Mak swore her ovaries did backflips. She glanced over her shoulder at Lee, who observed with an assessing gaze. “See?” she mouthed.
He rolled his eyes and turned to the refrigerator.
Mak plucked the giant bowl of shredded chicken off the counter and made for the table at the same time, Lee turned back from the fridge, beer in hand. Had there not been other impressionable teenage and pre-teen kids in the house, she probably wouldn’t care if he drank it, but there were. “Lee—”
“Oh, thanks, man,” Thunder said as he snatched the beer from Lee’s hand. “Appreciate you grabbing that for me. Been dying for one tonight.” He used his keychain to pop the cap then took a long drink. “Ahh, hits the spot.” With a wink, he lifted the bowl from her hands and made his way to the table, whistling.
Lee stood in the same spot he’d been, blinking, with his hand curled as though the bottle still resided there.
Mak burst out laughing at the slack-jawed expression on her brother’s face.
“What the hell just happened?” he asked as his arm dropped to his side.
Still chuckling, she strode past him, bumping his hip with hers. “You got outplayed, brother.”
With a loud scoff, Lee trailed behind her.
Thunder caught her gaze and winked. She gave him a smile he hopefully understood was thanks for the smooth way he’d not only gotten Lee to stay for dinner but relieved him of the alcohol. Was there anything the man couldn’t do without making it appear effortless?
Twenty-five minutes later, the table resembled a war zone. Empty plates piled high with crumpled and stained napkins sat in front of each person. Chip crumbs, shreds of lettuce and cheese, as well as drips of salsa splattered across the vinyl tablecloth, making a gigantic mess. At a volume of about nine out of ten, everyone chattered, laughed, and tried to one-up each other with the worst jokes she’d ever heard.
“Okay, I’ve got one for you,” Thunder said as he leaned back in his chair. Mak hadn’t stood a chance of sitting next to him as Emmie and Kara fought over that honor the second they’d entered the small dining room. Ever the lady’s man, he’d seated himself between the arguing duo with a tug for each of their ponytails. Both girls had beamed, clearly thinking themselves the winner of that competition.
Sitting across from him had come with its own set of perks as she’d had a full view of his face and the enjoyment he seemed to derive from their simple family dinner. Laughter and fun came so easy for the man who’d quickly stolen her heart.
What? No. No, no, no. Not her heart.
Her body. Just her body.
“Lay it on me,” Kara said, making her siblings laugh.
“Why did the teddy bear say no to eating dessert?” Thunder rubbed a hand over his stomach as though thoroughly satisfied with the meal.
“Cookies!” Emmie called then dissolved into a fit of toddler giggles.
“What? Cookies?” Thunder tickled her belly. “Girl, that doesn’t even make sense.”
“What’s the answer?” Kara tugged his sleeve, far more serious than her little sister.
“Because he was stuffed! Ohhh!” Thunder slapped his palms on the table in a ba-dum-dum fashion.
Lee groaned. “That’s the worst one yet, man.” But he was smiling and interacting with them all more than he had in months.
Mak sat back and scanned the table. All around her, with their bellies full and wide smiles on their faces, her siblings fell under the spell of Thunder. They were all happy. Truly happy. Even Lee, for the moment, seemed satisfied to be right where he was.
Thunder sent her a wink across the table before turning back to a joke Rissa was telling. It made absolutely no sense, but that didn’t seem to matter to any of them. They all hooted and hollered as though she was a comedian with a Vegas special.
Warmth filled Makenna. This was it. This was the moment she’d wished for her entire life. Why she’d stolen away in the middle of the night, taking her siblings from everything they knew. This moment of pure happiness and childhood joy.
And she had Thunder to thank for it. They all loved him just as much as she—
As though an icy hose sprayed her in the face, Makenna froze.
Oh shit.
No, it wasn’t love. Not for her or her siblings. For them, it was the novelty of a new face around the house. A fun man, who brought something light and different from their lives. That’s all it could ever be.
The only person she could truly rely on to have her family’s best interest at heart was herself. One day they’d have to leave Townsend, not by choice but as a product of circumstance. And on that day, the inevitable would be so much easier to swallow without having the devastation of severing emotional connections. Leaving a town that had become home was hard enough. She and Thunder could connect, could have fun, could have a relationship, but she needed to guard her heart and her siblings’ so they didn’t become reliant on Thunder as a permanent fixture in their lives.