Claiming the Enemy: Dustin (Porter Brothers Trilogy 3)

Dustin was proud of his son. He was empathic to others’ feelings and sought to ease their fears.

“But we’re almost there … Please?” The disappointment on his face had Jessie taking the few necessary steps forward to see what Logan was pointing at.

Stunned, Jessie looked at Logan, then him. “Is that what I think it is?”

Logan clapped his hands, laughing gleefully. “Dad made a mud hole!”

“You really made a mud hole?” Jessie shook her head in dismay. “What are you going to do with a mud patch in your backyard?”

“Dad said we could slide in it! I’ve got my old clothes and boots on.” Logan began stomping in the mud, making big splats that had both him and Jessie taking a few steps back.

Jessie put her hand up, covering her mouth to mumble under her breath, “That’s totally disgusting.”

“That’s hilarious coming from you. You forget the time our pas went on that fishing trip before they started getting jealous about who sold the most weed, and you talked me into wetting down the driveway so we could slide down it on trash can lids? I nearly broke my neck while you stayed at the top of the driveway, laughing your fool head off. It took two weeks for the ground to dry out enough for Pa to get his truck up the driveway.”

“I might have forgotten about that one,” she admitted, looking at the mud hole warily.

“Come on, Miss Jessie!”

“I have a spare pair of boots. They shouldn’t be too big for you. Holly used to wear them when she played in the snow with Logan. She said you could use them.”

Jessie found a dry spot to switch shoes as Dustin showed Logan that he could splash more mud than him. When Logan ended up on his bottom, Dustin’s laughter was cut short when Logan grabbed one of his legs, winding his arms around him until he and the mud sucked Dustin down to his knees. He made a mud pie, throwing it at Logan.

Just as the mud pie fell apart as it hit Logan, Dustin felt cold, slimly water sliding down the back of his neck.

“Woman, that’s called dirty fighting.”

“Logan, do you hear that?” Jessie gave him a triumphant look.

His son rose to his knees with a puzzled frown. “I don’t—”

“It’s the sound of your father being afraid of a little mud.”

Logan fell back laughing, making what looked like mud angels. “A Porter is never afraid. Are we, Dad?”

“Nope, we aren’t.” Dustin let himself fall backward, making a mud angel next to Logan’s.

“Come on, Miss Jessie,” Dustin imitated Logan’s childlike voice.

She wasn’t about to get soaked in mud. “No.”

Dustin suddenly lunged up, grabbing Jessie’s hands until she tripped and fell, sprawled out in the mud.

“You jerk!” Her angry eyes spat at him with vengeance.

“Nuh-uh … You don’t get to sit on the sidelines anymore without getting a little dirty yourself,” he crowed at her expression.

“Really?” she asked sweetly. Too sweetly.

He should have known better.

A second later, he was spitting out a clump of mud that she had nailed him with.

“Logan?”

“Yes?” He giggled.

Dustin’s grin broadened. “Let’s get her.”

He and Logan pretended to gang up on Jessie, but it wasn’t long before both of them were begging for mercy. She had just lobbed a spectacular mud ball at Dustin’s gut when he looked up to see Holly and Greer staring at them in horror.

“Have you three lost your flipping minds?” Revolted, Greer made sure he was standing behind Holly, so no mud could come near him.

“Uncle Greer, come in! We can get Dad!”

“Hell no.” Greer took another step backward.

“Holly?” Logan pleaded.

“I’m not exactly dressed for a mud fight,” Holly demurred, trying not to look as disgusted as Greer.

“Go change! We’ll wait.” Dustin splayed out in the mud, resting on his elbows.

“I have dinner to fix. Perhaps another time.”

“There’s no time like the present.”

Before they could react, Dustin lifted the water hose, letting Holly and Greer have it.

“Greer?” Dripping wet, Holly toed off her shoes.

“What?” Greer roared, his deputy uniform plastered to his body.

Dustin sniggered at his brother, who looked like a drowned rat.

“Get him!”

Dustin thought the water hose would be a deterrent. He was wrong.

Greer walked into the mud, shiny boots and all, toward him, despite him turning the water on high. Struggling to retain his hold on the slippery hose, he lost to Greer when Greer planted a booted foot on his chest, pinning him to the mud.

Greer wasn’t given time to savor his victory before Jessie began pelting him with mud pies.

“That’s my husband you’re hitting!” Holly couldn’t restrain herself from giggling, ruining the effect she was going for at pretending to be a protective wife.

While she was laughing, one of the mud pies that Jessie had made accidentally hit Holly, splattering her snow-white blouse.

Dustin quit struggling with Greer to sit and watch Holly and Jessie get in a mud fight.