“Ready, Amelia? I promised to walk you to your car then help you move today,” Murphy said then tipped his hat at Felicia.
Amelia gave the woman a look, and of course she didn’t even notice Amelia. She was looking Murphy over.
“I bet you could lift some really heavy boxes with muscles like yours,” Felicia stated.
In her mind, Amelia imagined telling Felicia she had something on her lip, then she would whisper the word drool. But she wouldn’t. It wasn’t her business if the woman was making a complete ass out of herself. Plus, when Amelia looked at Murphy, he seemed to read exactly what was going on. Ricky, however, was his cool suave self. “Pleasure meeting you, Felicia.”
“Same here,” Felicia responded.
“Bye,” Amelia said and as she began walking away, she felt Murphy’s hand against her lower back, guiding her through the small crowd.
She directed Murphy toward her car. Ricky came up on her other side.
She was both annoyed and nervous. Annoyed that she felt jealous and nervous because Murphy and Ricky were flanking her on either side and were quite large.
She walked closer to her car, which just happened to be parked under the shade and in the corner of a parking lot behind a large black SUV.
She reached into her purse and pulled the keys out.
“Well thank you for walking me. Perhaps you’d like to go back and mingle a bit?” she said as she unlocked the door. Murphy pulled it open.
“I said I would help you move. Are you headed to Regan’s?” Murphy asked in such a hard tone she wondered who the hell he thought he was.
“Yes,” she replied, looking up at him.
“Good. We’ll follow you,” Murphy stated. Ricky winked at her before he reached for the door handle of the SUV parked right beside her car.
Did they park next to her on purpose?
Amelia got behind the wheel and tried starting the engine. It turned over a few times, and just as Ricky opened his door and she cursed her old hunk of junk, it started. She banged her hand on the steering wheel.
“Thank you, God! Please let this car last a few months. Once I save some money, secure this job and the apartment, then I can get something better.”
* * * *
“So what do you think?” Ricky asked Murphy as they followed Amelia’s car to the condominium complex. He felt nervous and unsure about this. By the expression on Murphy’s face, something serious went down in the park today. His brother’s hands gripped the steering wheel tight and he could practically see the white of his knuckles.
“Okay, what’s the deal? Something go down before I got there?” Ricky asked.
Murphy remained straight faced.
“We should have Brody check over her car. It sounded like the starter was going. What if she’s coming home from work late and gets caught all alone on the side of the road? Then what?”
Ricky squinted his eyes at Murphy. His brother was as tough as they came. He was the oldest, the biggest, and Ricky was certain that he never saw Murphy act like this. Whenever Murphy was around Amelia, his Mad Dog personality showed more than anything. It was like he was in military, protective mode. Ricky just wasn’t sure about his brother’s feelings. Sure, he was attracted to Amelia. Ricky saw the two of them standing close, Murphy towering over her with his fingers holding her chin. Instead of being jealous, Ricky felt aroused, excited, yet, scared.
He and his brothers kept to themselves and didn’t date. So why was he thinking about sharing Amelia with them? Why was he hoping to talk her into it? Especially since he was the one with the hang-up about his scars?
He swallowed hard.
“Did you hear me? I think Brody should check her car over for her. Call him. Tell him we’ll be there within the hour.”
Ricky pulled out his cell. “What was going on between you and Amelia when I showed up along with her friend from work?”
“Nothing. What do you mean?”
“Don’t tell me ‘nothing.’ I saw the way you were staring down at her face, watching her lips, wanting to taste her. You held her chin and she just stood there looking so innocent and beautiful.”
Murphy gave his brother a mean expression.