The Summer Deal (Wildstone #5)(14)

So really, she had nothing to worry about.

She got home before anyone else and breathed a sigh of relief at the empty driveway. Perfect. She opened the door and immediately heard paws scrabbling on the wood floor, bracing herself as Mini came barreling around the corner.

There was nothing mini about Mini. She was a one-year-old, eighty-five-pound yellow lab puppy. Emphasis on eighty-five pounds and puppy, which meant that even though Kinsey braced to greet her, she still ended up on her ass being loved on by a whole lot of exuberant dog.

“Dammit, woman, control yourself.”

But Mini had no self-control at all. She whined excitedly and “woo wooed” while giving a ridiculously adorable grin, beyond thrilled to have one of her humans on the floor with her. She went on like she’d been alone for decades instead of a few hours, her entire hind end wriggling while she licked Kinsey from chin to forehead.

“You’re the only one I let do this,” she murmured, knowing it was a big, fancy lie. Just last night Deck had taken his tongue on a tour of every inch of her body. “Well, one of the only ones I let do this,” she corrected.

Managing to get to her feet, she walked through the creaky old beach house, heading up the stairs and down the hallway to her bedroom with Mini shadowing her. Stripping out of her clothes, she let out a sigh because her pants had been cutting into her waist all day.

Side effects of the meds she was on . . . bloating.

Her bra hit the floor next, and she sighed again. Bliss.

So was her bath, even if Mini sat there watching with her huge eyes, just waiting for an invite into the tub. “No,” Kinsey said firmly.

Mini huffed out a sigh and set her head on the edge of the tub. But Kinsey remained firm, because the last time she’d forgotten to set boundaries, Mini had jumped in with her. It’d taken all the towels in the house to clean up that disaster.

After her bath, she pulled on a soft T-shirt dress and her favorite, way-too-expensive new work sandals, before piling her hair on top of her head and heading down the stairs. She’d say hi to whoever was home, grab food, and vanish. Because that was all she had in her.

She was standing in the kitchen eating leftover Chinese out of the container when she heard the front door open. And then voices.

Eli and a woman. Her first thought was, Good for him, because it’d been a while. Her second thought brought a sigh—it was probably just the new roommate.

“Oh, it’s beautiful,” the woman said. “Have you lived here long?”

“Bought it about five years ago,” Eli answered. “Couldn’t resist the location. We’re fixing it up slowly as we get the time.”

“We?”

“My brother and I. There’s one bedroom downstairs—which is rented out to the roommate who’s in Paris for four more months—and then four more bedrooms upstairs. Two with their own bath, which are mine and Max’s. The other two bedrooms have a bathroom between them, so you’ll have to share. That’s why the rent’s so cheap.”

“You had me at cheap,” the woman said, and Kinsey cocked her head.

Wait. Why did that voice sound familiar?

“The woodwork in this house is beautiful. Reminds me of the cabins we used to stay in at summer camp.”

Kinsey froze. Oh, hell no. No way Eli would do that to her. Except . . . shit, this was exactly something he’d do to her, because that’s what he did. Interfered in her life, doing whatever he thought best for her. She set the Chinese food down and cautiously peered out the kitchen doorway.

Eli was in his usual work uniform of faded jeans and a button-down, his sleeves shoved up to his elbows. The woman with him wore a cute strappy denim sundress that Kinsey could never wear because all the bruising around her biceps from the three days a week of dialysis made other people uncomfortable.

And, yeah, Kinsey knew her.

Dammit.

Pretty ballsy of Eli not to give her a head’s up—though, actually, it was undoubtedly the smartest way for him to have gone about this, because she’d have refused. She took one step into the living room and glared at Eli. “Can I talk to you a sec?” Moving back into the kitchen without looking at the new roommate, she then sent daggers at Eli as he entered, thankfully alone.

He looked at her.

She looked at him right back.

He leaned against the counter, casual as you please, and raised a brow.

Fine. She’d go first. “Why the hell is she standing in our front room?”

“Take a wild guess.”

Because Kinsey had been promising to get in touch with her half sister for years now. She’d also promised to tell said half sister that she was a half sister. “How did you even find her?”

“She was in the ER when you were in the OR, but the waiting area is the same for both. We ran into each other at the vending machine.”

She crossed her arms, feeling bitter and defensive. “Right.”

“It’s true,” came Brynn’s voice from the other room. “And hey, I’m totally okay, thanks for asking! Also, are you? Because I’ll need a yes to that question before I go back to not missing you in my life. P.S., you’ve got very thin walls.”

Eli gave Kinsey a long look, like Say something.

She’d say something approximately never.

“Fine,” Brynn called out from the other room. “I should’ve known this was too good to be true. Thanks anyway, Eli, and no offense, but you both still suck!”