Swing (Landry Family #2)(36)

“Ready to spend a few uninterrupted minutes with Alison.”

We both turn to the woman at his side. A red dress skims her curves, her lips painted the same color. I’ve seen this monochromatic look done a million times, but on her it looks different. Classy. Distinguished. Not mine.

It’s a running joke that I have a crush on my brother’s girl. It is a joke. I wouldn’t touch her if my life depended on it. As a matter of fact, I’d thrash any jackass if they tried it. Alison’s different. She’s smart. Funny. Nurturing. She’s a lot like Dani.

“What’s that look for?” Alison asks, just before she kisses my cheek. Her fingers find my face and she wipes the lipstick away.

“What look?”

“That look like you’re thinking of something, or someone, else.”

Tossing her a wink, I spread my arms to encourage her to follow Barrett and Huxley into the house. Once inside, I shut the door behind us.

“Can I explore?” Hux takes in the living room. “Please?”

“Better not,” Barrett warns, looking at me out of the corner of his eye. The look of potential horror on his features makes me laugh.

“Go ahead, Hux.”

“Yay!” he says and takes off.

“Don’t touch anything! Don’t open drawers!” Barrett calls after him.

“And don’t look in his phone,” Alison adds, jabbing me in the side with her elbow. “Lincoln Landry, you have no idea the conversation I had to have with my son after he got ahold of your texts.”

I grimace. “It was one text and it wasn’t even a picture text—”

“It was a very, very descriptive—”

“—that she never followed through on. But that’s not the point,” I grin. “He didn’t even get to the good stuff. I told him she was talking about a kitten at the pound. He believed it.”

Alison’s hands go to her hips. “And I had to buy a cat.”

“And I hate cats,” Barrett adds, shaking his head. “Just keep the phone out of his sight. Got it?”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Geez, you make it sound like you regret agreeing to leave him with me.”

“We only agreed because we need a night to ourselves,” Barrett sighs. His hand finds the curve of Alison’s hip and he brings her to his side as her head falls against his shoulder. “We’ve not had a night alone in forever. We need a break.”

Smirking, I start to retort with how I’d spend a night alone with Alison if I was him, but am silenced by Barrett’s warning glare before I can get a word out. Instead, I laugh and head into the kitchen. “You guys want a drink?”

They turn down my offer, but follow me into the next room. Hopping up to sit on the island, I look at my brother. He looks at me. We exchange a smile. It’s a gesture that’s loaded with a feeling I’ve never been able to find with anyone but my siblings. A look of comfort, of understanding. Of “I don’t know what in the hell you’re doing, but I’ll do it with you.”

Barrett looks at Alison like that. Ford looked at his girlfriend like that too before they broke things off when he went overseas. I’ve never been close to feeling that way with someone else who wasn’t a Landry.

“Tell me about her,” Alison says softly.

I grin like crazy because Barrett rolls his eyes, earning him a nudge in the side from Alison.

“She’s . . .” I watch my bare feet swing. It’s easy to joke about things, about women, with my brothers. I’m the goofball of the family; I can play everything off. But with Alison, it’s different. She picks up on so much more. It’s like she has a bullshit meter that dings when my mouth opens.

“Go on,” she encourages.

“Her name is Danielle. I met her by accident. She’s . . .”

“Not a whore?” Barrett offers.

“She’s not a whore. She’s beautiful and smart and funny as hell. She reminds me of you, Ali.”

“And she’s also impervious to your abs, I recall Graham saying,” Barret adds.

Alison laughs, wrapping her hand around Barrett’s arm as I wince.

“Fuck Graham.”

“Hey,” Barrett shrugs, amused. “That’s the word on the street.”

“I think that’s a very good thing,” Alison whispers, swatting my brother. “Never take a girl seriously that just wants your abs, Linc.”

“But they’re great. Wanna see?”

“No, she doesn’t,” Barrett glares.

It’s my turn to shrug. “Just being nice and offering. She’s been with you a while. She’s not seen something like this in a long time.”

Barrett begins to fire back, a grin on his face, when Huxley ambles in the room. “This place is nice. I put my backpack on the bed with the boxes on it. We can move them right?”

Furrowing my brow, I make a face. “Yeah. I wonder what’s in the boxes?”

“How do you not know?” Alison asks.

“Rita kind of does her thing and I sort of live around it. Stay out of the way.”

“But it’s your house,” Hux points out.

“Weird, right?” I shrug.

Barrett taps at his watch. “We need to get going. Troy is waiting in the car. We’ll be back tomorrow afternoon sometime.”