Chapter 17
17
Well. They were right back at the ranch. Funny, that. Greer had picked her up after story time. She’d thought it would be her own sister, but Aubrey had gotten pulled back to the hospital—Guthrie had given Aubrey a ride and gotten stuck there himself. So, the Hillers were playing Pass the Ayla Around. That was okay—Greer was her bestiest bestie, after all. Well, Greer and Hala had equal rank and everything. She and Greer were looking for Hala now.
It wasn’t that easy to find her, though.
They finally found Hala—at the county attorney’s house. Since the county attorney was Hala’s big brother, that made a lot of sense. Ayla just stared at that big brother for a moment. She looked at Greer. “Both of my besties have really hot big brothers, you know.”
So pretty, that man.
“Hala does—me, not so much. Although Gunn would like it if you think so,” Greer said, helping her up Hudson Hanan’s porch. He and Giavonna were discussing something very loudly there by the steps. Something Martinaz v. Texas, 1946 . “I have questions for you, very, very soon. As soon as we figure out… this. ”
It looked like Giavonna had given Hala a ride home today.
She waved a hand toward the commotion at the end of the porch.
Attorneys arguing. How… shocking. Shocking, shocking.
And… that seriously hot dude had his hand an inch above Greer’s oldest sister’s rear end. Wow . That did not look professional to Ayla at all.
But they did look very pretty together. The two of them definitely belonged on a romance novel cover, no denying that. But… enemies-to-lovers. It was a given.
“What do you mean?”
Hala was there, her nephew Ryan—who looked just like her and was beyond adorable—on her hip. “Greer means that seriously hot Gunn man is seriously hot for you. As seriously hot as a preacher man can get, anyway. Now… what exactly are you planning to do about him?”
“I’m not the hot and sexy type guys fall all over. I never have been. The best I get is ‘ah, you are so cute, little sister’. I mean… I have seen the dudes look at Aubrey—and then they look at me. I’m her pet baby sister, you know. She feeds and waters me and takes me to the vet on a regular basis.” And she just wasn’t ready to talk about Gunn yet. Not really.
“Way to deflect,” Greer said. “Back to my brother. He’s hot for you. What are you going to do about it?”
“This is all new stuff for me, you know. I’ve never had to deal with a guy being hot for me in my life!” She looked for help. This was not a conversation she wanted to be having right now. Not without some serious time to process here. “Maybe we should ask Gia?”
Greer’s oldest sister was almost chest to chest with Hala’s brother right now. Her face was all red, too. But his good hand— he had a cast on one arm from a recent auto accident—really was on her back. Just one tiny inch above Gia’s rear end. It looked like he was pulling her closer and closer. “I bet guys are hot for her all the time.”
“You have no idea,” Greer said. “It can be so annoying. Seriously—hard to live up to that. ”
“No kidding. Have you met Aubrey?” Her sister and Greer’s sister were two of the most beautiful women Ayla had ever seen—and were two of the kindest. Which made then even more beautiful. “Maybe we just need to have another sleepover? Because when it comes to guys, I have far too many questions.”
“Gunn’s probably pretty simple to figure out.” Hala led them inside. Her nephew wanted to show them his new goldfish. Hala was there to help set up a two-gallon aquarium. Ryan was too adorable. He looked just like Hala, too. Even had the same curly brown hair and freckles.
Ayla really liked kids. Maybe Aubrey would marry Greer’s brother Guthrie soon, and they’d have really pretty, sweet, kind little kids someday? And live happily ever after. Ayla would like that.
“How so?”
“Simple, as in… grab that boy by the ears and just give him a kiss. He’d probably be total putty in your hands forever if you do.” Hala shot her a wicked grin. “And… you’d probably have a lot of fun shaking him to his toes, too. He’s seriously adorable sometimes. Chan was going to dance naked on their island one day to see if Gunn would even notice. But I do think he has noticed you. You could probably just sit on the counter and he would fall over himself, noticing you. Clothes on. He is very, very innocent, after all.”
“You’d be good for him, Ayl. I think you should go for it,” Greer said. “Maybe you should come up with a plan?”
But where would she even start? She had no idea what to do now.
“Guys are so complicated.”
“Isn’t that the truth?” her besties said in unison. As Giavonna shrieked in total frustration behind them, and Hala’s brother gave a really, really wicked—and rather sexy—man laugh and everything. Ayla turned—just to see.
He was smirking at Giavonna now as she stalked away, but… there was something in how he was looking at her…
Why did men have to be so complicated?