“You know I have to get naked for it, right?”

Kyle shoves Thomas’s shoulder. “You basically asked him to strip.”

Seeing a blush on the big man’s face is sort of hilarious.

“I didn’t think about that,” he mutters.

“Maybe some other time, yeah? I just got back in from a run, actually,” I tell him. “I have a few things to do.”

“Sure,” Thomas says with a bob of his head. “We’re out here waiting on a call from Dad. My phone gets shit service inside.”

This gives me pause. “Your dad?”

“Yeah. He’s calling to check in on the project.”

Despite it not really being my business, I can’t help but ask. “How is he? Tess told me a bit about his health.”

“He’s…okay,” Kyle says. “Or at least he pretends to be.” A sigh escapes him. “He doesn’t like worrying us.”

“Typical dad behavior,” I comment.

“Yeah,” Chase says. “It drives Tess bonkers. She likes to mother him.”

“They seem really close,” I point out.

Thomas laughs. “Oh, Tess has always been a daddy’s girl. I swear, sometimes I think she’s his favorite son.”

He doesn’t say it with malice, more like with fondness that comes from them all being so close. It makes my chest hurt faintly, remembering what having that was like.

“How did she end up the boss of this operation anyway? Is she the oldest?”

Thomas shakes his head. “Nah, I am. Then Kyle, then Tess, then Chase.”

“None of us really have a sense for business,” Chase tells me.

Kyle shrugs. “We’ve always been better at taking orders than giving them. It just kind of happened that way.”

“And it doesn’t feel weird? Working for your sister?”

“Nah, she’s a good boss,” Thomas tells me. “She’s got a great eye for that side of things.”

“That’s really cool of you guys to be so supportive,” I tell them. Deciding it’s best to extricate myself from the conversation before I say too much, I clap Thomas on the shoulder. “I’d better get inside. I have some paperwork to go over.”

“Sure, man. If you change your mind about tonight, we’re leaving at seven. We’re all going to pile into my truck.”

I can’t pretend that the thought of Tess in a bar with other men doesn’t leave a sour taste in my mouth, but I remind myself that it’s none of my business what she does. She doesn’t belong to me. No matter what we’ve been doing. Still, the surge of jealousy hits me so strongly that I almost cave right then and there.

“I’ll think about it,” I tell them.

“Cool,” Kyle answers with a grin. “Might be nice to have another guy there whose sole focus isn’t bedding the locals like these two.”

A chuckle nearly escapes me, and I’m gathering that Kyle is a lot more like Tess than he is his brothers.

“Oh, hey, Hunter…”

I turn back, finding Thomas looking at me with narrowed eyes.

“Yeah?”

He lowers his voice. “How do you feel about garlic?”

It takes everything in me not to burst out laughing, the seriousness of his expression making it even harder.

“You know, it’s always burned my throat. Never really could stand the stuff.”

Thomas’s eyes widen, and when I turn away to reach for the door, I swear I hear him whispering, “See? Are we sure he isn’t actually a—”

I leave them on the back deck, where I can already hear Kyle berating Thomas, and a quick sweep of the great room reveals it to be empty, no Tess in sight. When I reach the front desk in the foyer, I glance at the stairs, feeling that same urge to go and check on her but unsure whether it would be weird or not. I worry that she might feel weird after last night, and I worry that seeking her out might make it worse.

I tell myself that I should leave it in her hands as I settle on my stool behind the front desk, trying to distract myself with the bank statements I’ve been going through. There’s plenty of stuff for me to do, and not thinking about a certain omega with big brown eyes and a mouth that literally haunts my dreams should be easy enough, given that.

Still doesn’t stop me from glancing at the top of the stairs every five minutes. I also tell myself that I should shut it down, try to put some distance between us when I’m not…helping her—otherwise I’m just setting myself up for heartache.

I glance at the stairs again.

God, I am so fucked.

I think the fatal flaw of avoiding someone is that the universe always seems to want to be a bitch about it. Because of course when I come down the main staircase to meet the boys to head to the bar, Hunter is waiting at the front desk, flipping through a notebook of some sort. I pause at the last stair right as he looks up at me, not missing the way his eyes travel from my knee-high boots to my red sweaterdress, all the way up to my face.

“Hey” is all he says.

I try to appear casual even though my heart rate has quickened considerably. “Hey. Hanging out?”

“Just going over some invoices,” he tells me.

“You know, Excel would make that a whole lot easier.”

“I like pen and paper.”

I smile even as I roll my eyes. “Of course you do. Probably reminds you of better days when we used oil lamps.”

His mouth twitches but only slightly. “You look nice.”

I tuck my chin to my shoulder and bat my eyelashes exaggeratedly. “Oh, do I?”

“It’s a far cry from the coveralls you were wearing yesterday.”

Talk of yesterday only hurtles me back into hot tub hijinks that make my face flush, and I shift my weight from one foot to the other, hoping Hunter doesn’t notice.

“We’re meeting Cat and her boyfriend at Fred’s tonight.”

Hunter raises an eyebrow. “Oh?”

“Apparently it’s the only bar in town.”

His mouth quirks. “Does that shock you?”

“Not really,” I laugh. “But I was promised the best cheese fries in the state, so…”

“Just don’t ask how they make them,” Hunter warns me, still smiling a little as he turns his attention back to his papers. “Your arteries might shrivel up.”

“Do you ever go?”

He peeks up at me inquisitively. “To Fred’s?”

“No, to Disneyland.”

He rolls his eyes. “It’s been awhile.”

“Well, how can I trust your opinion on cheese fries if you haven’t even been in a while?”

“Those things are pretty hard to forget.”

He’s reading again, not looking at me, and I bite the inside of my cheek as I consider asking him to go. That wouldn’t be weird, right? I mean, with everything that’s happened between us…it would be almost rude not to at least invite him. The worst he could do is say no, so what’s the harm?

He could say no.

Right. That might be a bummer.

Come on, Tess. Don’t overthink it.

“You could come with us,” I say as casually as I can. “Give those cheese fries another try.”

Hunter’s expression is unreadable when he looks back up, eyes locking with mine for a few seconds as he (at least I hope) considers.

I can tell the moment he decides to shoot me down. “I’ve got a lot of stuff to do around here tonight.” He’s nice enough to give me a teasing smile so I don’t completely want to disappear. “We don’t have Excel, after all.”

I try to smile back, but I’m not entirely sure it hides my disappointment. “That would be too easy.”

“I like doing things the hard way,” he tosses back with a laugh.

Now why does that make my stomach flutter?

Am I actually a horny cartoon wolf and simply unaware?

“Just thought I’d ask,” I tell him breezily. “No big deal or anything.”

There’s a stretch of silence as I fidget, trying not to be embarrassed about being shut down. I bite at the end of my thumbnail absently while I try to appear as if I’m not watching him work. It’s only that his dark curls sort of fall into his eyes with his head bent like it is, and the way his flannel shirt (green this time) is rolled at the sleeves…I’m just saying. Forearm porn could be a thing if we believe hard enough.