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that.”
“Dakota!” Poppy yelled from the family room. “Can you come here?”
“Coming,” she said. She grabbed another grape and then left the kitchen. “I’ll be right back.”
My sister was chomping at the bit to talk. She pointed a finger at me. “You have a crush on her,” she said, her voice low and elated.
“A crush? What am I, fourteen?” The very idea was ridiculous.
“How did you meet anyway? The agency just sent her over?”
“No. I met her at a party last year.” That was somewhat true.
“Interesting.”
“Not really.” I tried to play it cool. “About as interesting as the fact that you met Chris at a keg party.”
“I did not.” She looked to make sure her kids weren’t paying attention. “It was actually at a bar.”
“Scandalous,” I told her, rolling my eyes.
Poppy came running to the kitchen. She grabbed my hand and yanked at it. “Father?”
“No,” I said.
“You don’t even know what I’m going to ask!”
“The answer is still no.”
She threw her arms up in the air. “Ahh, so annoying.” Then she ran away again.
“She’s just like you were at that age, you know,” Madeline said. “Intense.”
Dakota came back into the kitchen and heard what my sister said. “Was he a serious little grump even at eight?” she asked.
Madeline laughed and handed Dakota a glass of sweet tea. “Yes.”
“No,” I said. “I was just obsessed with football.”
“Then I guess nothing has changed.”
“I’ve got a few more interests now.” I gave Dakota a look, one I knew she would recognize. I wanted her. Her little striptease before her shower was still on my mind.
Her eyes widened. “Well. It’s always good to expand your horizons.” Her voice was low, a little husky.
“I feel like I should leave you two alone,” Madeline said. “Good lawd, it’s hot in here.”
It was. I took the sweet tea from Dakota’s hand and swallowed half of it in one gulp.
“Hey! You owe me for that,” she said.
I gave her a sly smile. “I’ll give you whatever you want.”
“Oh, lawd,” was Madeline’s opinion.
Aside from the heat, Texas was a blast. Brandon was discreet in front of all the kids, but he wasn’t really pretending in front of his sister and brother-in-law. It was clear they knew we were not just boss-employee and I wasn’t sure why he was being so open about it.
We spent Saturday hanging out, having a cookout and swimming in their lavish pool. It had been years since I’d gone swimming and it felt amazing to jump into that cool water and escape the heat. Brandon had told me we would probably be swimming, so I had bought what I thought was a fairly modest two piece, but it was clear the second I walked outside, his youngest nephew, Jonas, had a crush on me. His eyes were on me the entire time.
