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With Mia in nothing but my T-shirt and her ass on the counter in my kitchen, I slide my hands up the tops of her thighs, and she parts her legs. I groan against her tongue then pull back and watch her lashes flutter open, and her tongue comes out to touch her bottom lip. “Pancakes are gonna burn,” I rumble.

Laughing, she puts pressure on my shoulders and pushes me away. “I was minding my own business when you came over here to attack me.”

“You’re just too tempting.” I flip over the last pancake then look at her over my shoulder as she fiddles with the bottom of my tee, and my cock twitches. It’s baggie on her, but still her legs are showing along with her nipples through the thin material. “What time do you need to be home today?”

Laughing again, she shakes her head. “I don’t have a curfew. Just let me know when you’re tired of me, and I’ll go home.”

“Does your sister work tonight?”

“No, she has the day off, and Mike has the girls until this evening, so I’m sure she’s catching up on schoolwork today.”

“Wanna see the house Bax and I are building and have dinner with me?” I ask as I pull out two plates from the cupboard and take the pancakes off the griddle.

“I’d like that,” she says, hopping off the counter, grabbing her coffee and mine, and carrying both to the table. “I just need to run home and change.”

“How about we leave your car here, I’ll drive you to your sister’s, and we can leave from there?” I set our plates down, and she smiles up at me from where she’s sitting.

“That works.” I touch my mouth to hers in approval then go to the fridge to get the butter. I take a seat in the chair next to hers, and she takes the bottle of syrup, drenching her pancakes.

As I take the syrup from her, the doorbell rings. “Shit.”

“Are you expecting someone?” she asks, looking somewhat nervous.

“No.” I push back from the table, and she glances toward the door when the bell rings again. “Eat, I’ll be right back.” After I get her nod, I head to the front of the house, and the moment the front door comes into view, I see Bax standing on the other side of the glass. Fuck. I pull the door open and raise a brow. “What’s up?”

“I’ve been trying to call you for the last hour.”

“Mia’s here.”

“I figured that was her car when I pulled up.” He runs his hand through his hair, and I notice he looks freaked or pissed, maybe both.

“What’s going on?” I step outside and shut the door.

“The house.” He pauses, scrubbing his hands down his face. “Fuck, man, the house is completely trashed.”

“What do you mean the house is trashed?”

“I decided to go over there to make sure Uncle Asher’s guys had enough grout and tile to finish the rest of the bathrooms this week. When I got there, the door was open, which happens sometimes with the lock, but when I went in….” He shakes his head. “I called the cops. They’re still there along with everyone else.” My stomach sinks and my hands ball into fists as he continues. “Someone took a fucking sledgehammer to everything inside the house—the counters, cupboards, windows, sinks. Anything they could smash, they did.”

“Who?”

“Do you think if I knew who did that shit that I would be standing here with you?” he bites out.

“Goddammit, we are so fucked,” I growl, then turn and open the door and stomp down the hall.

“Is everything okay?” At that softly spoken question from Mia, some of the rage I’m feeling dissipates. I go to where she’s still sitting at the table, only now she’s wearing her shorts and one of my sweatshirts with her hair still slightly damp from our shower earlier.

“I’m sorry, baby. I gotta go with Bax.” I get down on my haunches in front of her and take her hands, hoping the contact will calm me down enough to think clearly.

“Okay,” she agrees, looking nervously over my shoulder. “Umm… we haven’t met officially, but it’s nice to meet you.”

“You too, babe,” Bax mutters, and I squeeze her hands to get her attention.

“I still want to have dinner with you tonight.”

“Sure.” She licks her lips then asks quietly, “Is everything really okay?”

“Someone broke in the house we’re building and did some damage. The cops are there now along with my uncles.”

“What?” Her hands convulse in mine. “Who?”

“I don’t know.” I lean forward and touch my mouth to hers then dip my chin toward her plate. “Eat and hang as long as you want. I’ll leave a key on the table next to the door for you to lock up, and I’ll text when I know I’ll be back here.” She nods, and I drop her hands and stand then head back to my room to throw on some clothes. When I come back out, I find Bax sitting where I was earlier, making Mia laugh while he eats my pancakes. “Stop flirting with my girl and eating my fucking breakfast.” I narrow my eyes on my brother, and he grins in reply, which makes Mia laugh. “Don’t encourage him.”

“Don’t you know you should never leave a pretty woman or food at a table unsupervised?” he asks before shoving the last bite of pancakes into his mouth.

“You know I can still kick your ass, right?”

“You can try.” He shrugs as he stands then looks down at Mia. “Have you noticed he’s a little possessive?” He holds his fingers an inch apart.

“A little.” She fights back a smile and I walk over to him, shoving his back, and listening to him laugh while I pull Mia from her chair. The moment she’s standing in front of me, I cup her face.

“I’ll see you tonight.”

“Text me and let me know everything is okay.”

“I will.” I dip my head and kiss her, sweeping my tongue into her mouth. When I pull away, I touch my lips to her forehead then look at my brother.

“Let’s go.”

He moves to leave ahead of me then stops and turns to look over his shoulder and winks. “Later, Mia.”

“Just fucking go, you idiot.” I shove him forward, listening to Mia laugh as we head out of the house.

“I can see why you like her,” Bax mutters as he backs out of my driveway.

“Yeah.”

“So it’s legit?” he asks softly after a few minutes.

“Is what legit?”

“The whole curse bullshit?”

I smile. “I don’t know, man. All I know is the moment I saw her, I knew I had to talk to her. Then I knew talking to her wouldn’t be enough, that I wanted more. And I don’t think that feeling’s going to go away until I have all of her.”

“Couldn’t you have waited until we were done with this house to find her?” he grumbles, turning onto the road that will lead us to the house. “I mean fuck, man, look at the history of bad luck anyone with our last name has when it comes to settling down.”

“Are you trying to say that you think me getting with Mia is why someone trashed our house?” I ask in disbelief.

“All I’m saying is it’s a pretty big coincidence,” he mutters, and I start to laugh, but the sound dies in my throat as we pull up to the house where police cruisers and about six trucks are parked.