NICE GIRL TO LOVE (THE COMPLETE THREE-BOOK COLLECTION)(73)

And yet he couldn’t bear the thought of giving her up, either.





CHAPTER SEVENTEEN


AFTER WHAT HAPPENED between them the night of the prom, after being a flirty, kiss-stealing, sexy-as-all-hell hot thorn in her side for weeks, Brian had cooled down and scaled back completely the past few days. In fact, they’d barely spoken yesterday.

At first, Abby figured it was normal with Skylar just getting out of the hospital and all. But when Brian then canceled their Valentine date last night with barely an explanation, an hour before she got a text from Skylar asking why she wasn’t doing something special with her dad for V-Day, Abby knew exactly what was going on.

Brian was being a self-sacrificing, impossible-not-to-want-to-hug stubborn ass.

Which is exactly why Abby showed up at his doorstep on Valentine’s Eve with bags of groceries in both hands, and a mulish you’re-not-getting-rid-of-me-that-easily look on her face.

“Abby!” came the excited squeals from the nosy-twins, Skylar and Becky, as soon as Brian opened the door. She slid her foot past the door jamb just in case he got any funny ideas.

A ghost of a smile twitched across his lips. “I told you I had to watch the girls tonight so Becky’s parents could have an evening out.”

“I know you did. And I accepted your unasked invitation to come over and help.” She bustled right past him and headed to the kitchen. “You ladies want to make Valentine cookies after you’re done with dinner?” When the chorus of yipping and clapping stopped, Abby dropped the bags and went back over to give Brian a kiss. “There’s nothing in the rules that says we can’t spend Valentine’s as a family. So you may as well just give in and let me fix that meatloaf I smell cooking in the oven.”

“Hey,” pouted Brian, wounded. “Meatloaf happens to be one of the dishes I cook well, thank you very much.”

Ha. Got him. “If you say so,” she deliberately provoked.

She took a step back toward the kitchen just as she felt one of his massive arms circle around her waist and tug her back against his chest. “I’ve missed you,” he whispered in her ear.

Melting into his arms, she replied softly, “Serves you right for trying to cut me out of your life.” Turning, she looked him square in the eye. “You haven’t been able to scare me off all these years.” She arched an eyebrow and tossed out loud enough for the pair of ears she knew were straining to eavesdrop on their conversation, “Do you really think you’re going to shake me now? Now that you’ve gotten in the habit of taking your shirt off around me all the time?”

Seriously, there was nothing cuter in the world than a big burly man blushing.

“How did you—”

He swung his eyes over to Skylar, who was now whistling and looking at a crack in the ceiling with utter fascination. “You little rat. Did you bother to tell her that the whole thing was your idea…or that you got the idea from your mother?”

At Abby’s surprised look, Brian ran over to give Skylar a noogie, which of course led to an all-out pillow fight war with the two girls ganging up on him. Abby just chuckled from the sidelines and watched as after two minutes and a few hundred screeching laughs, Brian emerged victorious with two flailing twelve-year olds held out at arm’s length, trying to bulldoze past his hands via their foreheads. “How long have you known what I’ve been up to?” he asked her curiously, affectionately ruffling the girls’ hair when they both eventually gave up and dropped to the ground to catch their breath.

“Let’s see,” said Abby. “You had that weird exchange with Skylar before you washed my car that one Sunday…” She tapped her finger on her mouth. “I’d say I knew about thirty seconds after that, and then confirmed it on Monday afternoon when I interrogated Skylar before my tutoring sessions.”

Skylar shot her hands up in the air like a helpless victim. “Dad, she came packing that day! S’mores brownies! She was totally ruthless! She didn’t play fair at all.”

Brian chuckled and shook his head, coming back to join her in the kitchen while the girls returned to playing their video game on the couch. “So every time after that day, when I took off my shirt?” he questioned quietly.

“I gave a silent thank-you for your efforts.” She spread a slow, roaming glance over his chest. “And the view.”

“And here I thought I was being so slick.”

Laughing, Abby shook her head. “Nope, Skylar’s right. You’ve got absolutely no game.”

His fragile male ego now completely offended, he lunged for her, presumably to give her a noogie as well, but she slipped through his arms and tossed back with a coyote grin, “So glad you had your middle school daughter to help you out with that.”

Then, wisely, she ran.

The girls paused their game to hoot and cheer her on as he chased her around the living room.

“You’ve turned my own flesh and blood against me,” he complained, nearly catching the tail of her t-shirt on her last rabbit scamper right past him.

“Maybe if you made better meatloaf, you’d have more allies,” she taunted, showing no signs of weakness even though she knew he was quickly closing her into a corner.

He launched into an airborne tackle at the precise moment she turned and spun out of his grasp. With a loud oomph, he landed on his stomach on the floor, to the resounding hollers of the girls, jumping up and down on the couch.