Take a Chance (Chance, #1; Rosemary Beach #7)(26)

“Well, hello,” he said, smiling at me in a way that made me uncomfortable. Then his gaze moved to Adam and his eyes widened a bit. “Adam, hey,” he said as Nan looked sourly at both of us.

“What are you doing here?” she snapped.

“I live here, and he’s my company,” I replied, stirring the sugar into my coffee and praying she would just go away.

“Pull in the claws, kitty. It’s your sister and Adam. Be nice.”

“She’s not my sister,” Nan said angrily.

I wasn’t in the mood for her stupid temper tantrums. I was getting sick of it.

“Then you probably should move out of the house my daddy paid for,” I said, and took a sip of my coffee.

The hate sparking off her eyes told me I’d pushed the right buttons. Good. She needed to grow up.

“How dare you!”

“How dare I what, Nan? Remind you that we share a father who owns this house? It’s as much mine as it is yours. If you want to argue, then please call him. I’m sure he’ll clarify that for you.”

The smart mouth was coming from somewhere. I wasn’t sure where; it was as if I’d been possessed and had no control over my words.

The tall blond guy laughed, then patted Nan’s arms as if to soothe her. “She’s your sister, all right. That mouth says it all. Calm your sexy ass and leave her and Adam alone. We aren’t here to drink coffee,” he said, then winked at me as if I wanted to know about his and Nan’s plans. “I’m August, by the way,” he said.

He was the golf pro I had heard about. I was just glad he wasn’t Grant. More glad than I wanted to admit. “Harlow. Nice to meet you,” I replied.

“Don’t talk to her,” Nan spat.

“You get mean when you drink tequila. I told you I was going to stop letting you drink so much,” August said.

“No, she’s mean all the time. Tequila has nothing to do with it,” I assured him.

Adam laughed this time, and I saw August hold back a smile. “I think I’ll stop things before we have a fight on our hands. Come on, Nan, let’s go upstairs.”

The beep sounded again and we all turned to see who was here.

The heavy sound of boots told me it was Mase before he walked into the kitchen.

“Shit, now he’s here,” Nan complained, which only made me smile.

Mase stepped into the kitchen and around Nan and August with a glance at them before he looked at me and Adam. “What’s up? Am I missing a family fight? I hate to miss those.”

“I’m taking this one upstairs to keep any swings from breaking out,” August told him.

Mase leaned against the counter in front of me before crossing his arms in front of his chest. “She can take swings if she wants, but she won’t touch Harlow. Not if she wants to keep her bones in working order,” he drawled as if he were bored.

August’s eyebrows shot up. “Dude, Harlow isn’t innocent here. She was mouthing off pretty good, too.”

Mase glanced back at me over his shoulder. “Did you talk back to her?” he asked.

I nodded. No use in lying. A grin broke out on his face. “Well, I’ll be damned. That’s my girl.” he turned back to August. “You can go on and take up with that one all you want. But when she’s stomped you under her spiky heels and crushed you, then you’ll see what a stupid idea this was.”

“Ugh, I hate both of you. Come on, August. Let’s go,” Nan grabbed his arm and they left the kitchen. We could hear Nan’s heels as she stormed up the stairs like a preschooler.

“That was . . . uh . . . interesting,” Adam said, then took a drink of his coffee.

“Ain’t it though. This place is a damn zoo,” Mase replied, and looked back at me. “Got any coffee left?”

I nodded and fixed him a cup then walked around the bar. It was awkward now. I wasn’t sure what to do with Adam after all that.

“I’m Harlow’s brother, Mase.”

He was introducing himself to Adam. I was a horrible hostess.

“Adam. Nice to meet you,” he replied.

“You two have a good night?” Mase asked.

“Yes,” we both said and I blushed.

Mase chuckled. “Well, I’ll head on up to bed. See you in the morning. Nice meeting you, Adam,” he said, kissing the top of my head, then heading for the stairs.

Once his heavy footsteps hit the stairs I looked over at Adam. “I’m sorry about all that. Maybe asking you in was a bad idea.”

“No. I, uh, get it now. Why you don’t like staying here. She’s mean as a damn snake. I am trying to figure out why August is messing around with her. I wonder if she even knows he has a little girl. Surely he isn’t letting her near his kid when he gets her on his weekends.”

Whoa . . . Nan was dating a man with a kid? I couldn’t imagine that.

“I hope he doesn’t. I’m afraid Nan would see a kid as competition for his attention. She’s that immature.”

Adam nodded and frowned. “I was thinking that, too.”

I drank some more of my coffee and considered inviting him into the living room or just saying good night. I was tired and after all that I wasn’t sure I wanted to make this last any longer. Especially if Nan started getting loud.