Page 72 of Finding Home
“I’m on shift Monday, but luckily I’m off for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.”
“Lila will be joining us,” Chloe says.
“Lila?” Grayson asks.
“Everett’s daughter. She’s the most adorable little girl. Mom’s been doing crafts with her, and I’ve been taking her out on Miley. I think I may be losing my horse to Lila, because I swear she likes her more.” Chloe’s words may sound like hurt ones, but the lightness and little chuckle tells me she loves how much Lila and Miley have bonded.
“You have a daughter?” Grayson asks, and I nod. “How old?”
“She’s six, turns seven in a few months.”
A look of worry passes over Grayson’s face, but Hannah kisses his cheek and whispers something to him that has him relaxing.
“I was promised a real snowman while we’re here,” Hannah says, moving the conversation along.
“We’re supposed to get a good snowfall on the twenty-third. I’m sure there will be enough to make one on Christmas Eve,” I say, and Hannah smiles widely.
“You staying at Mom and Dad’s right now? I heard Beau was back in town and I never got a chance to ask where you’re staying,” Grayson says, and I grip the back of my neck as Chloe’s cheeks heat again and she shakes her head.
“I’m living at Everett’s.”
Grayson’s beer pauses on the way to his mouth as he looks between the two of us. “How long have you been together?” he asks, and the question grates on me for some reason. I know we haven’t been together for a long time, but that doesn’t change anything for me. Chloe’s things are still in her room downstairs even though she sleeps in my bed, but I have no intention of her moving out, ever.
“Oww,” Grayson says as he gives Hannah a shocked look.
“You have no room to say anything, Mr. Ninety Days,” she says, warning in her voice.
Chloe leans forward and says, “If I recall correctly, you brought home your wife who didn’t even want to be your wife when you arrived.”
Grayson matches her position. “I’m still your older brother.”
Chloe rolls her eyes. Watching the two of them makes me half grateful I’m an only child and half wish I had a sibling to push buttons like these two do to each other.
“Doesn’t mean you get to know about my every relationship.”
Grayson raises a brow at her. “You’ve been in a lot?”
Brinley slides into a chair beside Grayson at that moment. “If it isn’t Grayson Maxwell in the flesh and our gorgeous Hannah,” she says.
Hannah stands, walks behind her husband, and hugs Brinley. “Hey, Brin, it’s so nice to see you.”
“You, too. Now Grayson was asking if Chloe’s been in a lot of what’s?”
“Relationships,” Hannah answers.
Brinley takes a sip of her drink and wiggles her head back and forth a bit. “I wouldn’t say relationships so much as situationships.”
“I don’t think we need to talk about this anymore,” I say, and Brinley looks at me as if to say more, but as soon as she opens her mouth, she shuts it and stares Chloe down.
The five of us move conversation on to something less controversial and spend the next few hours talking and laughing, and I watch how Chloe grows light as she spends more time with her brother.
FORTY
CHLOE
When we get back from the bar, the second we’re inside the house and the door is closed, Everett throws me over his shoulder, causing me to giggle, and carries me upstairs. He slides me down his front and takes several steps back, settling into a chair in the corner of the room. The energy radiating off of him is enough to have me pressing my thighs together to quench the ache growing between them.
“I want to watch you strip for me, Chloe.”
