Page 5 of Hot for the Jerk

“They’re not going either?”I asked.

“No, it’s just beer and wine.”She frowned and put the SUV into park.“Which is weird to me.Why wouldn’t you do all the booze?”

“Probably because there’s not enough space for all the breweries, distilleries, cideries, and wineries in Washington,” Damon said, opening up the back seat.“There are like a million, or something.”

Gabrielle rolled her eyes and turned off the ignition.“Teenagers are so hyperbolic.”

“What does hyperbolic mean?”Marco asked, climbing out after his older cousin—who he idolized.

“Exaggeration,” I said, grabbing my purse and climbing out as well.“To embellish the truth.Because there absolutely are nota millionin the state.But there are a lot.”

Marco nodded, then we all ran from the Honda CRV to the carport, the wind whipping our hair around our faces and drenching our coats.The sound of Danica, Naomi, and their kids doing the same echoing behind us.We all burst into the basement of Gabrielle’s house, ditching our jackets and boots and hanging them over the woodstove.

“All right, my little ones,” Danica said, a shiver to her voice, “bath and bed.”

“Not me though, right?”Damon asked, glancing at his mom.

Gabrielle finished draping her coat over a hook on a big wooden pole suspended high over the woodstove.“No.Though, it is late.So I’d rather you didn’t stay up too much later.”

The moody teenager nodded, then took off upstairs.Marco stared longingly after his older cousin, but it was well past my son’s bedtime, and he turned into a big ol’ bear if he didn’t get enough sleep.

I ran my hand over his head.“I’m sorry, bud, but it is time for you to shower and head to bed.”

My kiddo frowned, but he didn’t balk.He knew the drill, and I could tell by the slump of his slender shoulders and the darkening circles under his eyes that he was tired.

Danica ushered her eight-year-old daughter, Samantha, off toward the carriage house they shared over Gabrielle’s garage.Meanwhile, Naomi corralled Austin, eleven, and Honor, nine, as the three of them hustled back out the door, all clustered under a big umbrella, and ran toward their cottage a few yards to the left.

Laurel climbed the stairs after her brother, which left Gabrielle, me, and Marco.Marco and I lived in the basement suite below Gabrielle.So, fortunately, we didn’t have far to go.Just in through the door on the left to our two-bedroom oasis.

I patted Marco’s butt affectionately.“Hop into the shower, bud.Warm up.I’ll be in to tuck you into bed shortly.”

He nodded, his yellow-green eyes, the same shade as mine, droopy with fatigue.Then he was gone, leaving me with my cousin—who was more like a big sister, a mother, and my guardian angel.

“What?”I asked, standing next to the woodstove so the front of my black leggings would dry.

Gabrielle used to be a lawyer.She was incredibly smart, had a brilliant mind for business, and could see things and angles that nobody else could.She was also surprisingly empathic, despite the frosty exterior a lot of people said she possessed.“I need you to know that I had nothing to do with the duet.”

My eyes widened as her gaze softened.“I didn’t think that you did.”

“You’re a terrible liar.”

I rolled my eyes and held my hands over the woodstove, absorbing the warmth.“Okay, I thought at leastoneof you three was in on the shanghai.I suspected you the least, though.My money was on Naomi.She’s the most conniving.”

Gabrielle’s lips twitched like she was trying to smile.Her alert amber eyes remained soft, but the way she kept them focused on me had me growing increasingly squirmy.What did she see that I couldn’t?Reaching behind her, she tugged her thick, dark-brown hair out of its ponytail, sending chunky, glossy curls to rearrange themselves around her shoulders.“You are attracted to him though.”

It wasn’t a question.

“Who?”I needed to play dumb.

She gave me that mama bear look of disappointment which had me getting warmer than I wanted to be and shrinking in shame.“Jagger McEvoy.”

“I can objectively state that the man is not hideous to look at.Would he produce nice-looking, tall offspring for some unfortunate woman?Yes.Would I swipe right on him before learning his personality?Probably.Maybe.Perhaps.If he didn’t have a photo of himself with a fish or a tiger.And as long as his first picture wasn’t him flexing at the gym while taking a selfie.”

“Obviously,” Gabrielle said blandly.

“But am Iattractedto him?”Yes.Yes, I absolutely was.“No.”

“That was a lot of explaining for a simple one-word answer.”

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