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Des gnashes his teeth. “You’re all assholes. Can we get back to why we’re here?”
I try to dodge them and get to Jo, but I don’t see her with Larkin any longer, and Lennon plants his hand on my shoulder. “It’s time to follow your heart,” he says.
“This heart?” Jolene appears beside me and ducks under my arm, hugging me with a tap to my chest.
The heart in question beats double time. No matter my stress about our impending talk, I’m a mess for this woman. “Hey, baby.” I kiss her head and breathe her in.
She plants an answering kiss between my pecs, the heat of her body calming me slightly. “I missed you.”
“Me too,” I murmur and brush a strand of hair out of her eyes.
A throat clears. My brothers are grinning at me. Except Desmond, who looks sour. He’s probably pissed he doesn’t get to sit on Jake and lay down the law.
Lennon dusts his hands, like he just lifted a load of wood. “Guess our services aren’t needed.”
“Is Jake okay with this?” E asks me, always the one to worry.
I nod. “Said it’ll take getting used to, but we have his blessing. His moods lately aren’t because of Jo.” I glance at the bar. Larkin is chatting with a customer, her braid gliding down her back as she laughs at something he said. “The source of his angst is right there.”
All eyes swing to Larkin.
Sensing our collective attention, Larkin’s lips pinch. “Keep your eyeballs to yourselves, Bowers. If you should be worrying about anything, it’s your eyebrows.”
E tilts his head, trying to look up and see his own face. “What’s wrong with my eyebrows?”
Jolene’s shoulders shake with amusement. “Word of advice—don’t engage Larkin unless you enjoy public humiliation. She doesn’t hold back.”
“Interesting,” Lennon murmurs. Then he focuses on Larkin. “We’re just having a riveting conversation about Jake,” he calls to her, lacking self-preservation. “You should join us.”
The only way to describe Larkin’s expression is feral. “I would, but I prefer a battle of wits. You’re clearly unarmed.”
Jolene and I laugh against each other.
Desmond’s mouth tilts into a quarter smile. “I like her.”
“Co-signed,” Lennon says.
E huddles into our group. “Jake didn’t actually hook up with her, did he?”
“Nope,” Jolene says quickly. “Larkin despises Jake, and Jake is torn up over something about her. That’s all I know. But if I knew more, I wouldn’t tell you. Mind your own beeswax.”
My brothers and I share a clipped nod. That’s it. One small head movement and we know what we need to do: go into Bower Protective Mode. We’ll do our best to suss out the issue and help Jake out,withoutme actively meddling.
“As fun as this catch-up has been,” I say, “I’d like to spend a moment with my girlfriend alone.” Tell Jo what I did. Help her plan what’s next. Kiss her so good she’ll be too breathless to get mad. “Can you spare a minute?” I ask her quietly.
“I actually wanted to talk to you, so your timing’s perfect.”
She takes my hand and leads me to her office as my brothers catcall us from behind. I lift my middle finger in reply. If we had a family crest, the middle-finger salute would be front and center.
“How are you?” Jo asks the second her door is closed. “Did your talk with Jake really go okay?”
I cup her cheeks and slant my mouth over hers, kissing her long and hard until she sags into me. “It was good.” I sit on her couch and pull her into my lap. “He’s still upset over whatever happened with Larkin, and I still feel like shit about it. But he reiterated what you said, about wanting what’s best for me. Confirmed he was happy for us.”
She places her hand over my heart. “Do you still feel guilty about it all? About our complicated history?”
I think about my angst the past couple of months, how hard I fought my attraction and feelings for Jo, along with my worry over Jake’s reaction. “A little, if I’m honest. Might take more time for that to go away completely, but no way in hell will I waste another second hiding from the truth of my feelings.” I press my hand over hers, let her eavesdrop on my heart all she wants. Hope she remembers the devotion when I say what needs saying. “What about you? Does any of this feel wrong to you now that you’ve come up for air?”
She curls in closer and shakes her head. “My relationship with Jake ended twelve years ago. I’ll always care for him, but that was a different time in my life.Iwas different back then. I obviously wouldn’t choose to date brothers, but being with you isn’t really a choice. It’s fate.”
