7. Sullivan
Chapter 7
Sullivan
I didn’t know what to say to that.
Also, I didn’t want to reply to every single one of my brothers who had texted me. We had a brother text chat, and it was positively blowing up.
“Okay, that’s it.” I stuffed my phone into my pocket.
“What?”
“My mother just texted me. I am moving to Nevada.”
Nora gave a low chuckle. One that made my jeans a little tight. “Is she giving you the business?”
“Something like that. It did include an invite to dinner.”
“Oh.” She licked her lips. “I wouldn’t hate to see your mom again.”
And I wouldn’t hate to see her again tonight. “Well, then, I guess we’ll see you at six.”
“I’ll be there.”
“Thanks for the...viral vid.”
She grinned. “Your abs and delightfully deep bass voice did the work. I just captured it.”
“Somehow I don’t think that’s why.”
“Sully, it really is. You’re stupid hot and us women enjoy the view.”
I hooked my thumb into my pocket. “Are you included?”
“I’m definitely not immune.” She started forward and I had to shuffle back, or she’d run into me.
Was that by design, or was I imagining things?
I grabbed my toolkit and followed her into the narrow hallway. Her floral scent swirled between us, and I had the strongest urge to crowd her into the door.
Booker’s girl.
The voice was annoying, and she was not Booker’s girl anymore, goddammit.
She was her own.
Nora opened the door, and I took a chance. It might be stupid, and it might backfire on me, but I was tired of this stupid stasis I was sitting in. I’d been so focused on being Danny’s dad that I’d cut off everything else.
I set the toolkit down when she opened the door. She frowned down at it, then glanced up at me. “Did you forget something?”
“Possibly.”
She leaned against the doorjamb, crossing those long legs. Her toes were still bare, and they glinted with something sparkly. She looked like every summer dream I’d ever had.
I stepped closer, until her scent would linger on my shirt, we were so close. She tipped her head up, that wide mouth of hers set in a little smirk.
Was that an invitation?
Could it be?
I leaned down and her mouth dropped open. I lowered my mouth to hers, just a few millimeters away. “See you tonight, Nora.” Then I straightened and picked up my tool kit and I whistled my way down her walkway. When I got to my truck, I glanced over my shoulder.
She was still there, her teeth sawing at her lower lip.
I wondered what it would taste like.
And if I might find out tonight.
I opened my door. “Remember where my folks’ live?” I called out.
She nodded.
“See you then.” I climbed in and backed out. When I checked my rearview, she was still standing there.
That had to be a good sign.
I headed back to my house. I’d left Danny with my folks and when I pulled up the drive, he was playing in the yard between me and my parents’ place with Trouble. My dad was out there with him, tossing a ball to the endlessly energetic dog.
Speaking of endless, I sighed when my phone buzzed again. As I walked over to them, I checked my booking app, and my jaw dropped. The tally was now fifty for jobs.
“Hey, Thunder from Down Under.”
I rolled my eyes. “Hardly.”
My dad waggled his eyebrows. “Your mother has been on the phone for the last hour.”
“God.”
He chuckled. “Talk of the town.”
“Yeah, well, it seriously looks like I need to call in the troops. I’ve got fifty jobs in the queue.”
“What?” My dad dropped the ball. Trouble came loping over to get it and dashed off to Danny.
“Yeah. I’m as surprised as you are.”
“Does this mean you have to do all jobs minus a shirt?”
I snorted. “I doubt that one.”
The screen door slapped shut as my mom hurried down the steps. “Sullivan Joseph Murdock!”
“Now you’re in trouble,” my dad said under his breath and took off to meet Danny and Trouble at the other end of the yard.
“What did I do?”
“You have my entire reading club talking about you! I have three dates lined up.”
“Dear God, no. Absolutely not.”
“Mazie’s niece is very interested.”
My stomach plummeted. “I am not going out with Rachel in this life or the next.”
My mother threw back her head with a delighted laugh. “We don’t need another unhinged woman in your life.”
“Thanks. I think.” I sighed. “Ma, I need you to work. your magic.”
“What am I fixing?”
“Not fixing. Just convincing.”
“I already invited Nora over for dinner. I think my magic is working just fine.” She looped her arm around mine and steered me toward my house. “First of all, you’re going to go have a shower.”
“That’s not what I meant. Though she did accept the invitation.”
“Wonderful!”
“Throttle back, matchmaker. It’s just dinner.” We walked up the steps to my back porch.
“I know. I’m looking forward to hearing all about Los Angeles. And why she’s single.”
“Ma,” I warned.
“What? I just want to get to know her again.” She patted my arm. “But what else do you need my help with?”
“Getting my brothers to come home. I think I’m going to need their help.” We got up to the top and she threw her arms around me. “Oh, I’ll have all my boys' home!”
I patted her back. “If you can get them here. This crazy video has me with more work than I can handle alone. Even if half of them are for thirst traps.”
She gave a delighted laugh. “You know Cash is more than happy to be shirtless all day long.”
I sighed. “I’ll have to convince him to stop at the shirt.”
She set me back. “I’ll start gathering my boys. You get cleaned up.” She patted my cheek and headed back down the stairs.
I pulled out my phone as I headed to the bathroom.
Cash: Do we get dollar bills in our pants too?
Kai: I always wanted to be a dancer.
Gus: With what rhythm?
Rip: dancer emoji
Me: I think the Murdock Brothers needs all the brothers.
Cam: Not it. I’m in Daytona.
Me: Get your ass to NY
Rip: Florida? On purpose?
Cam: A job is a job. I’m roofing.
Me: It’s one million degrees in FL
Cam: And the girls are all in bikinis. I’m good.
Guess I’d need my mom to definitely work on Cam. The text conversation went into overdrive as my brothers continued to spiral with the stripper topic.
I wish I’d never taken my damn shirt off.
Then again, I did wish for more jobs. And now I had more than I could handle in a month.
By the time I was out of the shower and dressed, the chat had devolved into baseball scores and NBA brackets for the upcoming playoffs.
I skimmed the texts and pocketed my phone on my way out the back door.
It was almost an hour before Nora would show up, but it gave me some time to reply to a few messages from the booking app. My face felt as if it was on fire by the time I got through a dozen of the jobs. Most of them were women—also a handful of men—all with colorful notes added to the job.
I checked over the railing of my deck to find Danny flat on his back, with a snoozing Trouble draped over his stomach. He looked happy. There were more and more moments of it, of course, but that was the first time he’d looked so carefree. And without his Switch was definitely a plus.
I headed down the stairs to where they were and dropped onto the ground beside them.
Danny stiffened a moment, before he relaxed again and laced his hands behind his neck. “Hi, Dad.”
“Hey, bud. How was school today?”
He shrugged. “The substitute teacher is really nice.”
“Yeah? Girl or guy?”
“Miss Stacey. She’s super pretty.”
I turned my head to grin at him. “Is that so?”
His face reddened. “Yeah, it’s no big deal.”
“My prettiest teacher was Mrs. Gallows. Red hair like a cloud and loved to use colorful chalk on the board. Pretty sure she’s the only reason I know the difference between your and you’re.”
Danny was quiet, but his bright blue eyes were trained on me for once. “Did you go to my school?”
“Sure did.”
He turned his gaze back to the sky. “I like school. Mom never let me go.”
My chest ached. I mirrored his pose with his laced fingers behind his neck and stared up at the sky with him. “You never have to leave school again.” My voice was rough, and I had to swallow down the lump.
“Good.”
Trouble flopped between us and stuck his head into the crook of Danny’s neck until he was laughing.
And damn, that sounded good to me.