Proving Paul's Promise (The Reed Brothers 5)

Pete makes a move like he’s grabbing and squeezing. “Sam likes a girl he can hold on to.”

Sam’s face goes pink as he shrugs. “I like curves,” he says. “I can’t help it.”

Pete shoves him again. “He wants tits and ass,” he says, making that squeezing motion again.

“And a brain,” Sam says, holding up his finger.

“And an appetite,” I add.

Sam raises his brow. “I like to cook. So I like a girl who likes to eat. Go figure.”

Emily laughs.

Sam must feel the need to explain himself because he goes on. “I hate taking a girl to dinner and having her order a salad. Or having her tell me she can’t eat one of my famous cupcakes because she’s on a diet.” He shivers like he’s repulsed by the very idea of it. He draws an hourglass figure in the air with his hands. “I’ll take tits, ass, and thighs, please,” he says, as though he’s ordering dinner. “And, dammit, if there’s icing that can be licked off places, I want her to be able to partake without thinking about calories.”

“TMI, Sam!” Emily cries, covering her ears.

Sam laughs, so I throw a remote at his head. “Act like a gentleman,” I warn, because I feel like I should. But that shit’s funny as hell.

“I could introduce you to that drummer,” Emily suggests.

He pulls his lip piercing into his mouth and toys with it. “Let me think about it.”

The door opens again, and Matt and Skylar walk in, along with Logan. Matt is the next oldest brother, after me, and Skylar is his wife. She’s pregnant and almost as big as Emily since she’s carrying twins, even though she’s only seven months along. Their three kids walk in behind them. The little girls run to Hayley’s room to play, and Seth, their sixteen-year-old, pulls a chair from the table and turns it around backward, straddles it, and folds his arms over the back so he’s facing us.

I glance down at my watch. Hayley has been with her mom this week, but Kelly should be dropping her off soon.

I get up, and Sky sits down in my chair. Matt sits at her feet and takes the beer that Garrett passes to him. I sit down at the end of the couch by Friday and press my shoulder against her leg. I look up at her, and she looks down, appearing somewhat startled.

“You okay?” I ask quietly.

She nods. As long as she’s all right, I’m all right.

She’s kicked off those four-inch heels she wears, but she’s still wearing the fishnet stockings. I slide my hand around the back of her ankle and tickle the inside of it with the tips of my fingers. Her toes jerk, but she doesn’t move her foot away. She spreads her thighs about an inch and presses more tightly against my shoulder, and I can feel the air around her move as she takes in a deep breath.

So that’s what it’s like… Now I get how Logan, Pete, and Matt felt when they met the women they’d spend the rest of their lives with. Because I’d rather sit here and touch her ankle than I would f**k any other woman in the world.

We listen to Pete tell a story about a boy he met at work and how he’s helping him through the system. Pete started a local buddy program, hooking ex-cons up with juvenile offenders. It gives the ex-con something to look forward to and someone to be better for. Many of them never had families, or they lost what family they had, so it builds a support network. Plus, it helps the kids hopefully stay out of future trouble. I am so proud of Pete that I could bust sometimes. But I know I can’t take any credit for him being the awesome man he’s become.

Suddenly, Emily shoves Sam’s shoulder. “Seriously?” she squeals. “Did you seriously just do that?” She covers her nose and holds her breath. “That is just foul.”

Sam grins. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Sam,” I warn, trying to keep my voice firm. But it’s hard. “There are women here.”

He looks around like he’s looking for them. “Where? All I see are Emily, Friday, and Sky, and they don’t count as girls.” Sam gets up and goes to put his hands on Sky’s belly. She smiles and lets him. He glances up. “Did you feel that?” he asks, and he grins.

“Oh, I feel all of them,” Sky says with a sigh. “Four feet and four hands. And two rear ends sitting on my bladder.” She motions to Sam so he’ll move back, and she holds out her hand. “Pull me up so I can go pee.”

He laughs and helps her lumber to her feet, her belly coming up out of the chair before the rest of her.

Matt gets up and takes Sam’s seat on the couch, and Emily leans into him. “You doing okay?” I hear him ask her. He brushes her hair back behind her ear. Matt and Emily bonded when they first met, and he cares so much about her. And she feels the same way about him. I’m just glad Sky’s not jealous of the amount of care he takes with Emily.

“I’ll be better once she gets here,” Emily says. She lifts her feet onto the coffee table. “Look at the size of my ankles,” Matt turns her so that her feet are in his lap and starts to rub her instep. She smiles and closes her eyes. “I’ll give you ten minutes to stop that,” she warns playfully. Matt laughs.

Friday wiggles her toes, and I realize I’ve been sitting here rubbing the inside of her ankle for about ten minutes. I pull my hand back, kind of chagrined that I let it go on that long. Matt raises his brow when I catch his eye, and he grins at me. I flip him the bird.