Hard Luck (Trophy Boyfriends 4)

“Are you nervous to have me come with you to Arizona?”

Nervous? “Not at all. Why would I be?”

She shrugs again. “I don’t know—have you ever lived with anyone before?”

“I mean…I have six sisters, True. There are no roommates on this planet that are worse than that.”

“But you’ve never lived with a woman? Romantically, I mean.”

“No. This will be good practice, eh? Short amount of time, so if you get sick of me, it’ll be over before it begins and…you can come home.”

“True.” She nods. “I doubt I’ll get sick of you though.”

I gape at her. “True Wallace, are you giving me a compliment?”

She pulls a face. “Do you consider that a compliment? The fact that I probably won’t get sick of you?”

“Hell yeah. Baby steps, True. Baby steps. Pun intended. It took you weeks to tell me about the baby and a few dates for you to get comfortable with me—the fact that you think we’ll get along and you won’t get sick of me while we live together is a good sign.” I nod. “Yup. A good sign.”

“You keep throwing around the term ‘living together’, but it’s more like we’re getting to know each other for the sake of the baby. Or am I wrong?”

Okay, Debbie Downer, way to come in hot with the reality check.

I frown. “I mean, technically we’ll be living together.”

She smiles at me, eyes soft. “Alright. If you insist.”

“I do.”

Epilogue

True

Phoenix, Arizona

“Are you going to tell us if it’s a girl or a boy or not?” My brother is holding a platter of uncooked hamburgers and hot dogs, poised to set them down on the shelf for the gas grill. “It’s annoying that you haven’t said anything.”

I cock one of my eyebrows. “When are you going to tell the family that Hollis is expecting?”

Buzz glances up at me, tongs suspended in the air.

He snaps them in my direction. “Why would you think Hollis is pregnant?”

I shift next to him, sipping on cold iced tea, standing nearby to keep him company in the backyard while he’s at the grill.

I let out a pfft. “I saw the looks on your faces that night we were at dinner with Mom and Dad, and I put two and two together. My sisterly spidey senses were tingling.” There is such a thing. “So, am I wrong?”

Buzz is silent.

“Blink twice if I’m right.”

Irritated, he glances over at me, not blinking at all. “Why are you like this?”

“Because you’re my brother and you practically raised me. Takes one to know one.”

You practically raised me—words we use to joke about the years growing up because we spent so much time together as kids it’s almost as if we parented each other.

Buzz clicks his tongs again. “Don’t let Mom hear you say that.”

He’s still avoiding the question. But, speaking of Mom, she and Dad will be in Arizona in two weeks’ time.

“Are you serious? We made her life easier by being up each other’s butts when we were younger—all I ever wanted was to hang out with you and Tripp and follow you around. She hardly had to do anything but feed me.”

“Until we got into high school and you couldn’t play football or baseball with us.”

True. “But I came to all of your games.”

I was never far away even when I began playing sports on my own, volleyball and basketball and softball in the summers for the club team a few towns over.

Our poor parents could never have a life; they spent it driving us around before we could drive ourselves. And when Tripp got his license, he had to drive Buzz and me. Then when Buzz got his license, they fought over who would have to take me because neither of them ever wanted to.

Little sisters—what a pain in the ass.

I didn’t think much of it back then, but now that I’m an adult, I can see how annoying I must have been, following them around, whining, begging for rides and attention.

I wanted to be just.

Like.

My.

Brothers.

And what damn good brothers they were, too.

They complained plenty but always wound up including me anyway.

Aww.

Feeling nostalgic, I move closer to Buzz and, without thinking, wrap my arms around his waist and squeeze, enfolding him in a hug.

“What’s that for?” he asks, hugging me back, tongs still in his hand.

“I love you.”

“Aww, sis. I love you, too.” He kisses the top of my head. “Are you having a girl or a boy? I won’t say anything to Tripp—he doesn’t have to know I know.”

I pull back.

“You’re a total beast. Are you ever going to let it go?”

His giant shoulders shrug under my hug. “Not until I know if I’m having a niece or a nephew.”

“Are you going to tell me if I’m going to be an aunt? Or are you going to keep avoiding me when I ask? The fact that you won’t deny it is proof enough.”