Quiver & Burn (Surrender to Them 5)

“Are you okay?” Jett ran over with a look of concern on his face.

“I—yeah.” I nodded and looked up at Rand, briefly getting lost in his steel colored eyes. “Thank you.”

I’d fall all the time if I had someone like him to catch me.

“You have to be careful in here.” Rand shifted me until I was upright and standing on my own two feet.

Wow, that was almost disastrous—but it had a pleasant ending.

After nearly finding out what the floor tasted like, I decided to be a lot more careful. Even with near disaster making my heart race, I couldn’t stop thinking about the way it felt to be in Rand’s powerful arms. Something inside of me wanted to be there again—to be so close to him. I tried to snap out of it. I wasn’t even supposed to be on a date—or whatever it was—with Rand. Jett was the one who asked me to go. He was the one who staged the meetings in the hallway. We chatted while we worked, and I started to see more of their differences shining through. Jett was slow and methodical, moving stuff out and carefully studying the next endeavor. Rand was more aggressive, just pulling the boxes out without paying them much attention.

“Okay.” Jett put his hands on his hips. “We’ve got everything out of the locker. Let’s start going through the boxes.”

“Sounds good.” Rand walked over and ripped the tape off the first one.

Now we get to see what kind of buried treasure I almost ended up in the ER for.

Chapter Six

Jett

Brylee’s turquoise eyes were full of excitement when we started opening the boxes. They reminded me of the excitement Rand and I used to get every time we tore into boxes of potential loot. It was still fun, but after so many disappointments, we didn’t normally get excited until we actually saw something interesting. The first box didn’t have much of interest. It was old clothes and judging by the state they were in, they were pretty much worthless. The second set was full of pots and pans. They might be worth something to a thrift store, but it wasn’t what we were really after. Brylee seemed especially interested in a cast-iron skillet that looked like it had seen a lot of use, so we put it aside for her. The third box was a little bigger, and I had a glimmer of hope when I pulled it open and saw a small jewelry box sitting on top, but it was absolutely empty. It might be worth a couple of dollars, but that was about it.

“Well shit.” Rand flipped the jewelry box over in his hands. “I guess this one is going to be a waste of money.”

“Yeah.” I wiped sweat away from my brow. “We’ll be lucky to break even.”

“There are still a bunch of boxes left.” Brylee leaned over and nudged Rand with her elbow. “If it gets too boring, I can show you how good I am at balancing on a stool.”

“Please don’t.” Rand rolled his eyes and chuckled. “I might not catch you next time.”

“You wouldn’t let me fall.” Brylee grinned and leaned over to look in the next box.

I had been so focused on buying lockers and getting the first one emptied as fast as possible that I hadn’t really spent much time flirting with Brylee. I saw the attraction shifting, and when she thought I wasn’t looking, she was staring at Rand with a silly grin on her face. My opportunity seemed to be slipping away. I wasn’t jealous of my brother, even if I did like Brylee, and if that was the direction things went, then I wasn’t going to hold him to our agreement. That wouldn’t have been fair to either of them, and it really didn’t matter if I was the one who saw her first.

It was going to be difficult to look at those curves and know that I let them slip through my fingers before I ever got a chance to run my hand across them, but it wouldn’t be the first time. Watching her bend over to dig through the box might as well have been torture because her ass was fucking incredible in a pair of jeans. Rand looked at me and we shared a knowing nod—one that caused me to swallow hard when my dick tried to show me that it didn’t have a chivalrous intent at all with a woman as beautiful as her. We both had to look away in an almost comical fashion when she sprang up and turned around.

“This one is full of junk.” She sighed and her face reflected disappointment. “Are you two tired of digging through boxes already?”

No, but fuck—you’re one hell of a distraction.

“Nah, just taking a break.” Rand chuckled and started opening another box.

“I was going to look through that one next.” Brylee leaned over—and lightly grazed Rand’s arm as she grabbed the side of the box.

“Go ahead.” Rand pulled away and turned to the next box.

I tried to give Rand a nod that let him know I didn’t mind, but there was a concerned look on his face. He was trying to do the right thing and avoid Brylee’s attention. I respected that. I kind of wished we didn’t have our stupid oath not to compete because I was worried would happen if he shunned her attempt at flirting. Our first not-really-sorta date might be the last time either of us got to spend time with her. I saw the look in her eyes when he caught her. He might not have saved her life, but he probably kept her from losing a couple of teeth. I decided that I needed to go for it—to make some sort of move. If I struck out, then at least I could say I tried. It was time to stop worrying about the locker and focus on what really mattered. I pulled the box over that Brylee nearly fell trying to get and started pulling it open.

“Anything interesting in that one?” I leaned over and put my hand on her lower back.

“No.” She shook her head back and forth, but a slight grin formed on her lips when she felt my touch.

“I think this one belongs to you, no matter what is inside.” I pointed at the box sitting next to my feet. “It almost sent you to the emergency room.”

“It’s probably full of rocks—that’s my luck.” Brylee turned towards the box and brushed against me as she finished opening it. “Movies!”

“Really?” Rand’s face lit up and he walked over.