Page 32 of Securing the Odds

“You’re a sight for sore eyes.” Nate pulled Tammy into a bear hug. “You okay?”

“I’m fine. Not hurt. Just pissed that Kevin is still messing with my life after all this time.”

“Well, that will stop now.” Jake wrapped an arm around Tammy’s waist and pulled her close. “With a kidnapping charge, he’ll be in prison a long time.”

Nate eyed Jake’s hold on his sister. “You and me need to talk.”

Tammy released a sigh before her hand hit Jake’s chest, and she tipped her head back to look at him. “I’m going to take a shower. Try to be patient with Nate, he means well.” Standing on her tiptoes, she brushed a light kiss on his lips before turning to her brother, poking him in the chest with her index finger. “And you, be nice.”

After Tammy disappeared up the stairs, Jake turned his attention back to Nate. “How’s Victoria?”

Jake saw some of the anger leave Nate’s expression as a soft smile curved his lips. “She’s good. Getting as big as a house, but if you tell her I said that, I’ll deny it ‘til my last breath.”

Jake chuckled. “My lips are sealed.”

The scowl suddenly returned to Nate’s face as if he just remembered he was supposed to be mad.

He opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, Jake held up a hand, staving him off. “If it helps to know, I’m in love with her.”

Nate snapped his jaw shut.

“I haven’t told her yet, but I think she’s starting to figure it out.”

“How… When… My sister?”

Jake was impressed. He’d flustered the suave Nathan Reed.

“The how should be obvious. She’s brave, smart, funny, and so damn beautiful, when she’s near, she’s all I fucking see.” Nate opened his mouth, but Jake didn’t let him speak. “And as to when, I think from the first moment I saw her.”

Nate shook his head. “You know, I’d say that’s impossible if the same damn thing hadn’t happened to me with Victoria.” Nate stepped forward and held out his hand, and when Jake took it, he squeezed. “You hurt her—”

“I know,” Jake interrupted. “You’ll hire a team of lawyers to kick my ass.”

“Where’s Nate?You didn’t bury his body out back somewhere, did you?”

Jake turned from the stove where he was stirring noodles in a pot of boiling water to see Tammy, hair slicked back, fresh from the shower, walk into the kitchen. He reached behind him, turning off the burner. “He left.”

Her lips dipped into a cute pout. “He didn’t say goodbye.”

“Said he wanted to get home to Victoria.”

She nodded. “I think it makes him nervous being away from her so close to her due date.”

Jake didn’t want to talk about Nate or Victoria. He eyed her pajamas, a boxy two-piece deal with a long sleeve button-up top and pants so long they dragged on the floor. “How is it possible you make baggy flannel look sexy?”

She glanced down at her pink-tipped toes peeking out from the hem of the pants and pinched the material at her thighs, tenting it out from her legs. “It’s not me. I think it’s the dalmatians.”

He slowly shook his head, taking a step in her direction. “I think it’s the fact I know you’re not wearing a bra.”

She smiled mischievously. “I wonder what it would do to you to know I’m not wearing panties, either?”

With a growl, he lunged, nabbing her around the waist and pulling her close. She smelled good—like flowers and sunshine. He stuck his hands under the elastic waistband of her pants and grabbed her bare ass. “You’re killing me.”

She tilted her head to the side, eyeing the stove, and unfortunately changing the subject. “Are you making me macaroni and cheese?”

“Yeah. And you came just in time. I was getting to the complicated part.”

She shook her head, smiling. “It’s Blue Box. There are no complicated parts.”

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