Page 14 of Hurry Up And Wait

“Only for slaughtering them,” he cocked a grin at me.

I nodded, knowing he would say something silly like that. “So, what’s with…” I waved my hand up and down his body, gesturing to his massive amount of muscle.

“Uh…” He chuckled, running his hand over the back of his neck. “I went into the military.”

My eyes bugged out and it took Riley smacking me in the chest for me to realize I was staring at him incredulously. “Um…I mean, no way!”

“What she means is, that’s really…”

Yeah, Riley couldn’t finish the thought either.

“It’s just…you were always so…”

“Like a politician’s son?” he asked.

“I was going to say scrawny, but we’ll go with your answer,” I laughed.

“I wasn’t scrawny,” he countered, looking offended.

“Well, you look good now.”

“Very good,” Riley agreed. I noticed her eyes running over his body as well, but tried to hide the fury rising in my chest. I never got mad at my sister, especially not because of a boy.Man. He was a man. But Kavanaugh was different. He had always been mine, and she knew it. And now she was flirting with him.

Well…okay, maybe she wasn’t flirting, but the jealousy was still there.

He blushed, chuckling under his breath. “You both look amazing.”

“Hey!” a man called out toward us. “I’ve got the umbrellas, butthat asshat manager said he only buys the cheap ones! I think we need to go to an actual umbrella store!”

I pointed at myself, sure he was talking to me. “I don’t need an umbrella.”

The man strode toward us, holding out the black thing. “This is a piece of crap. It’ll never hold the knives I need.”

“Who gives a shit?” Kavanaugh snapped, shaking his head at the man.

“Oh, he’s talking to you,” I said to no one in particular. “Thank God because I really thought he was discussing umbrellas with me.”

“Why would he talk to a stranger about umbrellas?” Riley asked.

“You’d be surprised,” Kavanaugh grunted. He snatched the umbrella out of the man’s hand. “FNG, this is Isla and Riley.”

I nodded with a small wave, but Riley was practically drooling over the man.

“Seriously? Two of them? What do you need two women for? And why is it that all of you meet women in grocery stores? Is that a thing that I missed in the year I was gone?”

I cocked an eyebrow at Kavanaugh. “You pick up women in grocery stores?”

“Not intentionally,” he muttered. “Or at all. I mean, others have, but not me.”

“Others?” Riley asked, her eyes brightening at the suggestion that there were other men equally as hot who wandered around grocery stores looking for women to date. “Do I just pick a spot and hold out a thumb and stick out my leg, or is there some system I need to know about?”

“I doubt it’s a service,” I told her.

“You never know. Hot men of Kansas coming to the rescue.”

“Rescue you from what exactly?”

“Boredom. Grain. Cowboy boots. Take your pick.”

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