers, wondering how this had suddenly turned into a conversation about him.

  “She’s a...friend,” he finally said.

  “A friendly friend if the action in the pool earlier today is any indication.” Liam quickly stepped out of reach when Dev turned to him, his smirk still firmly in place.

  “You saw that?” Dev asked.

  “Right out my bedroom window. Not in detail, thanks to the distance between my place and the pool. You two were huddled in the corner, hidden from the house—good move to keep away from Mom’s eagle eye, by the way—in the hot tub. Not hard to put two and two together.”

  “And you’d come up with five,” Bryant said, returning with four chilled beers and one iced bottle of root beer. He handed them out, adding, “That’s why I’m the numbers man around here.”

  “No, I’d say more like fifteen to twenty.” Liam grinned and twisted off the cap. “Yeah, I’d say at least twenty minutes of good old-fashioned making out.”

  “You watched them?” Nolan asked.

  “You timed them?” Adam added.

  “Watched who do what?” Bryant ignored his wife, who was calling to him from the deck. “What’d I miss?”

  “Dev putting the moves on the next Murphy bride,” Liam said, gesturing at his throat in a choking motion. “Another bachelor bites the dust.”

  Okay, it was time to turn this around and fast before Tanya got wind of their conversation. One good thing about having this many siblings was that there was always someone else with enough history to take the heat.

  Dev knocked his soda bottle against Liam’s beer. The glass-to-glass clinking noise was familiar, but somehow it just wasn’t the same. “Shouldn’t you be the next one to marry and start helping the folks with their never-ending need for grandchildren to spoil?”

  “Why me? You’re older.”

  “But you’ve got more experience,” Dev shot back, knowing Liam couldn’t dispute that fact.

  “True, but with two failed marriages and no kids, I’m perfectly happy to play the favorite uncle and leave the parenting to you all.”

  “Two marriages and one love of your life if I remember correctly. What was that girl’s name again?”

  “What girl?” Adam and Nolan asked in unison.

  “The one Liam was hanging around with that summer he just about gave the folks a heart attack by taking a pass on college to do the rodeo circuit,” Dev said. “You know, that foreign chick who sounded like those Brit
ish shows Mom is always watching on public television.”

  Bryant snapped his fingers. “Oh, right, I remember her. Blond, really pretty. Mattie or Margie or—”

  “Missy,” Liam cut him off. “Her name was Missy and she wasn’t—isn’t the love of my life.”

  “How come I don’t remember this Missy?” Nolan asked.

  “You were in Paris, brushing up on your architectural skills and meeting your own Murphy bride,” Bryant said, waving at his wife when she called him again, “and Adam was off doing something with the Air Force Reserves that summer.”

  The brothers started walking toward the back deck, talking over each other as the conversation turned to Liam’s checkered romantic history—both his marriages had lasted less than a year.

  Mission accomplished, Dev thought with a grin.

  “You’re falling for her.”

  That came from Adam, who had hung back to walk next to him while doing his best to keep his infant son from gumming the lip of his beer bottle. Dev reached for it, giving his brother a sharp look when Adam’s fingers tightened for a moment before he allowed him to tug it free.

  Geez, did Adam really think he was going to chug half a warmish beer right here in front of everyone?

  “No one has fallen for anyone. I’ve only kissed her twice, and we’re going out on our first date tonight,” Dev said, knowing Adam was waiting for him to say something. “We’ve only known each other three weeks.”

  “Not counting that one night ten years ago.”

  Yeah, not counting that.

  “Hey, I knew Fay was the one for me back in high school, and it took us over twenty years to get together. Don’t make that mistake, bro.”

  “You’re forgetting something, aren’t you?” Dev kept his voice low but Tanya turned to look at him anyway, as if she knew he’d been talking about her. “She’s leaving town in less than six weeks.”

  Chapter Twelve

  “Oh, this place is so beautiful.” Tanya leaned back against the faded patchwork quilt and propped herself up on her elbows. Stretching out her legs, she crossed her feet at the ankles, glad she’d pulled on her old cowboy boots. “I feel like I’m sitting on top of the whole world.”