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My phone buzzed in my pocket, so I pulled it out and saw my sister’s name on the display. “Hey, we just walked into the house.”
She was moving soon too. She’d found a studio in Pacific Palisades, which wasn’t too far away from here. Girl was officially a Los Angeles resident. And, I guessed, our first official employee.
“Wonderful! Did y’all come up with the themes yet? Nikki and I are heading out to blow up your budget.”
I snorted softly and headed for the bedroom where Roe was taking a gander.
“We gotta settle the themes,” I reminded him. “The girls are on their way out to shop.” I addressed Haley again. “Nikki can decide when it comes to the main bedroom. She knows what Colin likes—but…a little bit of neutral won’t hurt. He doesn’t need cartoon wallpaper.”
“We actually have an idea for that,” Haley replied. “We’ll make it work for both of you, I promise. But I need the colors and somethin’ to go on.”
Right. It was the one task they’d given us.
Roe shrugged. “I honestly don’t care. Blue? Green? Gray?”
“He’s helpful,” Haley deadpanned.
I chuckled, a little frustrated, and removed my ball cap. “Okay, uh…you remember Grandma’s sun-room? I wouldn’t mind something like that for the living room.” Basically, a lot of white with darker accents. Grandma liked rugs and pottery, mixing darker shades of red, blue, yellow, and green.
“That’s great—lots of plants too, yeah? I know you, big brother.”
I smiled. “Right. Go with natural colors for the room I’ll be sharin’ with Colin, then. And…” I looked to Roe again, and he had nothing. Fine. I could be creative. “Bring a bit of New York to Roe’s bedroom.”
“Say no more! That’s perfect. Talk soon.” She ended the call.
Roe smiled at me, and it was a different smile. A little softer. “Bring New York—I like that.”
Oh, good.
*
If Grandma had visited that weekend, Roe and I would’ve had the best of both worlds in LA. Haley and Grandma from my side, and Roe’s brothers on his. I might as well call them brothers rather than cousins, ’cause that was what they were. Not to mention behemoths of men—and at six foot three, I rarely felt short. But every Finlay except Roe had a couple inches on me, and their backgrounds as Marines were a shock to no one either. Kyle was still active, if I got it right, as a helicopter pilot. Greer had been infantry much like me, though as a rifleman instead of assault, and he had a foot out the door of the service. Same went for Francis, Roe’s actual brother, who’d recently traded his combat gear for an NYPD uniform.
On the other hand, maybe it was best Grandma wasn’t here, because when the going got hot and sweaty, shirts came off, and my grandmother had no filter.
With Def Leppard pouring out of the house, Greer, Kyle, Francis, and I hauled furniture and moving boxes out of the truck. The birthday boy was assembling furniture, and Haley and Nikki…well, they gawked, bossed us around, and took care of Colin.
I glanced behind me as I walked backward into the house. This monster of a desk was going into our studio farthest down the hall. Greer held the other end, and I made sure we didn’t walk into anything on the way.
“Dada, go!” Colin hollered. “Hi, Dada!”
I chuckled, out of breath. “Yeah, Daddy’s goin’.”
Nikki picked the boy up and wasn’t subtle in how she eyed Greer up and down. “Let me get you something to drink, Greer.”
The fuck was I? Chopped liver?
The man had charm for days and took Nikki’s flirting in stride.
Once we’d left the desk in the studio, Greer went back outside, and I intercepted Nikki in the kitchen. Colin was playing with some toys on the floor.
Thankfully, we’d filled the fridge and freezer the other day. I grabbed a bottle of water and decided to catch my breath for a second. And let Nikki in on a secret that wasn’t a secret at all. Looks might be deceiving, but…
“You know Greer’s gay, right?” I kept my voice down.
“No!” she gasped. “Oh shit. I hope I didn’t make him uncomfortable.” She pouted for a quick beat. “Why him? He’s so hot.”
Yeah, all right. If you were into ridiculously tall men with well-defined muscles…
Fuck that, I had well-defined muscles too, and I was the tallest man around when the Finlays weren’t invading LA.
I frowned to myself, wondering why the fuck I cared.
Nikki cocked a brow at me and smirked knowingly. “Do you need an ego boost?”
“Yeah, maybe a little.” I had to be honest.
She laughed softly and came over to me, and she snuck her arms around my middle.
This was nice. A new development between us.
She smiled up at me. “You’re the hottest of them all.”
Keep going.
My mouth twitched. “Don’t lie.”
