Chapter 4

chapter

four

Brook

"Good grief, what did you do to yourself this time?" my sister asks when she enters the room. She's got her wild, kinky curls on top of her head in a pineapple, and one hand on her swollen belly.

"I just tripped." I wave my hand dismissively. "Nothing to worry about. How did your doctor's appointment go? That's the important thing."

Natalie sighs as she settles onto the other side of the sectional. "I'm at risk for gestational diabetes and pre-eclampsia. So I'm on modified bedrest for the next three months."

"That's scary," I say. "Are you okay? What can I do to help?"

"Are you sitting down?" Linc's voice echoes from the back of the house.

"Yes," she yells back. "Sitting, and I'm fine. Play your cards."

Another round of car doors slam outside, but they must walk directly around to the back of the house because no one enters.

"How often does this happen?" I ask. "This poker game thing?"

"Weekly, or at least that's how they started. But now they do a bigger game with some of the other guys in town once a month. We go over to Grady's house for that. You know Jess Munoz?"

"Oh yeah, I love her music."

"She's married to Grady."

"Oh, and you just casually toss that out as if going to a superstar's house for a poker game is old news." I playfully swat at her. "What is wrong with you?"

"I mean yeah, she's a huge star, but she's also so down to Earth. You'll meet her soon."

"Speaking of Saddle Creek celebrities, where is the Shirtless_Lumbersnack? I'm dying to meet him."

My sister grabs her phone and types something on it. Then the sound of a herd of elephants comes stomping towards us. One-by-one, the big, bearded men enter the room. I already know Linc. I force my eyes to flit over Landry and not stare at him. So I take in the two newcomers.

"Oh wow, it really is you," I say to the guy who is a social media superstar just for chopping wood without a shirt on. "The Shirtless_Lumbersnack, I'm a big fan. I'm Brook."

He shakes my hand. "Cain. And thanks, I guess."

"Guys, this is my sister, Brook. Y'all have to be nice to her," Natalie says. "Brook, this is Cain and the Hendricks brothers, Landry and Greyson."

Greyson and Landry look similar, obviously related, but where Landry is dark, Greyson has lighter features. They're both built like superheroes though. Tall and broad and loaded down with muscles. Not the kind that you earn in a gym either. No, these guys work with their hands. I'm guessing that their hands are rough with the callouses of a working man. I hate that I find that so attractive. Together, they are an obnoxious display of masculinity, if I'm being honest.

I paste a smile on. "Nice to meet y'all."

"Oh, Brook and Landry already met. He carried her inside," my brother-in-law helpfully says with an eyebrow waggle.

I blow out a breath. This is small town life, I remind myself. I wanted to be close to family. To find a community and place to belong.

"You didn't mention that," Natalie says.

I lift a shoulder. "Didn't seem that noteworthy."

"Ouch, baby brother," Greyson says, nudging Landry with his shoulder.

Landry's heated gaze is locked on me. His honey-colored eyes are darker from this angle, or he's pissed that I so easily dismissed him.

"Have you asked yet?" Natalie asks.

Linc shakes his head. "I was just about to get to that when you called us out here." He looks at me. "Satisfied having met the one and only Shirtless_Lumbersnack?"

I grin. "Most definitely."

"Are we gonna play cards or not?" Landry asks, his tone brusque. It's the first time I've seen him without that charming, affable grin. As if that might be just a facade.

Could it be that there's more to this handsome mountain man than his quippy comebacks and flirty winks?