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He whipped the comforter away, then knifed off the bed. “Someone came through the gate.” His eyes locked on me while he pulled up his jeans. “It’s someone with the gate code. Can’t imagine it’d be Punc, so unless I can send my sister packing, you need to get dressed”

I suspected I paled. “I thought she was on a cruise. And…aren’t we keeping this secret?”

He tugged on a gray tank-style undershirt. “Brandy only met Punc in passing at Dad’s funeral. She doesn’t even know where the clubhouse is, so she’s not a problem. Hurry up and get dressed, sweetheart. Once she sees we’re both here, she’ll probably leave.”

I rolled out of the bed.

Tundra stopped at the door and looked over his shoulder at me. “Unless she’s got the kids with her. Then, we’re probably shit out of luck.”

He moved, but I gasped. “What about your mom? If your sister’s here, won’t your mom be with her since they were on the same cruise?”

“No.” A satisfied smile curled his lips and he pointed at me. “You can ask Brandy why she isn’t here. It’ll give you something to talk about with her.”

I threw on my underwear while lamenting not packing nicer clothing. Before we left my place, I’d packed my bag thinking of being on Tundra’s bike. Meeting his sister in shorts didn’t feel right, which left me with my jeans and a choice of either my Harley t-shirt or my ‘Naughty but Nice’ t-shirt. It was one hundred percent me, but not the first impression I wanted to make with his sister.

“Can’t go wrong with a Harley t-shirt,” I muttered to myself and pulled it over my head.

I hurried down the stairs barefoot in the nick of time.

“Took you long enough,” Tundra muttered under his breath.

“You didn’t have to put on a bra.”

He opened one of the double doors. “Brandy, what are you doing here?”

“Uncle Tee!” his niece squealed.

“Stop right there, Marjorie,” his sister said.

I couldn’t even see this by-play yet, but I couldn’t imagine why his sister sounded so stern.

“What the fuck, sis?” he asked and stepped outside.

Part of me wasn’t sure if I was supposed to follow or not, but if I wasn’t I figured he’d have given me a signal.

With my eyes to the ground, I stepped out onto the welcome mat.

A woman with lustrous, long brown hair stood next to a mini-van, unbuckling a child from the backseat. The cutest little girl with long honey-blonde hair stood a few feet from the doorway. She stared up at me like she was shocked to see another woman here.

Brandy looked over her shoulder at Tundra. “Matty’s sick with a stomach bug. Probably Norovirus. My darling husband doesn’t want to get sick, and suggested the three of us come here - regardless of the fact that anything the kids get we all get because they’re givers like that.” She caught sight of me and her body froze. “You…have company.”

“I do, but get Matthew out of the car. If he’s got a virus, he should be in bed. Does he have a fever?”

My heart melted and my ovaries might have twitched. I’d never thought about Tundra being a dad, but with two sentences, it was clear he’d be a fantastic father.

Brandy shook her head. “No. I don’t want to get you or anyone else sick. Marjorie—”

“There are six bedrooms in this house, Dee. We’re usin’ one. Put Matty in another, you and Marjorie still got four others to choose from.” He tipped his head to the adjacent building I’d yet to tour. “Hell, we’ll use the bedroom off Dad’s old office if you want. No need to leave. But, Seth needs to man up and stop bein’ such a germaphobe. Depriving his son of his own bed.”

She gave Tundra a dry look. “He didn’t mean to keep Matty from his own bed. We thought I had to check on the house because Mom didn’t mention you were swinging by. His job’s more important than mine, Tundra.”

The job comment didn’t sound good…but who was I? There was likely more context involved.

Tundra leaned forward a touch. “Only because he’s got better health insurance benefits. You get sick, who’s dealin’ with these two then? He is…so like you said, he’s probably gonna get sick any damned way. Let’s get that kiddo in here. I didn’t buy any Gatorade, but I think there’s some ginger ale.”

Brandy turned back to the minivan and carefully removed the seatbelt. “I picked up Pedialyte.”

“Do you want me to take him?” Tundra asked.