Page 22 of Blue Jeans in Low Beams

I pull the last of the items from the grill, killing the gas. I’m so focused on ignoring my brother that it takes me a moment to realize that there’s a pause. One that’s more than slightly uncomfortable.

Turning around, I look at Brenna, her cheeks tinged pink, lips pressed together, like she’s just been called on in class and asked a question she doesn’t know the answer to.

“Errr…well, I…”

“Don’t feel like you have to take Milo’s side; you’ll still have a place to live this summer,” Anton pushes. “You've met parents in relationships shorter than that, right?”

“Anton!”

Instigating little shit…

“Oh, I…ummmm…” Brenna fumbles again.

The pink in her cheeks deepens. I would say it makes her even more adorable if it wasn’t plain as day that she couldn’t be more uncomfortable if she sat on a cactus. Which is about what I’m about to tell my brother to go do.

“Dinner time!” Miss Belle announces, breezing through the door.

Calm and even, ever the perfect Southern belle, my former beauty queen of a mother saves the day. Relief visibly washes over Brenna, who turns her focus to finishing setting the table. My insides ache, hating that we put her in the spotlight like that. Even if that is the exact thing we would have done to our own sister.

Grabbing the plates of veggies and meat, I give Anton a shove before heading to the table. He laughs, assuming that my reaction is in response to him calling me out over Kelly, rather than because he upset Brenna. Hell, I’d be shocked if he even realized he’d done the latter.

I’m not going to call attention to it though. Brenna deserves better. She’s also been embarrassed enough by the Hayes men this week to last a lifetime. No need to add anymore to that.

That means I need to get my head in the game and stop letting my dick remind me of how good she looks naked.

8

MILO

Family dinner complete? Check.

Brenna’s reputationally challenged brownies devoured? Check.

Dishes washed and put away? Check.

Willa and Gus still bickering about the discount? Unfortunately. Nash at least has the good sense to keep his mouth shut.

“Ready when you are,” Brenna says, appearing by my side with her baking dish.

“Then let’s escape while we can. I don’t want to be sucked in to this argument.”

She nods, shuffling off to thank my parents for including her. I do the same, keeping one eye on all my siblings, hoping we can escape unnoticed.

Thankfully, we do.

Driving down the long, dirt road that leads to the house, an ease settles in me. I can’t explain it, but I feel it take over, my whole body starting to relax. Something about being with Brenna like this, just the two of us in the cab of my truck, feels right. There’s an ease to it, a comfort. The tension from earlier is gone, replaced with something like an intangible peace.

One I’m trying to tell myself is because she’s like family. Because I’ve known her for her entire life, and I feel as protective of her as her own brother. And not because I wonder what she feels like pressed against me as the little spoon.

I sneak a glance at her, trying to keep my eyes on the road but unable to stop myself. Chin resting in her hand, elbow propped up on the window, Brenna is staring out, oblivious to me. Her shoulders are hunched, and her legs are curled up into her body, like she’s turning into herself and not just lost in thought.

Maybe there isn’t as much of an ease between us as I thought.

Shit…

“Everything okay?” I ask, trying to keep the worry out of my voice.

She doesn’t respond, her stance unchanging as my question hangs in the air. My curiosity and concern climb a notch with her lack of movement, my mind whirring with what the deal is. Is she that deep in thought? Did she eat something that bothered her stomach, or did one of my brothers do something to upset her? Hell, did I do something to upset her?