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“I agree with that statement. They do sometimes lecture me, but I just remind myself how lucky I am. Ramsey didn’t have that until she came to Willow River. My parents are saints compared to hers.”
“I’m glad she got away from them.”
“You all took her in, no questions asked. Your parents, hell, you and your brothers, you all saved her. You showed her what family is supposed to be.”
“You had a lot to do with that too. She didn’t trust easily, but she took to you right away.”
Palmer laughs. “I didn’t give her much of a choice. I knew she was good people. I’m a good judge of character. When I found out she was related to all of you, I knew I was right. Now she’s my person. I don’t know what I would do without her.”
“Don’t let your brother hear you say that,” I tease.
“Oh, he knows. And he’s good with it. She’s my best friend and the love of his life. She’s made him so happy. I can’t wait to watch them grow their family.”
Leaning over, I press a kiss to the top of her head. “You’re good people, Palmer Setty.”
“What I am is sweaty and a hot mess.”
“I told you…” I start, but she shakes her head smiling.
“I was all of that before I offered to help you. Let’s eat this yummy dinner. Then we can sweep and tackle the kitchen together. After that we can divide and conquer the bedrooms and the bathrooms.”
“The spare bathroom hasn’t been used in a while. Usually, just my brothers when they stay over. I always just use the master, so just a quick dusting, and it should be good. The bedrooms, I’m not even going to touch those. I changed the sheets the last time my brothers stayed over, and no one has been in them since. So my bedroom and bathroom after the kitchen.”
“Eat up, Kincaid. We have jobs to do.” She flashes me a grin before biting off a huge bite of a breadstick.
I’ve never spent much time thinking about relationships and how it would feel to be in one. Not until this situation with Palmer. If other men got to see her like this, they’d be lining up to take her out. The idea pisses me off more than it should. I know we said this was just for benefits. I thought those benefits would be sexual, and they have been, but they’re also friendship and something else I can’t exactly name, but I’m ready to run toward it.
If I was ever going to be domestic with anyone, to make a go of something real with anyone, it would be Palmer.
CHAPTERFOURTEEN
Palmer
“Are you sure you don’t have a housekeeper?” I ask Brooks. I just finished cleaning his bathroom, and it wasn’t even really that dirty.
“No. We all had chores growing up, and most of them revolved around cleaning. It’s not hard to pick up after myself.”
“Are you an alien?” I tease.
He laughs. “No. I’m not an alien.” He finishes wrapping up the cord on the vacuum. “I’m going to put this away.”
I follow along behind him, taking the small basket of dirty towels from the bathroom to the laundry room. I quickly start the washer and shut the laundry room door. It’s still raining outside, but not as hard. Switching on the porch light, I stare out into his backyard. The back porch houses a grill and a set of patio furniture. Just off the porch, it looks like a fire pit and homemade benches surrounding it.
“Whatcha doing?” he asks, coming to stand behind me, wrapping me in his arms.
“Watching it rain.”
“It’s been a shitty day for weather.”
“It sucks being stuck inside all day.” I look over my shoulder at him, and he kisses my nose. “At least both of our houses are clean.”
“There’s that,” he agrees. “But who says that we have to stay inside?”
“Did you not see the buckets of water falling from the sky?”
“I saw it.” He kisses my neck. Reaching around me, he pulls open the sliding glass door and takes a step forward.
“What are you doing?” I ask.
