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Piper inhaled as she let her eyes move around her room. Her space, as she termed it. Warm sun-kissed walls, woven burnt-orange floor rugs, and one huge picture of the sunset taken with Phil and Roxy in the background. She loved it in here because when she looked out the windows she saw that exact scene.
“All right, but I have two conditions.”
He looked wary. “Shoot.”
“You, Joe, and Luke come and look at that house with me after we’ve had food and showers.”
“Okay, although why you’d want to buy that heap I don’t know, when you have a perfectly good place to live here.”
“Jack, I don’t want to move into it right off. It’s a project, and I’ll rent it out until I want to move in. It’s for the future, like I told you all. One day you’ll marry and not want me around... or Luke.”
Jack snorted. “Neither of us will marry, but I guess I get it, even though I don’t want you to move out.”
“Which I’m not.”
“What’s the second condition?”
“You cook for the next two nights.”
“What?” Jack stopped slouching on her doorframe. “How come I have to do that?”
“Because I cooked the last three nights, and it’s your turn. So you do that or I don’t save your scrawny hide.”
His smile was slow and knowing. “Now, we both know that I have one of the finest butts in Ryker.”
“Get out of here.” She hurled a pillow at him. Laughing, Jack left, telling her to be ready in five minutes.
She shrugged out of her jeans and replaced them with exercise tights, then pulled on a thick zip-up hoodie. Tugging on a knitted cap, she quickly laced her feet into trainers. Leaving the room, Piper decided to try Joanie again after the game. She could have a flat battery on her cell, or be out somewhere.
The house was big and rambling. They’d repainted, knocked down walls, and made it the perfect fit for them, but it was the kitchen they all loved and spent most of their time in.
Open-plan, with a huge table, wood burner, and large cooking range, this was Piper’s mother’s domain. It had spacious benchtops and plenty of cupboards, and something was usually simmering on the hob. She found Jack there eating a chocolate chip cookie.
“We’ll still be one short,” Jack said, getting to his feet, “but all good, it’s only the Pissants, anyway. We could beat them with three.”
“Peasants!”
“Whatever.” He hustled her out the door and down the stairs. She was in his pickup seconds later. “So, about your pissy mood, what’s the deal?”
“No deal,” Piper said, looking around her. “And I am not pissy.” The sun was out today and the air cool and crisp. Leaves were falling, and the vista turning with the weather into a symphony of fall colors. Ryker really was beautiful, but this transition from summer to winter was one of Piper’s favorite times of year.
“There is definitely a deal.”
“No, there really isn’t.”
“You know what I think?”
Jack drove with one hand on the wheel, elbow resting on the open window. The air was cold, but bracing, and Piper didn’t mind it. She guessed he was a looker, all the Trainer males were, but to her he was still that annoying cousin she’d come to live with many years ago. He’d been angry like Luke and Joe then. Angry and ready to rebel. Her mother had nipped that in the bud, but she hadn’t been able to stop Joe derailing... or Piper, for that matter.
“What?”
“I think Dylan Howard has you bent out of shape.”
“Ha, funny guy.”
He sent her a look, and suddenly he was no longer Jack the laid-back Trainer. Not many people saw this side to him, the man who didn’t take any crap from anybody and would protect what was his with everything at his disposal.
“Not so funny, actually. I’m a watcher, Pip, and I’ve been watching you when he’s around. Two weeks he’s been here, give or take a day or two, and I’ve noticed he makes you uncomfortable and edgy. You’re aware of him, just as he is you.”
