pulled a mug from the cabinet and tossed Sugar a treat that she snagged when it landed on her bed, then sat down at the kitchen table across from his brother.
From over their heads, they could hear the sound of a shower running.
“She’s a looker,” Nathan said.
It took no effort at all to imagine Ariana standing beneath the running water.
It took considerable effort to squelch the inevitable result of that image. He grabbed the coffeepot his brother had set in the center of the table and filled his cup. “True enough.” He considered warning Nathan off, but decided against it. His brother would probably make something of it.
“Didn’t mention you were having company when I talked to you last week.”
“Didn’t know I was going to have company.”
“Sure about that? You guys were looking pretty cozy down in the cellar. Makes me wonder if my timing couldn’t have been a little better.”
Jayden ignored the devilry in his brother’s eyes. What he and Ariana had been doing in the cellar was none of Nathan’s business. “She’s a journalist from Austin,” he said. “She came to Paseo for some magazine she works for.”
Nathan gave a bark of laughter. “Paseo? What the hell is interesting around here?”
“She’s writing about the Fortune family. The real one. With all the money over in Austin.”
Nathan made a face. “Only one in the money around here is Grayson and he doesn’t even use our last name. Disappointing for her, I guess. What’s she been doing? Going through all the Texas phone books looking up anyone with the last name Fortune?”
Jayden sipped the coffee. Grimacing, he got up to get some milk from the refrigerator. Usually, he liked his coffee black, but Nathan made the worst coffee in the world. “I don’t know how she knew about us. Doesn’t matter, anyway. I told her the truth. Mom made up the name when she had us.” He dumped milk into the mug, then added a spoonful of sugar. “When did you get back from OK City?”
“Ten minutes before I saw that dinky red car sitting on its side.”
Jayden was the eldest of his brothers by a matter of minutes. “You shouldn’t have been driving in this weather.”
Nathan gave him a look. “Dude.”
“I don’t care if you used to be a SEAL or not. It was stupid.” He glanced up at the ceiling when the sound of the shower cut off.
He’d put a clean towel in the bathroom for Ariana to use. About now, she’d be running the pale blue terry cloth over that sexy little butterfly. Then, when she was all nice and dry, she’d be pulling on a pair of his sweatpants and one of his T-shirts.
He buried his nose in his coffee mug, taking a big swig of the nasty stuff. He choked it down and it was almost enough to overpower the images in his head. He should have found something for her to wear from his mother’s closet. It would have made more sense. And he wouldn’t be thinking about her skin, bare and soft, beneath his own clothes.
Banishing the image, he asked his brother, “Did you notice any other damage around the place?”
“Barn’s damaged on the north side, but the roof’s intact. Horses were restless, but okay. Haven’t checked anywhere else. I saw your truck. When I realized you weren’t in the barn or the house—” His brother didn’t finish. Just shrugged.
He didn’t need to finish. Nathan had come looking for Jayden. Period. Everything else could wait.
Through the window over the sink, he could see Ariana’s car. The wind was finally gone, but the rain showed no sign of slowing. Rivers of water had formed, crisscrossing the saturated ground around the storm cellar.
Well beyond the cellar was the barn. Only the corner of it was visible from where he stood. He was glad the barn roof was okay. But even gladder that the horses were okay. Property damage was bad enough without adding damage to their livestock.
“We’ll need to check the rest of the stock,” he said.
“I’ve spent enough time in the water for today. I never saw any cows flying through the air, so I figure it can wait until the rain lets up.”
His brother hadn’t been joking. Still, Jayden found himself smiling a little. “Weird, isn’t it?”
“What?”
“You went to the navy. I went to the army. Neither one of us wanted to be here.”
“And we both came back,” Nathan finished the thought.
Jayden knew why he’d come back. So far, though, Nathan wasn’t saying much about his reasons. Since he himself didn’t feel inclined to talk about his military separation, his brother’s similar silence didn’t strike him as particularly unusual.
“We should check and make sure there are no broken windows in the house.”
“That your way of getting rid of me so you can go on about entertaining your...journalist?”
He’d never known not having brothers. But there were moments when the idea was more than a little appealing. He lifted a brow and looked over the coffee mug.
Nathan didn’t bother hiding his amusement. “Hey. I think it’s great. About time you showed some of the old Jayden spirit.” But he pushed away from the table anyway. Like Jayden, he’d already changed into dry jeans and a shirt. “I’ll check this floor. You can check upstairs.”
It hadn’t been Jayden’s plan to go upstairs anytime soon. Keeping a little distance between him and Ariana didn’t sound appealing, but he knew it was only smart.
She’d been panicking in the storm cellar. Before he’d fallen for Tess, he’d been no saint when it came to women. But taking advantage of the situation with Ariana like he had was all sorts of wrong.
Not that he had even been thinking real straight at the time. Soon as she had tried undoing his belt, his resistance had been laughable. And when she’d come apart the way she had—
“Jayden?”
He jerked slightly, realizing that his brother had left the kitchen and Ariana had entered it. And the way she was looking at him made him suspect she’d been there for more than just a second.
He dumped the rest of the undrinkable coffee down the sink, trying not to dwell on the way the V-neck of the white undershirt he’d loaned her hung off one of her bare shoulders. On her, the shirt was loose, thank God. Way too loose to give any hint of the gorgeous breasts he knew were beneath.
“Shower okay?”
Her wet hair was slicked back from her face and twisted in a thick braid down the center of her back. “Yes, thank you.” She held up the towel in her arms and he realized she’d wrapped it around her wet clothes. “Do you have a washer and dryer I could use?”
“Sorry. I should have thought of that already.” His wet clothes were still lying in a heap on the floor in his bedroom.
