Page 4 of Trouble

“Indeed.” Louis stretched lazily and pushed away from the table. “But try telling him that. He nearly took my head off when I gave their kid that gun for his birthday. Get him prepped at an early age, youknow?”

“Overprotective fucker,” I agreed with a smirk. “Who wouldn’t want their toddler playing with ahandgun?”

“Yousuggested it, you prick,” Louis growled, but his eyes twinkled with amusement at the memory of our older brother’s reaction to his kid’s birthday present. “And it wasn’t like it wasloaded.”

“As a joke!” I held my hands up in mock-defense. “How was I to know you’d be stupid enough to actually followthrough?”

“I’m getting you back, you wanker. Whenever Marcus resurfaces, I’m telling him you’ve been smack-talking hisgirl.”

Some of my amusement faded. Marcus, our other brother, had high-tailed it out of the country only a couple of months ago, after attempting to take down our dad to save his fiancée. He was protective to the extreme of the girl, and also nuts as fuck—and likely wouldn’t wait to hear me out before bashing my skullin.

“That’s not even funny.” I arched an eyebrow at Louis. “He’d murder me on the spot, and then what would youdo?”

“Turn your bedroom into a cigar club and drown my sorrows in whiskey and pussy,” he said with an easysmile.

“Twat,” I shot back. I leaned back in my seat and spread my arms out in an all-encompassing gesture. “As if you’d ever pull any pussy without me. I’m the good-looking brother, after a—huh.”

“We’re identical,” my twin’s dry voice sounded, but I wasn’t paying him any attention, because my gaze had been caught by a vaguely familiar length of brown hair tied back in a tight braid. The woman it was attached to was standing at the bar to the pub with a couple of notes in her hand, dressed in a loose shirt and a fitted pencil skirt that emphasized her full ass and roundthighs.

I leaned back a bit further to catch a glimpse of her shoes and smirked in recognition. Well, what were theodds…

“Speaking of pussy, huh?” Louis said. “Who’re you eyingup?”

“Brunette chick with the arse,” I said with a happy smile, pushing my chair back so I could stand. “Saved her from a shoe-incident on my jog this morning—and a few hours later here she is, ready to fall all over my dick in gratitude. It’s gotta be Fate,right?”

“Not sure Fate’s in the business of setting up your one-night stands for you, mate.” He arched an eyebrow as he gave her a once-over. “She looks like the definition of a prude. In the mood for a challenge, I takeit?”

“Always.” I gave him a wink. “Does this mean you don’t want a go once I’ve broken herin?”

He snorted. “We’ll see if she’s worth thetrouble.”

Ha, he was so full of shit. I quirked my eyebrow at him before I shifted my focus to the brunette. At this point, doing a swap on our lady friends was practically tradition, and I was pretty damn sure it’d be a cold day in hell before he’d pass up on an arse like the one I currently had my sights seton.

It was funny, really—almost like Fate reallydidwant me to fuck this particular girl. I’d not bothered this morning, since she was obviously late for work and I had plans with Louis and Dad anyway, but running into her twice in a couple of hours? Well, I wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth. Not when I’d already pulled the knight in shining armor gig onher.

I walked up behind her, smirking at her complete obliviousness as she tapped the bar with an irritated finger, clearly annoyed with the staff not getting to heryet.

“I trust my craftsmanship is still holdingup?”

She squeaked at the sound of my voice right next to her ear and spun around, nearly knocking her head into my face as she did. I pulled back a little and gave her a smile. “Helloagain.”

“Oh, uh… hi. I didn’t know you worked in this area.” Her pretty face flushed. “I mean, of course I didn’t—we didn’t exactly exchange business cards. I mean…um…”

I took mercy on her awkward stuttering and tilted my head back in direction of my table that was half-hidden from the bar. “I’m here on lunch with my brother. And you? You work aroundhere?”

“Yeah, just up the street. I’m here on a business lunch.” She hesitated for a moment, and then indicated the bar with a nod. “Look, I’m actually glad I ran into you. You really saved my morning meeting. Can I buy you a beer or something? As a thank-you?”

“Hmm.” I pursed my lips to hide my smirk. Bird walked right into that one, bless her. “I’m just about to head back to the office, but what about tonight? Afterwork?”

“Oh.” She looked surprised. “Yeah, okay, I guess we can do that. I won’t be off until some time after five,though.”

”That’sfine.”

She dove a hand into her purse and pulled out a business card, handing it to me. “Give me a call after four, I should know when I’m offthen.”

“Will do,” I said, and then eyed the waiter who’d finally gotten around to my brunette companion. She turned her attention to him as well and paid her bill before she looked back atme.

“Sorry, I really need to get back to my client. I’ll speak with youlater.”

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