“Who the hell are the Tudors?” RJ, who’d been coming in lately to fill in for Anthony, strolled behind the bar with a long-legged stride that was more lazy than slow. Courtney’s older brother had an affinity for ripped jeans, borderline-inappropriate T-shirts, and old cars.

Oh, and Rebecca. Although that wasn’t really an affinity. More like a love/hate/drive-each-other-crazy… thing.

Over the years, Brody had never been sure if RJ had wanted to kiss the hell out of the redhead or wring her neck. At the same time, he wasn’t sure if Rebecca would protest the former.

At RJ’s appearance, Rebecca stopped her texting and glanced up. She moistened her lips and followed his movements behind the bar, her shoulders stiffening noticeably. Brody’s stepbrother fixed his gaze on her for a brief moment but didn’t say anything. Probably for the best. RJ had an odd sense of humor that often turned sweet Rebecca into… well, not sweet.

Courtney shot her brother a narrowed-eyed look. “I wouldn’t expect someone like you to know what that is.”

One of RJ’s blond brows shot up his forehead. He withdrew a protein bar from the back pocket of his jeans. With slow movements, he peeled the wrapper open then ate practically half the bar in one bite. “You mean someone with a life?” he asked after swallowing.

“That’s debatable,” Courtney countered. “Why are you even here? Don’t you have, like, grease to get your hands in?”

RJ chewed and looked back at his sister. “Helping a brother out,” he responded with a nod toward Brody. “Because I’m a nice guy like that.”

Rebecca, who’d otherwise remained silent, which was odd in RJ’s presence, snorted. The sound had RJ drilling his blue gaze into her. A muscle in his jaw ticked, then one corner of his mouth kicked up.

Sick bastard.

Courtney grinned, because she always got shits and giggles out of RJ and Rebecca’s relationship. “This one disagrees with you.”

RJ finished off the protein bar, chewed, and swallowed. “She’s biased.”

“That’s not what I’d call it,” Courtney countered.

His brother crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back against the wall, as though having the time of his life. In all honesty, Brody wouldn’t be surprised if that was the case.

Yeah, definitely a sick bastard.

“Why don’t we hear what Rebecca calls it?” RJ wanted to know.

Rebecca, who’d done an outstanding job of otherwise ignoring RJ’s presence, which wasn’t an easy thing to do, slid her phone into the back pocket of her jeans. She focused her attention on him and went several seconds without blinking.

Uh, yeah. They were having some kind of weird staring contest that made Brody feel like he needed to give them privacy.

“You don’t want to hear what I’d call it,” she finally said in that soft voice of hers. Then she turned her attention to Courtney. “Can we go now?”

“I haven’t even gotten to the reason for my visit yet,” she argued.

Brody heaved a sigh and counted to ten. He loved his sister to death, but, man, she could be taxing. “Please get to it then. I have work to do.”

“All right, already.” She sucked in a deep breath, and blew it out. “I need a job.”

“What?” RJ tossed out.

“But you have a job,” Brody reminded her, while ignoring his brother.

“Yeah, but it’s not exactly paying the bills. Plus my mom’s all up in my biz.”

RJ lifted his shoulders, then let them fall. “So tell her to back off.”

Court shot her brother a droll look. One she’d perfected by the age of ten. “What a great idea. Why didn’t I think of that?”

Brody slugged his brother in the shoulder. “Stop talking.”

“I’ve tried that tactic before,” Rebecca said. “It doesn’t work.”

“Ooh, she burned you,” Courtney remarked with a sly grin.

Someone just kill him now and put him out of his misery. Brody pinched the bridge of his nose. “What kind of job are you looking for?” he asked in an attempt to steer the conversation back on track. If one could even call it that.

“Anything,” his sister answered. “I’ll clean toilets if I have to.”

RJ tossed his head back and howled with laughter. “I’d actually pay money to see that.”

“Pay it to me then, because I seriously need some cash,” Courtney urged.

Brody stepped forward and ignored the banter between brother and sister. Honestly, those two were worse than bickering toddlers. “Court, I can’t hire you.”

She slapped her hand on the bar top. “Why not? And don’t tell me you can’t hire family when you’ve got this guy here.” She finished her demand with jabbing her finger toward RJ.

Brody shook his head. “It’s not that. The restaurant’s struggling right now, and we’re having to cut back on hours and let go of a few employees. Besides, RJ’s not being paid.”

