A Better Man(85)

While he'd been on the plane last night with no one to talk to except Ziggy, who'd abandoned him as soon as Lucy called his name, he'd made notes about investigating wine production in the area. A few new local winery tour companies had sprouted up, and he wondered if Sunshine Creek was on their map. He'd have to make sure he asked Ryan. Wine-­tasting tours were a great way to bring in revenue.

When he opened the front door to his parents' house, Ryan, Declan, and Ethan were already settled around the dining room table with a carafe of coffee in the middle and various breakfast pastries piled up on a plate. The acid from the two cups of coffee Jordan had drunk clawed at the empty pit of his stomach. He figured what the hell and grabbed two bear claws before he poured another mug.

"Dieting again?" Declan smirked. "Or drowning your sorrows in sugar?"

Jordan looked up. His brother couldn't possibly know that Lucy had kicked his ass to the curb.

"Exactly what sorrows would I have to drown? Our team is one step away from the playoffs."

"And you're front-­page news too. Gee, aren't you lucky."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

Ryan shoved the newspaper in his direction. When Jordan picked up the Talk of the Town and read the headline his blood pressure blew through the roof.

KINCADE HOT FOR TEACHER?

"Are you fucking kidding me?" He couldn't believe the North Carolina article had made it to front-­page news in the local trash paper. "This is bullshit."

Lucy's worst-­case scenario had transpired.

"Is it?" Ryan lifted his cup of coffee and looked at Jordan over the rim.

Arms folded, Ethan asked, "Does this have anything to do with your tux-­wearing apology?"

"I don't want to talk about my personal business." Jaw tight, Jordan bit off a piece of bear claw and nearly choked on the glob of sugary icing.

"Too damn bad," Parker said as he came into the room. "You start making trouble around here, you have to answer to us."

"How the hell did I start trouble?" He shoved the rest of the pastry into a napkin, wrapped it up, and squeezed it in his hand. "I merely asked Nicole's favorite teacher to come along because I thought she could help watch Nicki while I worked and maybe she could help her out with her assignments too."

Parker laughed. "That's the lamest bullshit story I've ever heard."

"What do you want me to say? That I took Lucy along for my own personal reasons?"

United, his brothers said, "Yes."

"Okay." He wiped the sugar from his fingers with another paper napkin. "I'll admit it was half and half."

"And are you hot for teacher?"

"If you're worried about Ms. Diamond's character, don't. She's too smart for that."

"Meaning?" Declan's eyebrows jacked up his forehead.

"Meaning whatever I thought we might have had, she showed me the error of my thinking."

"Stop dancing around." Parker poured himself a cup of coffee. "What the hell happened?"



       
         
       
        

"Are you asking out of genuine concern?" Jordan asked. "Or are you just being nosy?"

"Nosy," Declan admitted.

"Gee. Just when I was starting to love you again you go and get nasty."

"Did she dump you? Is that what crawled up your butt this morning?"

Fuuuuck. He did not want to talk about this.

"He did say she was smart," Ethan reminded them.

"She's probably way out of his league," Parker quipped. "I don't think Mensa allows hard-­hitting hockey players."

"I'm glad you think this is so funny."

"It's only because we love you, bro." Declan smiled, and Jordan had a hard time staying mad at the person he'd once built sheet tents with so they could stay up all night building stuff with Tinkertoys.

"I'm going to keep that in mind when a woman takes you down to your knees," Jordan said.

"Only one reason a woman will ever have me on my knees." Declan grinned. "And I can guarandamntee there won't be any clothes involved."

"Right, Mr. Celibate."

"Celibate!" Heads turned in Dec's direction while he cringed and flipped them all the bird.

"All right. Let's stop joking around," Ryan said. "This sounds serious."

It was serious.

But how could he tell these yahoos he was related to that the woman he'd fallen hard for had decided he wasn't worth the effort? He knew she felt something more for him than just the pleasure of great sex. Still, she'd found it pretty damn easy to give him the boot. He needed to investigate how serious of a problem this article was for her. He didn't want her to lose her job or respectability because of him. And he certainly didn't need to lose any more points in his favor.