Page 15 of Taken By Storm

“Are you fucking this guy or something? Isn’t he too old for you?” Keith spat at her.

Levi reached out and shoved her brother against the wall roughly. “Apologize to your sister,” he demanded through gritted teeth.

Keith narrowed his eyes, glaring at Levi. “Sorry,” he said, in the least-apologetic voice Kasi had ever heard.

Levi slammed Keith against the wall again, applying more pressure. “Apologize. To. Her.”

Whatever belligerence Keith had been holding on to slipped away, and for the first time, he appeared to realize he had no hope of winning this fight. His eyes drifted over to her. “Sorry, Kasi,” he said quietly.

Levi released him. “Now go get dressed and take care of the animals. Once that’s done, find me, and I’ll let you know what other chores you’re taking on.”

Keith scowled as he left the kitchen without speaking another word, but the way he stomped up the stairs told Kasi this was far from over. Her brother was smart enough to hold histongue until Levi was gone, which meant she had an upcoming confrontation to look forward to.

The idea of having to deal with a pissed-off Keith sparked her own temper. Because, dammit, she didn’t have time for this shit.

“What the hell was that?” she asked Levi, her fists planted on her hips.

“You can’t run this farm, Kasi.”

Those words stung. Because shehadbeen running this farm.

And because she knew he was right.

Too much stuff was getting left undone. She’d had to let two of their hands go since she couldn’t afford to pay them, which meant nearly two-thirds of their farmland was sitting unplanted because there was no one to work it.

It was a vicious circle. No one to plant meant no crops, which meant no money. Short of doing exactly what Levi jokingly accused her of last night, and plowing the back forty on her own, she had no hope that they could dig themselves out of this. She was fucking kidding herself if she thought she could save them with just the money from the stand and the weekly produce and egg deliveries to local businesses.

Of course, she had too much pride to let Levi know how much his words hurt, so she swallowed it down. “Another compliment, Levi?”

He raked his fingers through his hair. “What I mean is, you can’t run it alone,” he said in a gentler voice, something that looked like regret in his expression. Like he knew he’d hurt her feelings.

But how? Before yesterday, she and Levi had been little more than acquaintances. She was Remi’s friend, and he was her crush. Two roles that meant they’d hardly exchanged more than a hundred words in the past decade.

“I’m doing the best I can.” She hated that her voice wavered.

Levi stepped in front of her, cupping her cheeks in his large, calloused palms. “I know that. But it’s too much to do on your own. Until your father gets back on his feet, your brother needs to do his part.”

Kasi’s temper had been banked, but barely. Levi’s obvious observation tweaked it again.

She threw her arms out. “No shit, Levi. You think I don’t know that? But as I’ve been told too many fucking times in the past eight months, I’m not his mother, and I can’t tell him what to do. He’s eighteen and grieving. He won’t listen to me.”

“Then he’ll have to listen tome,” Levi said, as if that was the simplest solution in the world.

“And what makes you think he’ll do that?”

“Because I’m the man of the house.”

Kasi laughed.

He didn’t.

She sobered up quickly. “Um…no, you’re not?”

Levi stepped closer, and Kasi hated herself for stepping away until her back was pressed against the counter. He caged her there, his hands resting on the counter on either side of her.

“Your father can’t do it, and your brotherwon’tdo it, so it falls to me.”

Despite his attempts at intimidating her with his size, Kasi laughed, more than prepared to call him on his misogynistic bullshit because what the hell kind of game was he playing? “Actually, it’s fallen to me, Levi. Which means I’m the woman of the house. And I?—”

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