“Levi…” Mia wanes as Angela scowls at her son.
“What? She’s graduating in what… three months? She’s not gonna keep working for him after she finishes her PhD. She’s gonna be qualified. What she needs now is connections. Job opportunities. Not a three-month peace offering so he has time to find a replacement.” He turns his attention to me. “You’re coming in giving a highball offer but a tiny contract. That’sbullshit. If you want her back, you’re gonna have to play your hand. What can you offer my sister that she can’t get literally anywhere else? Because the world is her oyster. She may not stay here, but she’ll sure as shit get a job anywhere else in the country if she puts her mind to it. She’s a goddamn Sinclair.”
Levi pushes off the couch and heads to the kitchen, pulling open the fridge to grab himself a beer. Angela follows him, placing an arm on his shoulder to calm him.
“I see where you get it from.” I laugh, and Mia’s face softens like I’ve given her the best compliment.Brat,I mouth, and she laughs even more, color finally coming back to her cheeks.
“He is a bit, isn’t he?”
“Hmm, don’t get me started.”
“Y’all want a beer?” Levi calls out.
“Yeah, we’ll both take one,” Mia yells back.
“Can we talk privately?” I ask before they return.
“Nope!” Levi calls out, speed walking around the couch to hand me my beer as Mia uses her eyes to implore Angela to take Levi out of the conversation.
“Honey, did you not just hear Annie crying for you?”
“What? No, I didn’t hear her.” He’s off his feet in seconds, but not before turning and pointing two fingers at his eyes and then back at me.I’m watching you.He mouths. Levi seems like a protector, but mostly a nice normal guy until he does shit like that. It makes me want to set him and Austin up on a playdate. They’d get on like a house on fire.
“Is he single?” I ask before thinking to explain my thought process.
Angela chuckles. “You asking, honey? I didn’t think that was the Sinclair you were here for.”
I fight the warmth spreading across my cheeks. “I just meant he could do well to channel some of that protectiveness into a partner. Seems he’s got an overflow.”
“Hit the nail on the head with that one, Doc. Mia said you were good.” She slaps her hands down on her thighs and stands. “I’ll leave y’all to it.”
“Night, Mom.”
Angela turns back to me and points two fingers at her eyes, then back at me, eerily similar to Levi a few minutes ago. “I have a lot of land. I know where to bury a body,” the matriarch warns.
Mia continues to watch me as Angela wiggles her fingers, making her way up the stairs.
“Your family is slightly terrifying.”
“You scared, Alfie?”
“Absolutely. How much land does your family have? Just out of curiosity.”
“About five hundred acres, give or take.”
I nod. Fucking hell. They’d never find me.
She frowns and laughs, pointing her fingers at her eyes and then back at me. How the hell does she know?
“Is that a family trait?”
She grins. “Something like that. The Sinclairs like to look tough, but we’re all big softies. You did see the way Levi is with Annie, right? He’s a giant teddy bear.”
“I’m guessing there’s a story there?”
“Annie was the result of a one-night stand. Her mom wasn’t interested, but Levi was. He has full custody, and her mom sends a card for her birthday and Christmas.”
“She doesn’t visit?”
