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With a nod, I answered, “I do, actually. I informed her of our future together just last night.”
“Informedher?” JB repeated in amusement as he grabbed his chin and studied me.
I shrugged and rephrased myself. “I planted the seed, anyway.”
“Are you saying you proposedmarriageto someone? Last night?” Teagan finally demanded.
I shook my head. “Nope. Not proposed, though I might need some help from you for the actual proposal part once we get to that. I’d like it to be good.”
Teagan swiveled to gape at JB. “What is happening right now?”
“No idea,” he answered and turned to me, eyebrows lifted. “What is happening right now?”
“Pick’s worried about Chloe,” I started to explain. “She’s tired of being alone, and he thinks she might be getting too desperate. She could get herself into even worse trouble than she did this last time if she keeps lowering her standards as she has been. So he asked me to, you know, step up and do something about it.”
“Oh…for the love of God!” Teagan cried, throwing up her hands. “You’re just going to pull another Lucy, then?”
“A Lucy?” I asked, lifting my brows. “Is that what we’re calling it now?”
“Apparently,” she muttered. “Since you’ve got some kind of white knight affliction stuck up your butt. You know, you honestlydon’tneed to step in and save every female in the family that goes through even a smidgeon of hardship.”
“Hey, I didn’t step in and saveyouwhen you decided to saddle yourself with this loser.”
She sighed, not amused by the joke. “Chloe’s going to get better. She’ll get past this.”
“I know that,” I said, nodding solemnly.
“So what are you going to do then?” JB asked, continuing on with his wife’s thought process. “When she heals and is back to herself, and you’re still married to a woman you don’t love?”
“See that’s the thing,” I said, sitting forward and nudging Harper forward with me. “Pick didn’t just ask me to marry her. He asked me to fall in love with her, too.”
“He…what?” Teagan uttered, her mouth gaping in confusion.
“Yeah,” I told her, letting her know she’d heard me correctly. “So how do I fall in love with someone?” I turned toward my brother. “How did you force yourself to fall in love with T?”
“How did Iwhat?” he blustered, not understanding the question. “Ididn’tforce myself to fall in love with Teagan. It just happened.”
“Oh, come on,” I insisted, certain I knew better. “Her dad chased you up a damn tree and threatened to kick your ass after catching you exiting a tent with her, carrying her bra in your hand. And you’re telling me you two just conveniently fell in love together after that kind of metaphorical shotgun was pressed to your temple. Yeah, right.”
Teagan glanced over at her husband as if she agreed that I’d just made a damn fine point.
JB blinked at her helplessly before spinning back to me and narrowing his eyes. “I didnotforce myself to fall in love with her,” he reiterated.
“Then, how did it happen?” I demanded. “Because there sure as hell was never anything between you twobeforethat.” I shook my head, confused before my eyes widened. “Wait.Wasthere?”
“No. Jesus.” Growling out his frustration, JB lifted his hands and waved them. “Okay…” He heaved out a breath. “There was always a special…potential there,” he admitted. “But we never did anything even remotely inappropriate. She was, you know…a do-not-go zone. And I respected that until she shattered that zone by crawling on top of me naked one night.”
Leaning toward T, I leered at her and huskily murmured, “You’re welcome for that, by the way.”
“Oh, shut up,” she muttered, rolling her eyes. “You had nothing to do with it.”
“You mean, other than the fact that you thought it wasmeyou were crawling on top of naked?” I reminded her.
She ground her teeth and stared straight at JB as if seeking patience from him. Then she glanced at me haughtily. “Yes, mistakes were made that night, but it’s all been straightened out in the correct order of things now. JB and I werealwaysmeant to happen.”
“But how do youknowthat?” I demanded.
“Because I always saw him as perfect. Irritatingly perfect. He could do no wrong in my eyes. He was just…you know…exalted, like with angel light from heaven constantly shining down on him and all that bullshit. And even though I knew each and every one of his faults, he was still too-good-to-be-true kind of awesome to me.”
