Chapter 5

CHAPTER FIVE

Owen

I watched Annalee sleep for the better part of our trip like a creeper. I couldn't stop my eyes from drifting over her lean frame. She reminded me of a dancer and I knew for a fact she was never one, so maybe a runner? Either that or she was blessed with great genetics because women her age usually complained about their metabolism slowing down.

At least, my sisters did and I had plenty of them. Only boy out of six kids. To say I was outnumbered was an understatement. I was close to all my sisters but it was Gracie I spoke to the most despite the twenty-two years between us.

Speak of the devil.

My sister's name flashed across the in-dash screen with a text message.

GRACIE: Call me when you have a free moment. I need to discuss something with you.

I wasted no time hitting the dial button. My sister answered on the first ring.

"I didn't expect you to call me so fast," she panted.

"Is everything okay?"

"Yes, big brother," Gracie sighed. "Just getting a mile in on the treadmill. If I do it when I first get to the gym, I have no excuse that I'm too tired later."

I laughed silently. I would never do it out loud. To one of the others, maybe, but not Gracie. She took revenge to the next level, even if we were in different states.

"So why did you have me call you?" I loved my baby sister more than anything, but usually when she wanted to talk to me about something, it was because she had a crazy idea up her sleeve and needed my help. Gracie was what my mother would call a free spirit. Like the woman sleeping next to me, she fluttered from job to job. Except in Gracie's case, she wasn't nearly as responsible with money.

"What would you say if I told you I wanted to move down to Willow Creek with you?" I was too shocked to answer and Gracie didn't give me the chance anyway before she started rambling. "I've heard you describe the town and I looked it up on my own. It's something straight out of a movie set and I think I fell in love with it immediately. I can see myself living there and it would mean I was closer to you again. I miss you. It's been forever since we've been in the same state."

I just saw her right before I moved down, but I didn't say as much. I'd heard something similar before and it came from the woman who was no longer sleeping in the passenger seat, but was pretending to be. I felt her wake up but appreciated her trying to give me privacy.

"If that's what you want, then I won't stop you."

I didn't have the pleasure of being able to pull the phone away from my ear when Gracie squealed her delight; the one downfall of having my phone hooked up to the car speaker.

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! My lease is up this month, so I'm going to get my stuff packed and shipped down. I can start looking for places now, but do you mind if I stay with you? It won't be for long."

I internally groaned. As much as I loved my sister, living with her would push that to the limit. She didn't understand boundaries even when they smacked her in the face.

"Sure, but just until you find a place. I don't exactly have a spare bedroom."

Well, I did, but there wasn't a bed in it. Boxes, sure, because I was too busy to unpack myself.

"Yay!" she squealed again. "Thank you again and I can't wait to see you!"

Gracie clicked off and I focused my attention back on my guest. "I know you're awake."

Annalee stretched her arms over her head. We had been in the car for almost six hours and she had slept for a majority of it. "I didn't want to interrupt. Who was that?"

"My youngest sister, Gracie. I was in the Marines for years when my parents had her. I didn't get to watch her grow up like I did the rest of my sisters, so I tend to have a soft spot for her."

Annalee smiled. "I figured as much when it didn't take long for you to cave to her wishes. How many sisters do you have?"

Now it was my turn to smile. "Five sisters. The rest are closer in age to me. Gracie was definitely an oops."

When she whistled it was like a siren to my cock. It wanted to know what those lips felt like wrapped around it. "That's a lot of women in your life. I bet your father had his hands full."

I chuckled at the thought. "As the oldest, he left that responsibility up to me. He wanted a basketball team of boys. He didn't know the first thing to do with girls."

Her response was a frown. "That's a little sad."

"Don't get me wrong, he loved my sisters as much as he loved me, but when they got dramatic, he turned things over to my mother. I guess that's why I handle it so well. I had years of women telling me what to do and not do when they were in a mood."

It was also why I never settled down. Just the thought of adding another woman to my life gave me a twitch. That was until I heard Annalee's voice. There was something about it that called to me.

"Where are your parents now?"

I didn't take my eyes off the road as I answered. "Dead. My mother first and then my father soon after." A pathetic laugh escaped my lips. "My father always said he couldn't live without her. I guess in the end it was true."

"I'm so sorry."

I shook off the sadness that tried to overwhelm me. "It's been a few years now. Their deaths are what pushed me to leave the Marines. I wanted to be closer to my family again."

"Do your other sisters live closer?"

I snorted. "No, and I prefer it that way." I clarified when she looked at me stumped. "All my sisters live close to one another up in Chicago. Well, I guess not Gracie anymore since she's moving down here. Being closer to my family didn't necessarily mean I wanted to live in the same state as them. As much as I love them all, I could only handle them in small doses. Just being in the same country was good enough for me."

"What made you choose Willow Creek?"

My hand tightened on the steering wheel as I focused on the road ahead of me.

"It's my teammate Aaron's hometown. He convinced us it would be a great place to start a new business.”

“You don’t sound like you agreed.”

She caught on quickly.

“I was the only one who hadn't been in favor of moving to Texas. Obviously, I was outvoted. I had the option to not join my friends, but in the end, I gave in. I would rather be with them somewhere I didn't like than be somewhere I liked alone. Besides, one of our friends has a similar company not far from there. It allows us to combine resources if needed."

“Why a security company?”

I smiled. “Because of Wes. Despite having two teams of his own, there are times Wes can't handle all the jobs that come his way. That complaining led to the idea of our own security company. And thus, Willow Creek Security was born.”

"Is the town as great as the pictures make it look?"

I glanced over and hated that I was about to burst her happy bubble. "It's just a town like millions of others. Sure, Main Street has some awesome shops but so do lots of other places. The people I've met so far have been nice though. I guess you can say Willow Creek and its residents are growing on me "

"Oh."

Yup, I was an asshole. The disappointment in that one word killed me, knowing I was the one to put it there.

"I'm not saying it isn't a great place. I guess I just didn't immediately fall in love with it like you and my sister."

I was going to have to check out these pictures that were making the two of them fall in love so easily. There had to be something I was missing.

Annalee didn't seem convinced by my added justification. I needed to change the subject and fast.

"You mentioned bouncing around to different jobs. What kind have you had?"

That appeared to do the trick. For the next thirty minutes, Annalee described her time as a bartender, a beekeeper, a dog walker, a surveyor, a tour guide, a courier, and even a delivery driver.

"But the best job I ever had was going to the hospital and cuddling babies that were born addicted to drugs. I would cry every time I came home, but damn if I didn't want to keep going back."

That said more about who she was than any question I could ask her.

"What made you quit in the end?"

A sad sigh hit me square in the chest. "The program was discontinued. It was only supposed to be temporary but I’d hoped they would continue it. That didn't happen. I tried to go as often as I could in my spare time since the nurses knew me but it was never enough."

My heart broke for all those babies who started life off on the wrong foot. It wasn't their fault the women who birthed them didn't care enough to quit using.

"Wow, this conversation took a turn into the sad department really quick." Annalee punctuated her statement with a half attempt at a chuckle. It brought a smile to my face.

"Then I have some good news." I glanced over at her and waited until she looked back at me. "We’re only ten minutes from Willow Creek."

I gave her a half grin, the one I was fully aware popped my dimple out just enough to know it was there under the scruff. This time, the sigh Annalee gifted me with was much happier, and for that I was grateful.

Maybe Willow Creek had another reason to grow on me.