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“And that’s not…I don’t know…odd?”
“Should it be?” She asked, shrugging. “It’s a small town. You gotta get comfortable with everybody knowing everything about everybody. I insisted, of course, on some sort of barter. The stinker picked something where his brother foots the damn bill anyways–all he’s getting is my time. Why are you asking?” Some blend of mischief and curiosity poured through her question. I shrugged.
“That’s not the version of him I met.”
“Uh oh.”
“I don’t get it. You’re so sweet. I mean, Axel and Mav are great. Rhyett’s a gold knight in shining armor. I haven’t met the others. He’s just…”
“Gorgeous?”
Obviously. That was beyond the point. “Aggravating.”
She laughed, the sound airy with what could only be described as familiar ease. “He’s…different. Always has been. But it’s Jameson you call if shit hits the fan. Rhyett is great for the legalities and fielding local gossip, the girls are like the town’s built-in cheer squad—always there to lift your spirits. Pax isn’t really ever home these days. Finn’s the quiet one. Even when he’s on the island, you hardly notice. Mav is a sweetie—sympathy crier, that one. But, it’s always Jameson to come in with his hair on fire to get shit done and set it right.” Brinleigh’s laugh shook her little baby bump. “Wait,that’swhy you’re smiling?” Her belly grazing ceased suddenly, eyes going wide. I scowled, shaking my head as I doubled down.
“Absolutely not.”
* * *
The bell clanged,and my eyes snagged on unruly blonde waves over steel-blue eyes. Axel, shortly followed by a grinning Maverick, waved exuberantly before stripping back his dripping hood. There was something in the water in this damn town, both brothers were unfairly good-looking. Maverick had that gangly, adorable, coming-of-age thing going for him, like a puppy whose paws were still disproportionately big. But Axel? He was all man, just like his brothers. My stomach tightened, that sense of being watched intensifying with only one answer available.
When I found his set, stubbled jaw and hard eyes, my belly clenched in a sensation uncomfortably close to arousal. The Rhodes gene pool was spectacular–honestly, top freaking tier–but Jameson was hands down the stunner of the brothers. As much as it pained me to admit that. Slap that man on any ad spread, and you’d be raking it in in hours. He could sell snow to an arctic penguin.
No. No, Noel. He's a creeping prick, and we’re not doing men. We’re notdatingmen.
I forced a professional little smile on my face as the Rhodes brothers made themselves at home at a corner table. Jameson didn’t bother to avert his gaze as all three of them wandered up to the counter to order.
“Afternoon gentlemen! What can I get you today?” I said in my best impression of an animated sunflower.
“Hey, Red,” Axel said affectionately, adopting Rhyett’s little nickname. “How are you, beautiful?” He said it sincerely, but so casually it was like butter spread over toast. A compliment freely given to any it applied to. It wasn’t the kind of verbal decoration bestowed by someone announcing an attraction.
“Great, thanks. You?”
“Couldn’t be better. You still got black coffee back there?”
“You bet. What size, handsome?” I shuffled over to the paper to-go cups, focusing on Axel. But if I wasn’t kidding myself, Jameson’s jaw seemed unnaturally tense.
“Biggest cup you have.”
“You got it,” I said, snagging the twenty-ounce and shifting to grab the half-full pot from its burner. Over my shoulder, I asked, “What about you, Mav?”
“Craving something sweet. You wanna surprise me?”
“Sure, cutie. Should it still taste like coffee or more akin to dessert?”
“Let’s do the second.”
“Diabetes for your ancestors—on it!”
Maverick’s laugh was endearing, but my mind was distracted by the tangible weight of Jameson’s stare. It was only as I slid both cups over the counter that I looked up to meet his glower, right as another set of guys from the docks walked in. All three men wore caps under their hoods and rain boots that came up to their knees. Walton—Wally—Lingman, Kevin Smith, and Marvin Lowe, if my brain was doing its job of remembering our regulars properly. It had only been a week, but it would be worth the effort.
“Afternoon, gentlemen, I’ll be right with you.”
“Take your time, sweetheart,” Wally said back, heaving an enormous white box up onto the counter. “The crew all thought you’d appreciate a local catch to fill your freezer.”
I blinked, surveying the sheer size of the thing as he stripped his jacket and shook it off over the rug in front of the register. “Wally, that’s way too much!”
“Nonsense. Wouldn’t be very Mistyvale of us to not give you a proper welcome.”
