Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 68004 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68004 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
“Careful,” Silas warned.
“I will …” Righting herself, Alanna saw the outbuilding where Silas had told her his brothers worked. About to take another step forward, she was lowering her eyes back to the ground when the door of the building opened and two men came outside.
Mesmerized, Alanna forgot how to walk, freezing in place. Both men were striking to look at. It was hard not to stare when neither man wore a shirt. Faded jeans lovingly hugging their hips had her eyes jerk upward at the wayward thoughts materializing from her starved libido.
Alanna had never been the type of woman who was attracted to men with bulging muscles or rock-hard abs. Those were the ones she shied away from the most because of Owen.
She was still congratulating herself for giving the first one out the door only a brief once-over when her eyes went to the man behind him and clung like someone who had become lost in a parched desert and was dying of thirst.
He had to be a mirage. There was no man who had a face like a Greek god and was gifted with a body to match who would willingly live on a mountain, surrounded by trees instead of lying on a beach, surrounded by a variety of buxom beauties catering to his every want and need.
Locking her knees to keep from falling over flat on her face, Alanna looked up at the bright sky overhead, trying to restore the balance that had just been knocked out of her. Taking a steadying breath, she said a silent prayer in her head that her tongue would become unglued from the roof of her mouth.
Please don’t let me make a fool of myself, she added before ending the prayer.
Maybe he was just a mirage … Lowering her eyes back down from the sky, Alanna felt as if she had just been captured in a golden butterfly net. She was trapped by his gaze when a shadowy flashback had her reeling backward a step.
She was standing face to face with the man who had stood outside her cell door three days ago, and she had willingly let herself be brought right to his doorstep.
Chapter Seven
“What are you doing here?”
Alanna was shaken that who she had been starting to think was a figment of her imagination actually wasn’t. The misgivings she had been experiencing since leaving the courthouse were right.
Taking her eyes off the two men standing by the building, she cast a quick glance at Silas before jerking her eyes back to the other two men. None of them seemed shocked at her abrupt question.
“I live here.”
“Alanna, these are my brothers, Matthew—”
The one she had seen at the sheriff’s office nodded his head at her.
“—and Isaac.” Silas’ voice grew reprimanding. “Matthew only told me this morning, when I was leaving, that he had gotten arrested and might have spoken to you while he was there.”
Matthew made a face. “I knew the cat would be out the bag when you saw me. I hope I didn’t say anything to put you off taking the job. I’m afraid I don’t remember much about that night. I’d had a few too many drinks, coupled with one of Greer’s greens, so I have to admit that night is kind of a blur.”
The embarrassed way he was looking at her lessened the tension she was feeling.
“The deputy gave you a joint?”
Matthew laughed at her shock. “He wasn’t on duty at the time.”
Silas took her arm. “We’re keeping the others waiting.”
Isaac gave her a bashful smile. “We were going to wash up. Give us five, and we’ll be there.”
Alanna let Silas lead her to the house. As they passed his truck, she gave it a wistful glance.
“You don’t have to worry. Matthew doesn’t make it a habit to light up. He was celebrating.”
“Oh … okay.” Alanna looked to where Silas’ brothers were splashing water at each other from a barrel next to their building.
Silas noticed where she was staring as they walked up the steps. “Matthew and Isaac are very close. They spend the better part of the day cutting up with each other.”
“I see that.” Alanna felt a familiar tightening in her chest. How many times had she spent regretting not having siblings? Even now, as an adult, she would wonder if her parents had planned to have more children. Would their marriage have lasted? She mourned not only the parents whose memories grew fainter each year, but also the future they would have had if they had lived.
Silas cast her a worried glance as he grabbed the doorknob. “Ready?”
Alanna frowned at him quizzically. “Is there something I should be prepared for?”
“Only that we can be a bit overwhelming because there are so many of us.”
She loosened her guard, seeing Silas wanted her to like his family. He was making inroads in her desire to keep a professional distance between herself and all the Colemans. He was the type of brother she had always longed for.