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“I’ve been here two days and I already remember why I live in London.”
“Do you honestly think an ocean deters him?” Lincoln asked.
“A little. Some barrier is better than none at all.” She propped her feet on the coffee table. “What are you going to do about Pepper?”
I’d tried to shove her out of my mind, but it was hard.
“What can I do? You heard him.” There was pure hatred in my voice. I didn’t like that, didn’t want to feel that way.
“I like her.”
That made two of us. Maybe I should be grateful that my father had inserted himself before I got to know her better. It would’ve hurt worse later. What I still didn’t know was how he found out about Grey Paws, and how he knew Pepper meant something to me.
The man had an uncanny gift for sensing when I was happy and doing anything to destroy that.
“If you so much as speak her name, he’ll shut that place down.” Lincoln stared at the ceiling, his tone flat.
“I know.”
“I’m sorry.”
I jerked my gaze toward him. He wasn’t unfeeling, but it was so rare to hear those words out of his mouth.
I slumped further and mirrored his position.
“Me too.”
“So what? You just give her up?” In the complete opposite fashion of our brother, Beau’s tone was full of passion.
“I don’t know.” I focused on the glass I held. “I just met her. Why drag her into unnecessary hell?”
“You can’t let him shut them down,” Beau said resolutely.
“Of course I won’t,” I snapped. The only way I knew to do that was to stay away from her. Even that wasn’t a sure-fire method.
“Just because you can’t see her, doesn’t mean you can’t be there.” She reached for the glass.
“How?”
“Like what you did today. Sending the guys to set up the kennels.” She bumped my shoulder like she was proud of me.
“I should’ve been there.”
Fresh bitterness washed over me. I’d wanted to assemble those kennels. He’d taken that away from me.
“You can’t go near her.” Lincoln set his glass on the coffee table.
“How am I going to avoid it when I live next door?”
“What?” Beau sat up straight and twisted to face me. I nodded. “That’s perfect. You can’t help if you ‘run into her’ if she’s your neighbor.”
Her excitement was contagious . . . and dangerous. I didn’t trust myself in close proximity to Grey Paws. It was too tempting.
“Don’t do that to her.” My brother was like a cold bucket of water dumped over my head.
He was right.
“Mind if I stay here while I figure some things out?” I was a coward. Samuel Hollingsworth controlled me even when he wasn’t around.
