Page 4 of The Fear
Hala was dressed in a dress that girl had no business ever wearing. She definitely shouldn’t be wearing that out in public. Ever. There were far too many things on display right now. Things he hadn’t realized she evenhad.
She didn’t look like a twenty-year-old kid now, either.
Her brother came in and told her ‘Hell, no, she wasn’t going out in that or he’d ground her forever!’.
Grady liked Hudson. He’d been Gene’s friend for years, and had been Gia’s boss at the county prosecutor’s office for years. The guy seemed pretty sensible and trustworthy. Grady wouldn’t let Greer out in a dress likethat. Or Genesis. Gia, either, for that matter. Where had Hala gotten that thing? It was just designed to make a man drool. He was pretty certain he had a handkerchief with more material in it than that dress.
“It’s a perfectly respectable dress,” Gia said. “It goes almost to Hala’s knees.”
“Your dress, I take it?” Hudson asked, giving Gia a significant look that had Grady’s hackles rising a bit. Maybe he did have a problem with Hudson, after all. Guys shouldn’t look at one of Grady’s sisters like that. “It would be indecently short on you.”
Well, Gia was six or seven inches taller than Hala and curvier. Itwoulddefinitely be indecent on his sister. He was going to burn it, first chance he had. A brother had to do whata brother had to do, after all. There were real creeps out there. He’d told his sisters that before.
“I didn’t hear any complaints from the last guy I wore it for. I may even wear it when I go out with Anthony next week.”
Did anyone else hear the growl from Hudson at that? Grady sure did. What in the hell was going on around here? Gia was datingAnthony Lakenow? George’s brother-in-law was a nice guy and all, but Grady didn’t want Gia dating him or anything. Lake was coming off a bad divorce. Grady didn’t want Gia to be a rebound or anything. Gia was a bit naïve with guys—she’d spent all her time when she was younger just studying, and now working. She didn’t know how guys operated much at all. None of his sisters did. Grady wanted to keep it that way. The last thing he wanted was for his sisters to be hurt.
Gia just kept talking and glaring at Hudson. “Hala, ignore the idiots. You look gorgeous. Beautiful.”
Well, his sister wasn’twrong.Hala did look beautiful, no denying that. And that dress…it showed far too much smooth, creamy skin that looked incredibly soft to touch. And…there were freckles on her shoulders, too.
Grady’s fingers twitched for some reason.
That dress, those freckles…they would make a man want to touch them. To see…for himself…the contrast…
This place was insane lately.
“Hala’s too young to wear a dress like that.” Hell, they were all too young for dresses like that. Gia had no business even owning it. His sisters were enough to destroy a brother’s sanity, hands down. Didn’t they all know the kind of jerks that were out there, just looking for women like them?
Greer laughed at him, right in his face. She always had been a brat, but he was glad to see she wasn’t crying again—she’d been crying in the middle of the night last night. He’d heard her, and knocked on her door. He’d hugged her when she openedit, told her everything would be okay. He’d make it okay, no matter what. She’d just clung, breaking his heart, but not telling him what was wrong. Was it any wonder he was worried and not paying attention to his sisters’ friends? He'd been worrying about his sisters and trying to protect them for years. And something was definitelywrongwith Greer right now. Grady just wanted to fix it.
“Hala’s older than I am, Grady. She just doesn’t look like she is most of the time,” Greer said.
Grady just gawked. No. That didn’t make sense. He’d always thought Hala was younger. “Oh. I thought she was just like…nineteen or twenty or something?”
Greer’s little blonde friend with forearm crutches snickered audibly. She covered her mouth and giggled. She really was adorable—Gunn was just staring at her like she was the first woman he’d ever seen. But…way too young for Gunn. Way too young.
“Grady…do you know how old Greer is, sweetie?” Genesis asked him, snarky as always.
“Probably not. He is just that clueless. Too much time playing with his horsies in the barn,” Gia had to add.
“I don’t know, twenty-two or so?”
Everyone laughed at him like he was an idiot. Especiallyher.Smirking at him with those lips that were covered with red lip gloss she had no business wearing, either. Hala shouldn’t have a mouth that looked like that. She just shouldn’t.
“Grady, sweetie-pie, I’m twenty-four. I’m older than Greer—but younger than Ayla. I’ve been fully legal for a long time—and have been enjoying it. Now, if you’ll excuse me, my date for this evening is waiting. So…how do I look, everybody?” She gave a little hair flip, and almost twirled. Revealing the back of that dress—lack of a back of that dress—and creamy pale skin. And no bra. Hell.
She did not have on a bra.
She looked…hot. How was that even possible?
He wanted to follow her. See just who this date was in the first place. But the girl-pack swung into action. They blocked him from following, told him to go kiss his horses good-night or something useful. Told him he was just getting in their way.
Hala wastwenty-four? He did some math, realized…maybe he’d been a bit caught up in the ranch lately. Grady had been taking on more of the horse side of things, while Gene focused on the cattle side of the operation since his divorce. Maybe…time had gotten away from Grady along the way. He knew how old his sisters were, damn it—he just had to stop and subtract. Hell, Gia wasthirty,now. That meant Genesis was twenty-seven and Greer almost twenty-four.
“Okay, Aub and I will drop you off,” Gia said, bossy as always, handing Hala’s nephew back to Hudson. “We’re going to go hang out at her place until your date ends.”
“Text me when you are ready to leave,” Aubrey added, quietly. She did everything quietly, Grady had noticed before. She was really shy—and a bit soft-hearted. Probably why she’d become a doctor—Guthrie was just as soft-hearted. Guthrie was attracted to her, too—Grady could tell. “Or if you need us before that. We’ll be just around the corner. If you want, he can drive you there, or we’ll come and get you.”
