Page 17 of Can't Take Moore
“Speaking of complaints,” he drawled as he dropped onto one of the chairs in front of my desk, “I'm a little irritated with you.”
I couldn't think of anything I had recently done to piss my brother off. I hadn't even seen him for a few days. “What did I do?”
“It's what you didn't do.” He stretched out his legs crossing one ankle over the other. “I heard that the synthetic rake installation that Joe Morse did on that house on Mill Street was for one of your clients. How come you didn't refer them to me?”
Jude was well aware that I didn't worry about nepotism when it came to referrals because I gave his information to anyone I met who was thinking about building a new house. “Wasn't that project a little small for you?”
“Probably,” he conceded with a mischievous gleam in his eyes. “But if I had worked on it, then I would have had a convenient excuse to stop by and meet Mooreville's newest resident.”
He was here to push my buttons about Vienna, and I should have seen it coming. That was how he, Wyatt, and I rolled.
Knowing that he was just joking around didn’t stop me from reacting, though. “Stay away from Vienna.”
“Are you calling dibs?”
I strummed my fingers on the top of my desk. “I shouldn't have to. I already took her out on a date, and that makes her off-limits per bro code.”
“When I heard that you two looked awfully cozy in a corner booth at Trattoria, I figure you’d say something like that.”
I quirked a brow. “And you had to run right over here to give me shit about it?”
He shrugged. “That’s what brothers do, and Wyatt is too busy studying to do it.”
“Uh-huh.”
“But be warned, I’m not the only one who the gossip has reached. Mom knows about the date, too.”
I chuckled and shook my head. “I’m not surprised. I even warned Vienna that would happen.”
“Good idea.”
I glanced down at my phone and was surprised there wasn't a missed call or text from our mom. “It's weird that she hasn't reached out to ask me how the day went.”
Jude crossed his arms over his chest. “I wonder if it's a new tactic. Maybe she thinks that if she gives you some space, she'll get a grandbaby of her own sooner than if she interfered.”
“That sounds like the kind of logic that she might use,” I agreed with a grimace.
Skylar's pregnancy had given all of the women in our family a serious case of baby fever, our mom included. “But we've only been on one date.”
Jude’s head tilted to the side. “You can't fool me. I’m your brother. I've known you for my whole life.”
I shook my head and muttered, “That's kind of how the younger brother thing goes.”
“You can play it off all you want, but I saw that flash in your eyes when I was yanking your chain about Vienna. It wouldn't have been there unless you were already planning your second date.”
“You've got me there,” I admitted, thinking about how many times today I had almost picked up the phone and asked her if she wanted to play hooky with me.
Pointing at me, he advised, “You're going to want to get on that before someone else in town decides she's fair game and asks her out.”
“Fuck,” I groaned, my head falling back.
As I stared up at the ceiling, he laughed. “My job here is done. I have other places to be.”
“Close the door on your way out.”
As soon as he was gone, I called Vienna. She picked up on the second ring. “Hey, how did you know I was thinking about you?”
“Lucky guess.” You could hear my smile in my voice, I was that damn happy to be talking to. “What else are you doing?”
