“You love me,” I called, striding across the drive.
“I’m taking out an ad for a new best friend and sister,” she yelled back.
“You’d never,” I shot over my shoulder.
Fallon simply let out a huff and sank back to the steps, but I didn’t miss the way she twisted her fingers into an intricate series of knots. She was an empath through and through. She felt everything those around her did, maybe to an even greater degree. I had no idea how she maintained a job with Child Protective Services with everything she saw there. But I knew that every child who crossed her path was better for it.
As I made my way down the gravel drive, I really let myself take Anson in. He was bent over the tailgate, studying his papers, the pencil now behind his ear. The angle of his body showed the true width of his shoulders as his tee pulled taut across them. The thin cotton revealed ridges of muscle at his sides, too.
Good God, that kind of thing should be illegal. It was like his six-pack had another six-pack on either side of it. That was just ridiculous.
I swallowed the flicker of annoyance at his too-muscled self and forced a wide smile to my lips as I approached.
Anson didn’t look up.
I had a sneaking suspicion he knew I was there, though. I cleared my throat.
He still didn’t look up. “Need something, Reckless?”
Heat flared in my cheeks. “I’m sorry we got off on the wrong foot.”
Anson straightened slowly. Something about the movement reminded me of a panther rising from a nap and preparing to hunt. His stormy gaze swept over me in a quick assessment. “You mean the foot you tripped over and almost broke your neck because of.”
The heat in my cheeks spread down my neck as I struggled to keep my breathing even. “You’re right. I shouldn’t have been in there. I’m not going inside again until Shep clears it.”
Anson merely grunted.
“Look, we’ll be running into each other a lot over the next few months. Maybe we can start over.” I extended my hand. “I’m Rhodes, but everyone calls me Rho.”
He stared at my hand like it was a snake poised to strike. “We don’t have to play nice. I’m here to do a job. You stay out of places you shouldn’t be, and I’ll be out of your hair.”
My jaw slackened a bit at his rudeness. But before I could say anything, Anson turned back to the blueprints.
My hand slowly retreated to my side as I gaped at him. “So much for being friendly,” I muttered as I turned to stalk back to my new home.
It was going to be a long few months.
6
RHODES
The sound of music,laughter, and voices reached my ears before my foot hit the top step. The familiar feelings of warmth and heartache slid through me—gratitude for the family I found myself a part of, mixed with a dash of longing for the family I’d lost. But somewhere along the way, I realized that losing so much had made me appreciate what I’d found even more.
I reached for the doorknob to the massive white farmhouse and twisted. It was unlocked, like always. And that state had Trace and Shep lecturing Nora and Lolli to no end. They never listened.
“Sounds like a party in here,” I called.
“Auntie Rho!” a tiny voice squealed. She was more a blur of motion than a six-year-old little girl and hit me with a force that had me stumbling back a step.
“Careful, Keels,” Trace called from the kitchen.
The little girl beamed up at me. “Missed you.”
I brushed the dark strands of hair away from a face that looked so much like her father’s. The green eyes, the smile,though her grin held a tiny gap between the two front teeth. “Missed you, too. What trouble have you been causing?”
Her smile only widened. “I’d never.”
Trace snorted. “She hid water balloons in the barn and doused me.”
