Page 39 of Inked Temptation
Paige pulled back and glared. “You know, you do enjoy joking about the fact that you and Lee almost hooked up once. You’re lucky I love you. Because I’m pretty sure that you’re also Lee’s type.”
I snorted. “You know, there are a few ménages in our family. So we know that poly romances work well, but never for siblings. So don’t you worry. Lee is safe from my clutches.”
Paige laughed as Annabelle cringed. “Oh, good. Now there are images. Of you and Lee. Not Paige, and I don’t know what to do with that.”
I gave my best Grinch smile. “Oh, I have images too.”
Paige pushed at me, and Annabelle cackled. “Oh stop, you know that Archer and Jacob would’ve made a beautiful couple too.”
Annabelle shrugged. “True. But I got there first. Sorry, you snooze, you lose.” She wiggled her fingers at me, her eyes dancing.
I rolled my eyes. “It’s true. Both of you picked the perfect men. Well, I guess I’ll just have to keep on the lookout.”
Both of them froze for a moment before they smiled softly in unison.
“So, you are looking?” Annabelle asked, not too innocently.
“Are you ever going to tell us what happened with this Killian?” Paige asked, leaning forward and fluttering her eyelashes.
My stomach tightened at the thought. “He’s not for me,” I whispered.
The girls gave each other looks before they turned to me. “What did we miss?”
“He has a lot of healing to do. He’s been through so much. And this isn’t one of those movies where I can heal him. He just needs time.”Or a way to turn back time.
“I’m sorry to hear that. Well, if he needs a friend, you’re a great friend,” Paige put in.
“And if he needs a group of friends, we can be there for him. And I can promise you we will all be on our best behavior and not play matchmaker.”
I gave Annabelle a look as Paige agreed with me.
“What? I’m serious. We don’t push people on each other if they’re in pain. We may tease, but we don’t hurt. That’s not the Montgomery way.”
I moved forward and hugged her tight before I kissed her temple.
“I love you, twin.”
“Love me, too!” Paige called out as she skipped towards me. I hugged them close together.
I loved my family, and I was doing exactly what Killian had told me to do. Getting my head out of my ass.
By the time I left our boozy brunch, I was late getting up to the project site. But I wanted to check through things before the team came back without me the next day, so that meant I had to go through my notes.
The fact that I probably should have come earlier today wasn’t lost on me. However, I hadn’t wanted to see a certain person. There, I said it. I was avoiding Killian. Because we had kissed. And then he had pulled away, breaking the moment.
I pulled up to the house and looked at what had been done, nodding along.
My team was good, and I loved that I was putting my own stamp on this, not as part of the branch but as the leader. This wasn’t something I thought I would ever be able to do, but Beckett had thought I’d be perfect for it, and since he was training Clay to do this as well, our family was changing the dynamics, at least when it came to work. I felt like I could finally do something.
I gave the house a quick survey before I pulled out my tablet and began to take notes, going over everything that had been done for the past couple of days when I had been on other sites working on plumbing jobs for Montgomery Builders. There were a few touch-ups that I wasn’t one hundred percent happy with, so they would have to be at least fixed if not totally redone. It wasn’t that it was bad, but I was a perfectionist, and people would just have to deal with me.
I moved around the house, doing my best not to turn and look in the direction of Killian’s place. He needed time, space, and he did not need me.
And I had to be okay with that.
As if I had conjured him, Cora bounded towards me, barking a happy bark, and I set my tablet on the bench next to me and knelt down to pet the gorgeous golden Lab.
“Well, hello. I like this welcome.”
