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The heat of his gaze burned right through me. I let my eyes drop, scanning over his chest to the thin trail of hair that led to the waistband of his pants. I took in his thick thighs and the bulge between them that promised to fill me up. When I finished my perusal, he smirked at me before driving his ax into the chopping block and walking my way.
The bucket dropped from my hand, and TJ chuckled. I stood tall and widened my stance. I wasn’t about to let him think he could take control of me. No matter what I might fantasize about, that wasn’t going to happen in real life. He was not going to intimidate me.
So he was hot. Plenty of men were. That didn’t mean I pursued all of them, and it sure as hell didn’t mean I was going to do anything with TJ.
Except I could smell him, clean sweat, musky cologne, and something that was just him. He was close now. I felt the tension sizzling between us and saw the hunger in his eyes. I knew he saw the same thing in mine.
“I felt you watching me,” he said.
“What are you doing out here? You’re supposed to be in the house.”
“I already told you. I’m not sitting around the house all day. I needed something to do.”
“Do you chop a lot of wood back in Chicago?”
“If you can chop the head and the limbs off a man, you can chop a piece of wood.”
He was trying to piss me off. “Is that so?”
“You telling me you don’t know?”
“I’ve killed people, but I don’t torture them, and I have no need to mutilate the bodies.”
“Really? Never?”
It was like he knew what I’d done. I tried to keep my expression neutral, but I couldn’t. That was usually not a problem for me. I was the stoic brother, the one who didn’t show emotion, but TJ was so fucking infuriating I couldn’t hold back.
“We’ve got enough shit going on around here. We don’t need you putting yourself in more danger.”
“I’m the one who took out the asshole fed from the woods. Obviously, I’m also handy with an ax. I’m well armed, and I can take care of myself.”
“Apparently not since you were sent here.”
“I was really sent here because—” He shook his head and pressed his lips together. What was it he didn’t want us to know.
“Because why?”
“It doesn’t matter. I’m more than capable.”
He took a step closer, then reached up and brushed his thumb across my cheek. His skin was hot, but his touch made me shiver.
“What is it you don’t want to tell me? Why are you so reluctant to admit you’re just as much of a badass as I am? You do what it takes to get the job done, and you always protect your family. We’re really not all that different.”
I should have knocked his hand away or punched the shit out of him, but I didn’t. I just stood there for several seconds, then I grabbed his waist and pulled him against me. His eyes widened, and I heard his sharp intake of breath. His reaction made me smile.
TJ’s hand moved to cup my chin in a firm grip. I tightened my hold on his hips. His low growl went straight to my dick, but Grant chose that moment to call me from the front of the barn.
I pushed TJ away, angry with myself for basically melting against him.
“I told you to stay the hell away from my brother,” Grant snarled at TJ.
I’d had it with Grant’s attitude. I wasn’t a fucking child. “I can take care of myself.”
Grant raised his brows. “Can you?”
“I’m not ten years old anymore, Grant. You don’t have to be my mama.” Grant glared at me, but he didn’t say anything else. “What did you want?”
“It’s my barn. I don’t have to have—”
