Page 72 of Since Day One

“On my dad’s side they are, but not this side of the family,” he replied, tucking his shirt into his pants before zipping them up again and refastening his belt. I watched his fingers work and couldn’t help but have a few dirty thoughts run through my mind. Unexpected and ill-timed, but I didn’t fight them either.

Gunnar raised a brow as he followed my still-staring gaze, and a mischievous grin splayed upon his lips. “Like what you see, Princess?” he drawled, walking toward me, and my cheeks heated up—along with my core.

“Yep,” I muttered, this time deciding to not sass him or deny it, and he stumbled as he bent down to pick up both of the duffels.

“What?” he gasped, staring at me in shock.

“I said yes,” I reiterated, and his mouth opened and closed before he grinned to himself.

“Naughty, naughty girl,” he flirtatiously teased, winking, as I followed him toward the door and he grabbed his hat off of the hook. We stuffed our feet into our boots and jangled down the stairs, having forgotten to remove our spurs. As we stepped onto the bottom landing, I reached forward and grabbed Gunnar’s hand.

His hazel eyes met mine, and he smiled, squeezed my fingers, and led me outside. There was a white soccer mom-looking van parked in front of the lodge. A large man with a thick, black mustache sat waiting in the driver’s seat. Katherine sat beside him, and Ruger and Jesse were leaning against the open back door, waiting.

Gunnar headed toward the trunk that was open and tossed the two duffels inside, pulling the lid down and rocking the van as he slammed it closed. We walked around to the side where even Ruger was grinning ear to ear like he knew. Jesse grimaced and mouthed “sorry,” but I shrugged, knowing that it wasn’t going to be long before he figured it out anyway. Gunnar wasn’t exactly being shy about things.

“I haven’t seen this shitbox since we were teenagers,” Gunnar bantered toward Ruger.

“And you two are last, so you get the back seats, loser.” Ruger grinned, and Gunnar rolled his eyes.

“Hurry up, we’ll be late,” Katherine called from the front seat, and Gunnar removed his hat before ducking inside. I climbed in after him, following him to the back where he sat on the right side. Plopping down on the gray cloth, I slid over to the driver’s side of the back and went to buckle myself in as Ruger and Jesse climbed into the middle row, with Ruger right in front of Gunnar.

“Why are you over there?” Gunnar asked, glaring at me.

“Because this seat is bigger, and it’s five hours,” I said, snapping the buckle in place.

“Leave her alone and buckle up,” Katherine commanded.

“Yeah, leave her alone,” Ruger said, turning around and sticking his tongue out at his brother.

“Turn your ugly face around,” Gunnar replied.

“Mom! Gunnar called me ugly!” Ruger cried from his seat.

Gunnar’s mouth fell open, and he slid forward, leaning between the two middle seats. “He started it!”

Jesse shook her head and tipped against the window while I watched the two boys argue over each other to their mom. They were speaking over each other as Katherine attempted to shush them. Their father, who was driving, seemed to not be phased by it as he put the van into gear and pulled us out of the driveway.

“I can ask her to sit in the middle if I want to!” Gunnar glared at Ruger.

“She said she wanted the wider space on the side,” he spat back, hanging around the edge of his chair.

“There’s space in the middle too.”

“Then why don’t you sit there, bonehead?”

“Because then I’ll have to see your face the entire drive!”

“Will you two stop? You’d think you guys weren’t adults,” Katherine interrupted from the front, and I nearly keeled over as uncontrollable laughter burst from me. All eyes swiveled in my direction—even Jack glanced in the rearview mirror as I wheezed harder than ever before.

“I’m sorry,” I managed to breathe out between fits of laughter. Raising a finger, I attempted to calm myself down.

“What’s so funny?” Ruger asked, looking confused between his brother and wife. Gunnar shrugged and watched me as Jesse rolled her eyes once more at the two boys but couldn’t contain her own smile.

It took me a moment to finally regain control over my breathing, but once I finally did, I spoke. “Again, I’m sorry. It’s just I don’t have siblings, so I’ve never experienced anything quite like that before.”

Everyone smiled, and Katherine chuckled. “As strange as this may sound, it was nice to hear that again. It’s been a long time since the boys have acted like that, and it took me back to when they were kids.”

Jack grunted in agreement as Ruger gave me another nod, and then he fell into soft conversation with his wife. Gunnar, however, was glaring at me, watching me from the side.

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