Page 22 of Inviting Trouble
“What’s the big secret?” she demanded.
“Drop it,” he said.
She did, chomping on a yellow pepper slice. She knew he wouldn’t give up any further information. Despite his laid-back persona, he had the heart and mind of a fierce warrior. There was no other word for it. He’d been a paratrooper in the Army, jumping out of planes and engaging the enemy in hand-to-hand combat. He’d been chosen for that unit based on his temperament and physicality, cool and calculating, reserved and strong. He was easygoing, yes, all charming smiles and gentlemanly manners, but he couldnotbe pushed.
They ate for a few moments in silence, the noise of their brothers laughing and talking surrounding them. Alex held his daughter, Viv, who wiggled like crazy to get down. He set her down and she raced to the kitchen. Alex took off after her.
“You ever think about getting married?” Mad asked Josh. She knew he and Jake had a tight twin bond, being identical. She had to wonder if now that Jake was getting married, Josh would want to settle down too.
“Nope,” he said.
“Why not?”
“I guess I just like living alone, answering to no one.”
“Yeah, I get that,” she said. Her gaze drifted to Park, lingering on his square clean-shaven jaw. Here she was living with Park and it was irritating to the extreme. “I could see how that would get oldrealfast.”
Hailey appeared at Mad’s side. “Hello!” she said brightly and then whispered in Mad’s ear, “Where’s Park?”
“With Ty,” she said as quietly as possible, not wanting Josh to pick up on it. But she didn’t have to worry. Josh’s eyes were locked on Hailey and his smile was slow and devious.
“Where’s myhello?” Josh asked, imitating Hailey’s perky tone.
“It seems to have disappeared,” Hailey said dryly, “just like my cash.”
Mad bit back a grin. Hailey and Josh used to have a strange arrangement where he accompanied her to weddings as her date in exchange for cash. After Hailey had called the whole thing off, she’d demanded he return her money. Josh had it stashed in a shoebox in his closet, but was holding out, to Hailey’s outrage, until she went to his place and got it herself.
“I told you where it is, princess,” Josh drawled. “All you have to do is come and get it.” That last part sounded like an invitation to seduction even Mad couldn’t miss.
Hailey flushed bright pink and jabbed a finger in Josh’s direction. “Hell will freeze over before I step into that den of sin!”
Josh threw back his head and laughed.
Her brothers looked over, curious.
“Come over here, honey,” Ty called to Hailey. “I’ll treat you better than that scoundrel.”
Her brothers laughed.
Mad snorted. That was one of the many old-fashioned names Hailey called Josh. Scoundrel, cad, and beast being her top three. He called her princess. Always. Probably because she was so graceful and smooth from her beauty pageant training.
Hailey grabbed Mad by the elbow and dragged her over to Ty and Park. “Hi, I’m Hailey,” she said to Park.
Park gazed at Hailey for a long moment while Mad shrank into the wallpaper. Hailey’s beauty had that effect on men. “Parker Shaw, nice to meet you.”
Hailey threw an arm over Mad’s shoulders. “I helped Mad get your homecoming party ready. Did you even recognize her when you got home? People change a lot over the years.”
Mad felt her cheeks flush. Could Hailey be any more obvious?
Park’s gaze landed on her. “Mad hasn’t changed one bit.”
Her heart cracked into brittle shards as the last little bit of hope inside her died. She was so devastated she couldn’t even speak, couldn’t move, could only stand there like an idiot.
“Of course she’s changed,” Hailey said, immediately defending her honor. “You can’t tell me she looks like a fifteen-year-old.”
Mad shrugged Hailey’s arm off her. Next thing you knew, Hailey would be pointing out Mad’s boobs.
“Same old mouthy twerp,” Ty said around his beer bottle.
