Page 71 of Burning Love
“Talia, don’t stand out here prepping Jace.”
He turned to see Aileen behind Talia in the hallway of the home, her arms crossed, her foot tapping.
“You got called out,” he said.
She rolled her eyes. “It’s not the first time. Give me a kiss before we go back there. You might be too annoyed to give me one later.”
“I doubt that.”
He followed her into the house and toward the back where the kitchen was.
“It smells better in here than it did the first time you came,” Aileen said. “No smoke.”
“That’s good to know.”
“We are having chicken though,” Talia said. “My mother thought that would be ironic, but she’s grilling it. Jace Rigby, this is my brother, Elias, and his girlfriend, Phoebe Kelly. You’ve met my mother already.”
“Nice to see you again,” he said to Aileen, then walked over and shook Elias’s and Phoebe’s hands.
Her brother was a big dude, about his height at a few inches over six foot. There was more muscle on Elias than Jace had, and since he’d seen pictures online of the entire family, it seemed all the brothers were around the same height. Some built more than others though.
Talia and her sister got their size from their mother.
“Talia hasn’t said a lot about you,” Elias said. “Other than you like my beer.”
“I love it,” he said. “Not that I drink it a lot. I can’t with my job and work schedule.”
“Elias brought you more,” Aileen said. “If you pass muster today.”
“Mom!” Talia said. “You told me you weren’t going to do that.”
“It’s fine. I can handle it.”
At least he thought he could.
“I’ve been the one to knock heads together with the boys that Talia has brought home for years,” Elias said.
“I’m not a boy,” he said.
“So I see,” Elias said, eying him.
This could be blamed on Talia for not mentioning he was older than her. Though he knew Aileen was aware.
“Is there a problem with me not being twenty-four?” he asked.
“No,” Phoebe said. “Right, Elias? We talked about this.”
So he did know. “What did you talk about?” Talia asked. “There is no reason to keep things from me. I thought I’ve proven that I’m not a baby or a child anymore.”
“You’re not,” Phoebe said. “Elias, are you going to answer your sister?”
Jace found it funny that Phoebe had to keep prompting Talia’s older brother.
“I can’t say that it thrills me that you’re thirteen years older than Talia, but maybe she needs that. I don’t know. It’s not for me to say.”
“That’s right,” Talia argued. “It’s for no one to say. And it’s rude to talk about it.”
Jace lifted an eyebrow. He expected them to give him a hard time about fitting into their social dynamic.
