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Zoe gave him a thumbs-up as she walked away. “On top of it all, boss.”
“Guess we should head out.” To Han and Devin, he explained, “Date night.”
“Have fun,” Han told them.
“And thanks again for the grub,” Devin said.
Clay tipped an imaginary hat at him before turning and steering June toward the back.
Devin returned to his burger, but after a minute, it registered with him that Han’s attention was decidedly elsewhere. And that he wasn’t happy.
He followed his buddy’s scowling gaze.
And kind of immediately wished he hadn’t.
Zoe stood over by a table on the other side of the bar, her head tipped back in laughter as a group of guys gave her their orders. One of them had sidled his chair awfully close to her. Another winked.
Devin fought not to sigh.
“Don’t do it,” he warned.
Han’s voice came out gruff and pinched. “Do what?”
“Whatever it is you’re thinking about doing to those jerks.”
The guy next to Zoe leaned over as if to pick something up off the ground, only there was nothing there.
Han bristled.
Zoe neatly sidestepped the creeper, but none of the tension left Han’s frame.
“Seriously, dude.” Devin shifted his chair to block Han’s sight line. If it also meant he couldn’t see Zoe anymore, well, that was just a bonus. “She can handle herself.”
The opening night of the Junebug had proven that. Han had lost it on the guys leering at his little sister, and she’d put both them—and her brother—in their places.
“I know,” Han grumbled. “But those guys are out of line.”
He wasn’t wrong, but still. “When it comes to Zoe, you think everyone is out of line.”
“I do not.”
“You absolutely do.” Devin’s throat tightened.
Han had always been overprotective. When they were kids, it was cool. No one at Blue Cedar Falls Elementary could mess with either Zoe or their middle sister, Lian. But as the girls had gotten older—and after Han’s father died—Han’s overprotective instincts went out of control.
“I just…” Han picked at his fries before pushing them away. “I know she’s an adult, okay?”
“You sure about that?”
Han ignored him. “She’s an adult, but she doesn’t act like one. At her age, I’d taken over the restaurant. I was paying the mortgage, you know? She’s living in the basement.”
Ouch.
That wasn’t exactly fair, though. Their father had died during Han’s first term at the Culinary Institute in Raleigh. It’d been his decision to leave and help his mom out after.
It’d also been his decision to make sure Zoe and Lian wouldn’t have to make the same sorts of sacrifices.
Devin raised a brow. “You think she shouldn’t have gone to school?”
