Page 42 of Whiskey Chase
“That’s a good point.” Jameson picked up his coffee.
“You all know I’m not getting married before thirty, right?” I’d made my mother a promise every year on my birthday for as long as I could remember. I would not get married before thirty. Which meant I could have a hell of a lot of fun for now.
“Scarlett, why don’t you think about settling down with someone and not marrying them?” Bowie suggested.
“You’re ridiculous.”
Gibson leaned over his plate. “Look, Scar. We raised you. If you’re out screwing around, it’s our fault.”
“Oh, so you want me to settle down to make you all feel better.”
“We just want one of us to turn out to be a well-adjusted adult,” Bowie shot back.
“How’s that electrician you were seeing?” I asked Bowie, knowing full well he’d dumped her within ten minutes of hearing that Cassidy and Amos Sheridan had called it quits this winter.
“Electrical engineer,” he corrected. “And we decided to see other people.”
“Like your next-door neighbor?” I asked innocently.
“Burn,” Jameson nodded in approval.
Gibson smirked his appreciation.
I pointed my fork at Gibson. “Don’t you start. I know you’ve been taking no one but bar skanks home with you after your shows,” I said. My brother was quite the talented singer and guitarist. He played bars within a 50-mile radius for fun... and women.
“My sex life is my business.”
“Not if mine isn’t mine,” I argued. “In fact, I think I’m gonna make a list of your recent conquests. Just so we can all stay up to date on your long, sporadic line of one-night stands.”
Jameson was smart enough to stare intently at his plate and not move around too much to catch my eye and wrath. To be honest, I wasn’t sure about that particular brother’s dating life. I thought he might be seeing someone, but she lived outside of town. He’d never seen fit to introduce her to any of us, so I figured it wasn’t serious. But I could find out if I had to. When I was little, spying on my brothers had been one of my favorite past times.
“So, we’re agreed,” I said. “No one bothers me about my sex life, and I’ll leave y’all’s alone?”
“Agreed,” they mumbled.
I dug back into my pancakes and started thinking about just how long I wanted to wait with Devlin. It was like being on a diet and living next door to an ice cream stand.
* * *
I thoughtabout that irresistible hot fudge sundae that was Devlin McCallister all morning in between cursing out my brothers one at a time. I had projects to wrap up before I saddled myself with Daddy’s house. And if they had a problem with it, then they could just go and clean out his things themselves. I wasn’t avoiding it, I told myself. It was just good business to put paying jobs first.
I’d gone from eking out a living at eighteen to doing real well for myself. The income from my rentals kept me going when work was slow in the winter. And I was building up a nice chunk of savings so I could snatch up another seasonal rental.
With Devlin’s job, I’d be pocketing a nice fee. And just like that, I was back to thinking about him. He was quite the fine male specimen. And his time in Bootleg was doing wonders for him. Every time I saw him, he looked stronger, sharper… fitter.
I thought about Dev and his fine form all through the furnace filter swap out at my rental and during my roof patch job at Zadie Rummerfield’s parents’ house. Hell, I even thought about him when I snaked Cassidy’s upstairs toilet because she was too embarrassed to call her plumber cousin.
Devlin kissed me like I was a woman. Not some girl he’d known since kindergarten. Not the youngest of four—five now—Bodines who would throw down if he stepped out of line. And not the poor daughter of a drunk and a loser.
He made me feel mysterious, interesting, sexy. Things I couldn’t feel on a daily basis around the people I’d known my whole life.
Try as I might, I couldn’t see a downside to a little spring fling with the man.
I pulled my phone out of my bra where I’d stashed it for my little plumbing escapade. Cassidy had paid me for my troubles with a spa gift certificate and a box of condoms. And I was going to put one of them to use tonight.
I dialed Devlin’s number, and he answered on the first ring.
“Well, hello there,” I purred.
