Page 25 of Sparks Flying

She eyed me suspiciously.

Ryan and Elias are here to see you.

“Send them away. I’m not in the mood to deal with my brothers right now.”

“What do you want me to tell them?”

“Tell them I’m not here and must have left for an early lunch or something.”

“You’d really have her lie for you like that?” Elias challenged.

“I told you something was up with him,” Ryan said.

The two of them barged into my office despite my protests.

“Spill it,” Eli insisted.

“Spill what?” I said, playing dumb.

“Whatever has your panties in a wad lately.”

“It’s nothing.”

“This is not nothing. You asked Bernice to lie to us. That’s not cool Dean,” Ryan said.

“Because I don’t want to talk about this.”

“So there is something,” Elias said.

I groaned. “You two are infuriating.”

“And you’re avoiding the question. Normally, you are all smiles, the happiest man I’ve ever seen. But the last few days, you’ve been unbearable, snarling, and even growling on occasion. Yeah, we hear things.”

Rolling my eyes, I plopped down into my desk chair.

“It’s nothing.”

“It’s not nothing, Dean. We’re worried about you.”

“I’m allowed to be in a bad mood for a few days. You’ve been in one your whole life,” I pointed out to Elias.

Ryan snorted. “Pretty much. Or at least until you bonded with Kim.”

My oldest brother beamed at the mention of his mate’s name.

“Stop it, that’s creepy.”

“Elias smiling is creepy? You look like that all the time, well, until this week.”

“I don’t look like a creep when I smile.’

“Thank God for that,” Ryan said.

Elias laughed. They were bothsofunny. I rolled my eyes again at my own sarcasm.

“That smile of yours has gotten you out of just about anything life could throw your way. So what gives now?” Elias asked.

“It’s nothing. Westin Force is just in town.”

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