Page 2 of Shielded

He rolls his eyes and picks up the phone, glaring toward me with the heat of a thousand suns as he dials a number. He’s only pushed two buttons, so I assume it’s an internal call. I don’t understand why they need corded phone lines. This building is maybe two thousand square feet. I could yell into the other room from where I’m sitting.

He mumbles something into the line and hangs up, not bothering to look back toward me as he says, “I told Perry you’re here. I’ll leave it up to him what he has time for.” My brother-in-law directs his attention back to the computer screen. I kind of love annoying him. It’s my new favorite pastime. At this moment, though, I decide to give him a break, mostly because my stomach is churning, wondering what kind of dude Perry is going to be. These ex-military guys aren’t my thing. Not to broadly judge a group of people, but they all seem to have a very similar mentality. Observe, don’t listen, then boss the hell out of you. It’s not for me, though I know some girls are totally into dudes like that. My sister, for instance. She can’t get enough of Ox and his big, bossy attitude problem.

I roll my eyes thinking about it. Maybe this is why I’m going to end up single.

Probably doesn’t help that I wasn’t kidding about the ugly thing. I scan the room for pictures of the brothers together. This is a family-owned business. You’d think they’d have some pictures together somewhere. Instead, there’s an homage to the American flag and a few framed metals. I wonder who those belong to. I think they all did time in the Army.

One would assume the brothers all kind of look like Ox, but my sister and I are related and we look completely different. She’s a cute little blonde, while I got this dark red siren on my head. I used to hate it when I was a kid. Kids have a world of jokes for ginger girls. Apparently, we’re soulless freaks who shouldn’t come out with the sun or a particularly bright moon… for fear of burning to death, of course. School was hell, but the older I got, the more I learned to embrace who I am. I’m pretty sure now people call me overconfident, if there is such a thing.

“Siren?” The man’s voice is so deep that my stomach trembles a little.

I glance up, dragging in the scent of cedar as my eyes glaze past his boots, up over his jeans, and onto his hard, solid chest. His arms are crossed, and dark ink swirls up both biceps, his hands, and his neck. Add in a long salt and pepper beard, and light blue eyes that pierce straight through me, and you have… Perry.

Okay, he’s not ugly. He’s far from ugly. He’s a massive, super fucking hot, sex machine.

He fixes his gaze with mine, and my stomach turns to butterflies. “You’re Siren… because of the hair?” He reaches out his hand. “I’m Perry.”

I reach out, dragging my hand across his rough palm with a firm shake. The firm part is his idea.

“Yeah, the hair.” My tone is snarky, but I don’t mean it. This is what I sound like when I’m nervous.

“I have to tell you… this is beneath me.”

“Is that right?” I snap back. “How so?”

“This whole fake date thing. I’m not happy about it. I’m doing it because my brother needs a favor. What do you need from me?” His tone is straightforward and direct.

Already I can see we’re going to have so much fun. Being told you’re not worth someone’s time is always a blast.

I blow out a heavy breath, wondering if maybe all of this is a horrible decision. I mean, sure, I’ll give a point to a dude for being hot, but he loses countless points for being such a dick. My family will definitely pick up on something if he acts like this the whole time.

Perry goes back to crossing his arms and standing in the wide stance that makes him look like a superhero. I see now how people get by on their looks. It’s hard to disappoint someone who has perfect symmetry. “Ox said you needed to talk to me before the wedding. What do you want to say?”

Oh dear God, this is going to be a nightmare. I should bail. I really should bail.

I sigh. “I think it would be good to know each other a little.”

He scrubs his hand over his beard. “When is the wedding?”

“Saturday.”

“As in two days from now, Saturday?”

I nod. “Ox made me wait until the last minute.”

“It’s fine.” His voice is steady. “Why don’t we do dinner tonight? How about the diner?” He forces a smile, but I think we both know this is now weird and awkward as hell.

“Okay. Yeah. We should get comfortable with each other.”

His face is straight as he says, “You mean touching?”

Touching. Yeah, I mean, touching would be nice. I’d love for him to touch me everywhere, but he’d have to change his entire personality first and I’m not sure he has that in him.

I drag in a breath. “Yeah. I mean, that’s part of it. If you can’t handle it, I can—”

“I can handle it. I’ll get your number from Ox, and you can text me your address. I’ll pick you up at six. We’ll do this right.”

I narrow my brows in confusion. A second ago, he didn't want to help at all. Now he’s going out of his way to pick me up? “Okay. Sounds good. Dinner at six.” Swallowing hard, I turn away from the burning heat before me and head back out into the crisp mountain air.

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