Page 11 of Marcus-stiltskin

Ihope to avoid Jacqueline and Lugh, at least until I can sit without wincing, but Jacqueline texts me not even an hour later asking if I want to have dinner with them. They worry enough about my nights at the Wild Hare Ranch that I decide to keep my close encounter with the asshole to myself.

Lugh isn’t my biological brother, rather our parents adopted me when he was ten, certain they couldn’t have any more kids, only to find themselves pregnant with David, our youngest brother, a few years later. Lugh was always the perfect big brother–kind, caring, protective. David, on the other hand, was a lot to deal with. Over the years, I’ve naturally found myself drawn more and more to Lugh and his growing family, while David and I don’t really have much of a relationship.

I wait until the very last minute to leave for Jacqueline and Lugh’s house and end up pulling up right at six, knowing it’s going to rankle Lugh. Right on time is late for him. Wendy, my oldest nibling, is waiting for me at the screen door, her face pressed against the mesh, when I pull up to the house.

Lugh and Jacqueline have a pretty sweet setup. They started out as neighbors. Before they passed away in a car accident, Jacqueline’s parents had a house on an apple orchard next to the Dvergar Gold Mine. Lugh bought the land on the other side of the orchard and was trying his hand at growing exotic plants when he got out of the military. When they got married, they turned her parent’s house into a restaurant, serving wine from fruits they grow on the land while living in Lugh’s tiny bachelor pad.

Lucky for them, Jacqueline is good friends with the Dvergar and they helped add on to Lugh’s original house. Lugh’s a giant, and it was tiny enough when it was just the two of them, but adding two kids plus all the kids’ things would have been overwhelming.

“Titi! Titi!” Wendy chants, holding up her arms for me to scoop her up. She’s getting way too big to lug around anymore, but I do it anyway. Jacqueline is growing kid number three as we speak, and it can’t be easy to not be the tiniest thing in the house anymore.

I lug her through the front of the house, back toward the kitchen. “We have a friend!” Wendy tells me just as I turn the corner and nearly run face first into Marcus. He puts the hands I can’t stop thinking about on my waist to steady me.

“Didn’t mean to scare you,” he says with a grin. “You’d think a giant’s house would be a little bigger.”

His smile is dazzling and I can’t help but smile back as his hands linger on my sides. “You’d think. I should have known Lugh would have you here trying to fatten you up as soon as he could.”

He chuckles. “He won’t have to work too hard. I’ve given him a good start.”

“Oh, come on, you’re not up at five to do PT every morning? This,” I put my free hand to his biceps showing through his t-shirt, “says otherwise.”

He looks down at my hand, then back at me. “I may get up a few days a week. You know, gotta keep a leg up on things.”

“Ha ha, I see what you did there, and I approve.”

“You lose a leg and you have to gain something. I gained old man humor.”

Butterflies fill my stomach as his dark eyes meet mine. He’s so close to me and Wendy. It feels so natural to be in his presence, it’s like he was gone a day and not twelve years. Wendy is the best wing woman, because she is absolutely silent. She simply lays in the crook of my neck and contently sucks her thumb.

“Maybe I should join you sometime,” I tease.

He chuckles softly, his hands tighten slightly on my hips. “For morning PT? I told you last night, you’re still too young for old age to be creeping in.”

“Marcus, you’ve been out of the Army for a while now. Civilians don’t do PT. I’m sure you and I could come up with a much better way to spend a morning than a two-mile run.”

“Really?” His voice is suddenly low and deep, his face just a little closer to mine. A thrill runs through my belly at the thought that I could have this kind of effect on him.

I smile innocently. “Yeah, Lugh’s not the only one who likes to fatten people up. The Korean Place we were at last night has this amazing breakfast.”

He turns his head away, breaking eye contact, and laughs. “We’d clog our arteries.”

I’m about to make a really stupid joke about how that’s not the only thing that would be hard when I hear Jacqueline frantically urging Lugh to put out a fire.

“Y’all okay in there?” Marcus turns and calls.

“Yeah, no biggie, just a little too much oil on the potatoes,” Lugh calls back.

I close my eyes and force myself to be good.

“I’m guessing dinner’s ready if they’re catching things on fire.” Marcus chuckles, gesturing toward the kitchen. “Ladies first.”

“I a lady,” Wendy decides to say at that moment.

“The prettiest lady,” I tell her, kissing her on the head and silently thanking whatever goddess watches over small children that allowed us that moment.

“Ah, there’s our wayward girl,” Lugh says as we file into the kitchen.

“I’m not wayward,” I say, moving to the chair he points to. “I’m free spirited.” I carefully pull Wendy up on my lap, sucking in a breath as she bounces on my legs.

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