“I need to grab something from my car really quick. I’ll be back in a sec.” Loren saunters off to collect heaven knows what. All I know is that she needs to bend over to get it. You can’t see anything, but if you took a step to the right, then?—
“Holy shit.” A rush of breath whistles through August’s teeth.
He knows I hate it when he does that, which is probably why he did it in the first place. I introduce my elbow to his stomach. “Not a chance, dipshit. She has a boyfriend.”
“I can look, can’t I?”
“At her face and that’s all.” Definitely not at her chest in that tight black sweater. That would be rude.Sorude.
Loren’s door snaps shut, and the lights flash when she locks it. She comes over with a smile on her face, seeming pretty damn happy about joining us.
I think I might be a little bit happy too.
I clap August on the back of the neck, giving him a little squeeze for good measure. “Loren, this asshole is my cousin, August. August, Loren Piper.”
He must know what’s good for him, because he sticks out his hand like this is some sort of business meeting. “Pleasure.”
Her hand slips into his a little too quickly. “Nice to meet you, August. I really like your shirt.”
“Why, thank you, Loren.”
The compliment leaves him smiling way too widely. Guess he didn’t recognize the sarcasm in her tone.
Before I get a chance, he opens the front passenger door for her.
I can feel my eyes narrow. “Behave,” I mutter under my breath.
His answering smirk makes me wonder if this was a terrible idea. “Where’s the fun in that?”
Loren crosses then uncrosses her legs like she can’t seem to get comfortable in the front seat. Each time she does it, her skirt rides a little higher. Not that I’m looking. That would be incredibly dangerous considering I’m doing seventy miles an hour on the highway.
Closing the vent on her side, she settles back against the headrest before glancing at me, then at the irritating asshole breathing down my neck. “So, you two are cousins?”
August sticks his head farther between the two seats and pushes my arm away so he can rest his elbows on the center console. “Practically brothers. Born a month apart and grew up right next door to each other.”
“Our Moms are sisters,” I add, feeling a bit like the third wheel.
August squeezes his shoulders through the gap, his big head cutting off my line of sight entirely. “Speaking of sisters, do you have any, Loren?”
Loren’s curls sway when she shakes her head. “Only child, I’m afraid.”
Just like me.
Wonder if her parents drive her crazy too.
My mom has already called me five times today asking me to do this, that, and the other. The giant wooden Christmas treemy grandma painted needs brought in from the front yard and returned to the attic. She bought a new mirror that needs hung up in the “good” living room. She found a new podcast she thinks I’ll like. She made homemade chili and froze two quarts along with a few cornbread muffins.
Granted, I didn’t mind that last call quite as much.
“Cousins?” August tries again.
Since I can’t see her face because of August’s big, stupid head, I find myself watching the way Loren’s black-tipped fingers toy with the gold zipper on her purse. “A few but they’re like twenty years older than me.”
August huffs a disappointed sigh. “That’s too bad.”
Enough is enough. “You know what’d be too bad? If I had to slam on the brakes and watch your head fly through the windshield. Sit your ass back and put on your damn seatbelt.”
I’m not above pulling over and making him walk.
