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She was right, of course. He would always have a connection to Bailey Jones.
“Hey, bud, that’s a serious frown.”
Jack was two years younger than Joe, and tall but built leaner, with hair more brown than black. Behind him came the youngest Trainer, Luke. He was the image of Joe.
“I thought you had a group to take out today?”
“They cancelled,” Jack said, falling into the chair Pip had recently vacated. “One of them is sick, so they’re going out next week.”
“Hey, Pip.” Luke threw his cousin a sweet smile that she totally fell for, and minutes later he had a heaped plate of food in front of him, as did Jack. Joe got to his feet and refilled his own cup.
“I have a lesson this afternoon with that Anderson brat. God’s truth, she’s the biggest know-it-all I’ve ever encountered,” Jack moaned.
“Who are you looking at?” Piper asked, noticing how Luke’s eyes were still on the door.
“That woman, Bailey Jones. I just saw her coming out of the pharmacy a few minutes ago. She looks better than the last time I saw her. She was kind of dazed then.”
“What? When did you bump into her?”
“A few days ago. She was on the street and stepped off the curb and would have been hit by a car if I hadn’t grabbed her.”
“She did what?” Joe’s heart was thumping hard in his chest at the prospect of Bailey doing that.
“Like I said, she seemed dazed. I pulled her back on the sidewalk, introduced myself, just wanted to get her talking to see if she was okay. She looked at my uniform then, and told me she was glad I was a firefighter, then walked away. It was a weird moment, I tell you.”
That had to be the day they’d met in the store, Joe realized. So she’d been as unsettled by their meeting as he had.
“She’s seriously hot,” Luke added.
Joe bit back his irritation as Luke looked back to the door. He had no claim to Bailey, but he felt protective of her. Their history gave him that right at least, and the fact that she was running from something. He’d stake his bar on that.
“She’s certainly cute,” Jack said, joining the conversation now that he’d cleaned his plate. Jack took food seriously.
“She’s just arrived, so give her a break,” Joe said calmly. Best way to deal with his siblings, he’d learned when they were finally all back together, was not to show any weakness.
“And what the hell does that mean?” Jack scowled. “You make me sound like some kind of predator.”
“A slight overreaction,” Joe said. “What I mean is, she’s here for a break, so don’t hassle her.”
“I have never hassled a woman!” Indignant now, Jack’s scowl darkened. “I’ve never forced myself on a woman either.”
“I never said you did, I was just telling you about Bailey, and that she seems a bit wound up, so give her some space if you run into her.” Joe wasn’t sure why he just didn’t shut the hell up.
He watched the scowl fall from Jack’s face, to be replaced by a smug smile.
“So you’re warning me off because you’re interested?”
“What? No,” Joe said. “I’m just saying give her some space.”
He was then subjected to a double sibling stare down. Joe was up to it, he’d spent most of the last ten years wrestling his brothers into the halfway respectable, decent humans they were today. They didn’t intimidate him.
“Space, is it? Well, it’s okay with us, big brother. If you want the path left clear, we’ll do that for you.”
“Don’t be insulting,” Piper snapped, returning with more coffee. “Bailey’s a person, not a doormat, and you need to learn to respect women... both of you.”
“How come he’s exempt?” Jack glared at Joe.
“Because I like him more than you.”