“See, I really am a nice guy,” RJ said with a lifted brow toward Rebecca.

She ignored him. Smart girl.

“You’re only here because the women fall all over you like you’re freakin’ Chris Hemsworth,” Courtney shot out.

Rebecca shook her head. “Where do you come up with these names?”

“You have to know who he is!” Courtney argued with a hand waving in the air.

RJ shook his head and pushed away from the wall. “I can’t take any more of this nonsense.”

Courtney shot furious glares at her brother’s backside as he ambled away from them. Lucky bastard.

“Okay,” she said to Brody. “There isn’t anything you can pay me to do? I’ll take minimum wage if I have to.”

Ah, shit, she was doing the lip-biting bargaining thing. Courtney may have been able to bring on the drama that would knock Sally Field on her ass, but, man, she could yank sympathy like nobody’s business. Must have been a special talent of hers.

“Court,” he said on a sigh, because he really wanted to help her. He just couldn’t. “I’m sorry, but I can’t. Do you have any idea what Dad would say if he found out I hired you?” He held up a hand when she opened her mouth to argue. “And it’s nothing personal against you. It has nothing to do with whether or not I think you’re responsible, because I do.” He had to throw that little disclaimer in there because he knew her too well. “It’s just a matter of economics.”

When the defeat finally hit her, which was never an easy thing with Courtney Devlin, her shoulders slumped and her eyes dropped closed. And, yeah, he felt bad. Like just-kicked-a-puppy bad. A crippled puppy.

She picked up her purse and slung it across her torso. “Fine,” she said on a low voice. “But if you find my lifeless body because I died of starvation, I’m going to say I told you so.”

He narrowed his eyes at her. “That doesn’t really make any sense.”

“And now you just killed my punch line. Thanks for kicking me while I’m down.”


Until now, Brody never thought it was possible to look sexy in a pair of torn sweatpants and a threadbare T-shirt with a suspicious green stain. The pants practically swallowed Elisa’s slim waist and incredibly long legs. Not every woman could throw on such a mismatching, homey outfit and look good enough to lick. Elisa pulled it off with effortless ease. He had visions of her long, swinging ponytail tickling his chest as she straddled his hips and leaned down for a kiss. Hell, he’d had dozens of visions about her, and half of them were a lot more X-rated than that. The sad thing was that his brain could no longer filter them out at the appropriate times.

Earlier today, he’d been distracted from the payroll because the numbers on the checks had turned into erotic fantasies, one of which involved her licking chocolate off his chest. What kind of man had fantasies like that?

The kind that was half in love with a woman he’d just met. Brody didn’t make a habit of falling for women he’d known for less than two weeks. Even Kelly hadn’t captured his heart that fast. The final nail in his coffin was how she treated his son. Tyler was a mama’s boy who missed his mother like nobody’s business. The occasional hand on the shoulder or the affectionate hug Elisa gave him was a good temporary replacement for the motherly love Tyler needed, and Brody was grateful for that.

The good thing was that she offered a distraction to a shitty end of his shitty day. Another disagreement with his father had created a massive storm cloud over his head. The thing had followed him from work and had damn near forced him into a serious case of road rage.

Not to mention the cloud of guilt he’d been carrying around for having to turn his sister away empty-handed. It killed him, knowing she was struggling and thinking she could turn to family for help. Not being able to offer that help had made him feel like his hands were tied behind his back. Maybe he could pay her out of his own pocket. Even though Court was his stepsister, because her mother was married to his father, he loved her like she was his blood. As well as RJ. The two of them had come to the McDermott family, and may have carried a different last name, but they’d fit in like they’d been born McDermotts.

He rang the bell, and after allowing him in the front door, almost an hour later than he’d been last night, Elisa led him into the house.

“Where’s Tyler?” he asked after seeing an empty kitchen and living room.

Elisa straightened some papers on the table. “He’s in my office using the computer. He’s got a history project due tomorrow and needed to get it typed.”

Brody glanced at Tyler’s school stuff. “He didn’t mention anything about a project.” It wasn’t like his son to leave such a thing to the last minute and not even bring it up.

Elisa’s mouth turned up in an amused grin. “I think he waited until the last minute because he didn’t want to do it. I tried to help him as best I could, but I don’t really know my history.”