The Naughty List Bundle - Kylie Adams [63]
“She can call her sister again. That’s not a problem. Or better yet, her sister could visit her here.”
All the brothers were curious about Misty Malone, much to Honey’s amusement. Sawyer sighed. “She also has some issues she needs to resolve with her father.”
“Ha! I personally think she’d be better off never laying eyes on the man again.”
“If everything she’s told us is accurate, then I’d agree. But I’ve never met the man and I have no idea what motivates him.”
“You’re defending him?”
Sawyer understood Gabe’s disbelief. From what she’d said, Honey’s father wasn’t an easy man to like. “You’ve met Honey. You’ve gotten to know her in the last few weeks. Do you honestly believe any male could be so immune to her, but especially her father?”
Gabe seemed to chew that over. “I see what you mean. She’s such a sweetheart, she’s hard to resist. No, I can’t imagine a man, any man, not loving her on sight.”
Sawyer felt those words like a sucker punch in the solar plexis. It took his breath away. “I wasn’t talking about love, dammit.”
With a pitying look, Gabe shook his head. “Be glad you staked a claim first, Sawyer, because just about anyone else would be more than glad to talk about love. Maybe you should remember that while you’re being so pigheaded.”
It took two steps for Sawyer to be chest to chest with his youngest brother. Through his teeth, he growled, “Just what the hell is that supposed to mean?”
Gabe didn’t back down, but then Sawyer would have been surprised if he had. Instead, he took a step closer so they almost touched, and his eyes narrowed. “It means, you stubborn ass, that she’s—”
Honey suddenly shoved herself between them. She had a large box in her hands, and her scowl was hotter than the blazing sunshine. “Don’t you two start! I’ve got enough to worry about right now without having to listen to you bicker!”
Flustered, Sawyer glared one more time at Gabe then forcefully took the box from Honey. “Men don’t bicker.”
“Ha! You were both muttering low and growling and acting like bulldogs facing off over a meaty bone. It’s absurd for brothers to carry on that way.”
Gabe blinked at her. “We were just…uh, discussing things.”
“Uh-huh. Like what?”
Sawyer stared at her, stymied for just a moment, then he hefted the box. “What the hell have you got in here?”
Sidetracked, she said, “My stereo stuff. It’s been in the trunk. Thank goodness nothing got wet when I went in the lake. Since I’ve had no reason to listen to music lately, I’d almost forgotten about it—until Casey and I decided to dance.”
Gabe muffled a startled laugh. “You’re going to what?”
She sniffed in disdain at his attitude. “Dance. To my music. What you men listen to is appalling.”
Gabe trotted along beside them as Sawyer started toward the house with the box. “It’s called country and it’s damn good.”
She made a face. “Yes, well, I prefer rock and roll.”
“This oughta be good.”
Her gaze turned to Gabe. “You plan to watch?”
“Hell, yes.”
“If you do,” she warned, as if she could make him reconsider, “you’ll have to dance, too.”
“Wouldn’t miss it.”
Sawyer marched through the back door, through the kitchen, down the hall and into the family room. The stereo was on a built-in shelf beside the huge stone fireplace centered on the outside wall. The speakers hung from the pine walls in four locations beneath the cathedral ceiling. This room wasn’t carpeted, but instead had a large area rug in a Native American motif that covered the middle of the polished wood floor. Facing the front of the house, it had a wall of windows reaching to the ceiling, shaded