Page 8 of The Fear (The Hillers of Barratt County #7)

Maybe this was one man she would never be able to figure out.

“I’m not a child.” Why did he insist on treating her as if she was?

Communication was such a big deal to her, was it any wonder that she just let the questions out?

"You have to stop acting like I need my big brother to take care of me forever. I’m not a kid any longer, Grady.

And I haven’t been in a long time. What is it any business of yours what I choose to do with Luis Sandoval or anyone else? "

He just stared at her out of those hazel eyes that every one of the Hiller siblings had inherited from their mother.

He shrugged. "I don't know. Guess I just feel protective.

Like I do with Greer. And I don't want some asshole to hurt you the way… I just don't want you to end up the way Greer has. Hurt like this. I should've been keeping a better eye on her, I guess. If we’d kept a better eye on her, this wouldn’t have happened.”

Oh. He was hurting because his sister was. That was what it was. Her heart twinged. Just a little. He was worried about his baby sister. Just like Hudson would have been about her in the same situation. Hala sighed internally. Of course.

Grady could be a bit of a softy under that old cranky exterior of his.

"You can't be serious. Greer is twenty-three years old, almost twenty-four.

She's been involved with men before." Of course, this was the first man Greer had ever slept with, but Hala wasn't about to tell Grady that.

There were some things the man just didn't need to know about his sister.

“What happened was just bad luck, and a broken condom. Greer will be okay. She’ll be an excellent mother; she already loves the baby so much.

Besides, it's not like she doesn't have the entire Hiller clan to help her.

And me, Ayla, Aubrey, and Chantal. She doesn't have to do this alone. She’s not. Everyone can see that."

"I wish I could kick his ass." Grady said, temper flaring in those eyes. It had Hala stepping back immediately. A big man, angry over anything, would always be one of the ghosts that haunted her. She understood that. And she knew Grady would never hurt her. It just…bad memories.

But she was safe with him. Forever.

She had no doubt about that.

She had known him since she was all of four or five years old, after all. She did the math quickly. There were nine years between them. He would've been around fourteen. The twins had been so tall and skinny back then. Hillers had been a part of her life for as long as she could remember.

After she lost her parents, Greer's parents had been there to help her and Hudson through the funerals.

Even though Hudson and Grady hadn't gotten along all that well.

Hudson had been four years older than the twins; he'd been in the same year as Gene.

But the Hillers had always been there in her life, as long as she could remember.

She adored them. She couldn’t say the same for their fourth son though. He…irritated her. No denying that.

He was just so clueless where his sisters were concerned sometimes.

She didn't think he was that obtuse because he didn't care, really.

From what she had observed, Grady adored his younger sisters.

He just seemed to be caught up in his own head, and a little unaware, whenever they were around.

He always seemed…busy and distracted. She understood, though—running a ranch this size took time and attention.

His sisters had been busy building their own lives, too.

He wasn’t a bad guy, or anything. Just…a little clueless, honestly. In an almost adorable kind of way.

Not like her own brother, who knew practically every move she made, and had since the day they had buried their parents.

Well, Hudson had just gotten worse when she had been twenty and her boyfriend had tried to assault her.

Hudson had taken overprotective to the extreme after that.

Not that she minded. Hudson, Ryan, and their cousin Micah who now lived in St. Louis, and worked for the FBI, were all the family she had.

"What are you sighing for?" he asked. "Did I say something stupid again?"

She looked into his eyes. There was a clear challenge there when he looked back. He wanted her to snip and snarl at him for some reason, she realized. Well, Hala wasn’t going to play games with Grady Hiller. She was far too exhausted for that.

"I was just thinking. Of how lucky Greer is, all of you really, to have each other.

Hudson, Ryan, and Micah are really all the family I have.

I have my friends, Greer and Gia and Ayla top that list. But family?

Shared history, traditions, knowing where you come from?

I just hope you know how lucky you are."

"Hey, you know my parents consider you to be almost one of the family."

"Almost. I know. And I adore your parents. Nothing will ever change that."

"I didn't mean it like that. They consider you family."

"And that's why you think your mother was trying to arrange things so that you thought I would?—"

“It was just something she said, just got me to thinking.

I know now that I was probably being stupid.

It's just…I thought you were too young for me.

