Page 20 of Scotch on the Rocks

I was actually starting tolikethe man. The notion didn’t sit well.

“I have a harder head than you,” he replied.

“Not true.” She reclined against the door, folding her arms across her middle. “I read all of your creepy anatomy books, it’s a scientific fact that women have thicker skulls than men.”

Shock slackened his features. “When?”

“I read a chapter every time you’re in the shower … What? I want to know what interests you so much.”

I was thirty years old and could honestly say, despite the crap romance movies might spout, I’d never seen a man melt in real life … until now. Mal’s entire body softened, eyes crinkling at the corners, lips pulling into a crooked smile that belonged solely to April.

I cleared my throat. “I don’t know what sick kind of foreplay gets you two hot, but can we focus please?”

His cheeks reddened again. “Right, sorry.” I had the sneaking suspicion the youngest Macabe male was a little afraid of me.

“Oh, come on.” April nudged me with her elbow. “We’re adorable.”

They were adorable. So adorable being in the same room as them was enough to get a toothache. “You’re definitelysomething.” She stuck her tongue out and I smiled for the first time in hours.

“Do you have a ladder?” Mal asked.

I nodded and left to retrieve it from the cleaning supply cupboard. By the time I returned April had fully ignored Mal’s warning, squelching through the light layer of water with a mop and bucket in hand. Mal watched her, a puckered little frown between his brows, but offered no further complaint.

Folding the A-style ladder out, I handed it over to him, observing as he climbed high enough to prod at the wetplaster around the gilded light fixture. “Do you know what you’re looking for?”

“Not a clue.”

I laughed dryly. “That makes two of us.”

He paused, brows crinkling. “You turned the electricity off, right?”

“Yes. As soon as I shut off the water.”

“And Murray didn’t hang around to check any of this himself?”

Needing to be doing something, I snatched up the spare mop, soaking up as much water as I could and squeezing it out into the bucket. Trying not to dwell on the watermarks staining the original hardwood flooring. “He offered, but honestly I just wanted them gone.”

“Understandable.” Mal had a way of talking that was completely unlike his three siblings. Short pauses between statements that let you know he considered every word that came out of his mouth.Careful. That’s how I’d describe him. Careful and dependable. My best friend’s gentle heart deserved to be in careful and dependable hands.

“I can’t believe that old goat thought he could get away with instructing his untrained grandsons on the job. He should lose his licence,” April said.

“I’ll settle for my money back.”

“Want me to threaten him?” Mal delivered the words so earnestly, only the wry tilt to his lips revealed he was joking.

“No assistance necessary. If he’s attached to his balls, he’ll give me my money back.”

“Gross.” April shuddered. “Please can we not talk about his wrinkled old man ball sack. That image is now seared on the back of my eyelids.”

Mal hopped down from the ladder, boots squelching so loudly, we all winced. “The plaster seems stable enough andI wouldn’t turn the electric back on any time soon, but … what the hell do I know?”

It felt cruel to point out I’d already figured that much out for myself. So I simply nodded.

“I could maybe help with the floor.” He scratched the side of his jaw.

April was already shaking her head, red curls coiling loose from her braid. “Remember the last time you attempted woodwork?”

“I thought you loved the bench.”

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