Calmly, Carefully, Completely(84)

I look toward it, and my insides go soft just thinking about her. “Her name is Reagan. You don’t care if she spends the night, do you?”

Sam raises his hand like a teacher is calling on him in class. “She can sleep in my room.”

I throw a pillow at his head, but he ducks and it sails past him.

“Is that the Reagan?” Matt asks. He reaches for a can of nuts on the coffee table and pops a handful into his mouth.

“Yeah,” I reply. “But don’t mention that to her, will you?” They all know about the rape. “And don’t act like you pity her when she’s around, all right? She’s private about that stuff.”

“I don’t pity her,” Emily says. “I admire the hell out of her.” She steals Matt’s nuts by crawling into his lap and prying them from his hands. He bats at her fingers, but he’s playing. He f*cking loves Emily. We all do.

“Well, I think I love the hell out of her, so you guys be nice.”

My brothers freeze. All but Sam, and he’s busy trying to steal the can of nuts from Emily. She knocks him over the head with it, and he gives up, sulking.

“You love her?” Paul asks quietly.

I can’t bite back my grin. “Yeah.”

“He’s got the coochie disease,” Sam says. “You know, the one where you get some and can’t stop thinking about getting some more.”

I throw another pillow at his head. “We haven’t even done that,” I say quietly. I look toward the door. I don’t want her to hear me.

“You haven’t?” Matt asks. He walks over and sits down on top of Emily, who’s still in Logan’s lap, and steals the nuts back from her. She squirms under him and finally gives up. He holds out a cashew for her, and she opens her mouth like a baby bird so he can pop it in. Then he climbs off her.

“Nope.” God, they’re nosy. “She has an apartment across town, over near where Emily lives.”

“Oh, then we can take her home,” Emily chirps. But she’s already harassing Matt for the can of nuts again. He pins her down on the couch with his elbow and eats them while refusing to let her up. “Logan!” she whines, but she’s laughing.

Logan just smiles. She gets herself into these messes; she can get herself out.

“I want her to stay here,” I say, shaking my head at Emily. Matt lets her up, and she leans against him with her head on his shoulder. He likes to cuddle with her. She’s like a sister to all of us, and I hope Reagan will fit in as well as Emily does one day. But I really can’t imagine her wrestling with them the way Emily does.

“What happened to your eye?” Paul asks. My eye is still a little blue from when she hit me.

“Reagan hit me,” I admit. Logan grins.

“Marry her,” Logan says. “Marry her right away.”

I nod. “I think I might,” I say quietly. I watch their faces. They all look at me, and then Logan starts to laugh. He gets up and high-fives me.

“Thank God,” he says. “I thought Emily would be the only girl around her forever.”

“Emily’s not a girl,” Matt says, grimacing at the thought of it. She shoots him a heated glance. But she’s not a girl. Not to any of us.

“So, you guys will be nice to her, right?” I ask.

“Duh,” Sam says drolly as he walks into the kitchen and gets a beer. He brings one to me, but I shake my head. I’m going to have Reagan in my arms for the first time ever tonight, and I want to keep my head straight.