But I didn't want you getting your hopes up. Genny had a friend in high school that did that. With Gunn. All she ever did was moon over him and it was embarrassing for him, and for her when she outgrew it.”

"I vaguely remember that." Hala leveled a look at him. The man…why was he so hard to figure out now? "But that's not me. And I'm not too young. Not for a man your age, not now."

“No. Guess you’re not.” His eyes darkened. With a look…

She hadn't meant to say that . Hala held up a hand. "Not that I'm saying anything. I don't want you to get any ideas, or think I want more from you than you are ever going to be capable of giving. I'm just saying, Luis is your age, isn't he?"

Grady's expression darkened. He just stood there, scowling at her, in worn flannel and grumpiness. "Luis Sandoval is six months or so older than me and Gunn. He's too old for you. He’ll keep his damned hands off you if he knows what’s good for him.”

What was Grady going to do, go pound on poor Luis?

"That's for me to decide. Not you. No matter what I do in my love life, Grady Hiller, it will never be any of your business. You’d probably better remember that.”

“Maybe I plan to change that?” Hot hands went around her waist in an instant. Then he scooped her right up against him. Hala just gawked up at him. Eight inches off the floor and everything.

Greer’s brother had gone completely insane here.

Had he totally lost it? Hala squirmed against him. Grady’s hands tightened. His eyes darkened when he looked at her.

“You’d probably better put me down now. Greer…will be downstairs at any minute.”

Please let Greer get there quick. This…this man didn’t feel like one of Greer’s brothers now. He just didn’t. Her breath caught, and he pulled her closer somehow. He was scorching her. Everywhere she was pressed against him.

This was insane.

“What’s so wrong with me? You said before, you would date Gunn. We’re identical. So why wouldn’t you date me ? Is it because he’s also a preacher? Is he that much better than me, you think?”

Oh, his hands tightened on her. In a good way. A very good way.

“Huh?” He felt so…hard against her. Her fingers tightened on his shoulders, and she arched back a little.

But that just put her lower half far too close to his lower half for her own sanity.

She felt him pressed against her, all big and strong and hot and—yikes, here.

“Grady…What…what exactly are you doing?”

“I don’t really know, actually. I should probably put you down.” But his hands tightened on her. Heat like she’d never felt before rushed through her entire body when she felt him against her like that. Hala shivered. “I’m not sure I want to. Why? You afraid of me now?”

She definitely wasn’t afraid of him. At least…not physically. She seriously doubted a Hiller would ever hurt a woman physically. It was the other stuff that scared her—the way this didn’t feel like it had always felt between them before.

Totally out of her element here. She did not know how to deal with a man like him right now.

“Of course I am not. You aren’t exactly scary or anything like that. Putting me down would probably be a really, really good idea. You are just trying to mess with me, anyway. I’m not stupid. And I won’t be just another woman on Grady Hiller’s list of conquests.”

“What list? I don’t have a list, ” the grumpy ass…grumbled.

But he definitely did not put her down. Hala thought about kicking him, but wouldn’t that be too predictable? Better to just see what the man was thinking. Or…just what was going on here at all. And…she was not going to press closer. Hala just wasn’t.

“Luie probably is the guy with a list. You’re really small, aren’t you? Weird, considering your brother is such a damned giant.”

“Hudson got all the height, I think. It’s not exactly fair.” She gave an experimental wiggle. The man actually groaned. Hala froze. “What did I do?”

Well, she could kind of figure that out, now that she thought about it. Greer’s big brother or not, this was a man holding her. A young, very fit, very healthy man .

Her fingers spread over his shoulders. Wow. He had some serious muscles there. Cowboy Rancher Grady was…definitely hot.

Hot, hot, hot.

This was beyond crazy. And she might just be in serious trouble here, now that she thought about it.

“What the hell do you think you did? I’m a man, honey. Not a eunuch. You’re pure trouble now, aren’t you?”

Well, not really. But she wasn’t about to tell him that. “Grady Hiller, just what exactly are you doing here? Please explain.”

Hala wiggled again.

Deliberately.

He groaned.

Well, why not? He was the one who’d lifted her. Shouldn’t she just see how this played out or something? This was Grady.

No matter what happened between them right now, he would stop and take his hands off her in an instant if she told him to. Then he’d probably apologize for it. She knew him well enough to know that. But…maybe she didn’t want him to put her down right now?