Page 10

Despite the mix-up, Bennett shook her hand. “Pleasure to meet you.”

Wedding ring. Damn.

Stiff-soled shoes stalled fast on the stairs behind her.

Eryn released and turned to introduce her sister.

Lexi stood frozen, mid-gasp, like she was looking at a ghost.

He was hot, but not even Lexi was prone to swooning. She looked ready to bolt, not swoon.

Bennett seemed to catch the alarm, and his lips curled into a disarming smile. He traced the tip of his tongue over his teeth in an unconscious sort of habit.

Lexi walked stiffly down the stairs. She swallowed hard and stood rigidly at Eryn’s side, rising to her full height, and wrapped an arm around her. “Hi.”

Eryn looked up at her sister. Even her freckles were washed out, her skin paler than the misty sky.

Another pair of engines rumbled down the road. The leonine roar of an expensive-sounding engine halted. Boots crunched steadily behind the truck.

Another set of shoes jogged ahead of the other, across the gravel-littered asphalt. “What’s the holdup?” a man asked as he drew nearer. A little taller than the other, and swole, with a pair of black-rimmed reading glasses tucked into the neck of his t-shirt.

The garage door clicked open, and a third man strolled into view. Wow, Eryn had endured way too long of a dry spell. Or her landlord simply had ridiculously hot friends.

This one…

A dreamy sigh blurred Eryn’s vision and filled her mind with butterflies.

The one with the garage door opener seemed to calm the air around him, as if the briny wind awaited his command. Tall, solid but lean, and held himself with a powerful grace. The man could be a Navy SEAL, a ballet dancer, or a rock star. Nothing else would suit him.

His scowl softened as his gaze landed on her. His rich brown eyes were warm as whiskey on an empty stomach and blazed into her veins.

The one with the glasses caught up and skidded to a halt. Another badass. This one had a cheeky grin, but was overflowing with breezy energy. Confident, powerful, but casual and… happy.

None of these people would be wheeled into her ER anytime soon.

As toasty as the shower she’d indulged in. Warming her inside like that first hit of coffee had done. She wanted to wrap herself in all of them like blankets on a snowy morning. Obviously not brothers, not biologically anyway, but whatever charisma they shared, she wanted more.

The tall one with the garage door opener was mesmerizing.

His gaze landed on her. Held.

Cocooned her in the blanket she craved before he even smiled at her.

The magical garage-door-opening man finally spoke. His voice stirred the air, low and resonant, and everything else was silent. “Lexi and Eryn, right?”

Eryn stepped forward, but Lexi was stiff at her side. As her sister was oddly silent, Eryn smiled for them both and extended a hand. “Yes. I’m Eryn, and this is my sister, Lexi. Are you Vann?”

He nodded and braced his palm against hers, long fingers lacing gently around her hand. Tingling warmth radiated over her skin until she felt like a cat stretched out in a golden sliver of sunshine. He glanced toward their cars blocking the driveway. “I confess, I wasn’t planning on tenants, but the previous owner had already signed your lease.”

Knots tightened in her stomach as she imagined moving. Again.

“I mean…”

Apparently, her rapid pallor and sharp, shallow breaths of fury hadn’t been subtle.

“I will happily honor the lease, as I said on the phone. All I meant was, I’m still figuring all this out.”

Damn, way to siphon away her irritation. She’d bring up the slow shower drain later. “You scared me. An almost affordable rental this close to the beach was hard to find. When I stand on my tiptoes in my bedroom, I can see the ocean over your roof.”