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“Didn’t invite you to critique the decor.”

He opens my fridge. “Water, egg whites, jerky, and one expired mustard packet. The bachelor four-fecta.”

I scrub a hand over my face and lean against the island.

Skinner pulls out a piece of jerky, tosses it to me, and grabs one for himself. “You good?”

I nod.

He just finishes his shake and lets the silence stretch, not awkward, just familiar.

“Cool,” he eventually says, straightening. “Let’s go.”

I squint. “Where?”

He grins. “Brooks.”

I hesitate. He sees it.Fuck.

“Look,” he says, stepping closer, “you can sit in this tomb of quartz and brooding, or we can go somewhere that smells like meat, wood smoke, and beer. And maybe, if we’re lucky, Lauren Brooks will glare at you like she’s still trying to figure out whether to punch you or kiss you.”

My jaw tightens.

“Yeah, that one.” He smirks as he holds his hands up. “I know, I know, that shit’s not something to joke about, especially with you waiting on a contract. Go get changed, put on something pretty. I’ll wait right here,buddy.”

Getting ready, I let the whole weight of it being a contract year sink in. Before, it was about Deb and how much she’d soak me for. Now … it’s more.

Fuck!

Chapter6

Knights, Commandos & Family, Oh My

Lo

The place is packed. It has been since my cousins and their merry band of commandos walked in before noon.

“Wall-to-wall hot bods.” Izzy winks as she takes her tray of drinks away.

“She’s not wrong.” Mom giggles as she fills the empty fruit slice container

“Ew, Mom, no.”

“Oh please, your dad is all I’ll ever want.” She smiles big. “And more than I can handl?—”

I cut her off with a gentle hip check. “Arguably worse!”

She nods off to the distance, and I glance over to see Dad’s eyes glued to her as he talks to Uncle Lucas and Logan.

“Woman to woman, if he can’t keep his eyes off you, and you can’t keep your eyes off him, explore that.”

She smacks a kiss to my cheek super loud then walks toward Dad, swaying her hips enough that he smirks. It’s adorable, yet all I can think is,The man I chose to punch my V-card not only couldn’t get out of my place fast enough, and he hasn’t even shown up to the watch party that everyone on his team is basically required to attend.

As soon as the thought has a chance to boil inside me again, cold air blasts as some asshat hauls the door open.

It’s not him; it’s Uncle Alex and Aunt Phoebe whose smiling eyes catch mine, and then she sees something I was meaning to hide.

Dammit.