Her Dominant SEAL(22)
“Oh yeah. Even his muscles have muscles. And his hair is black and wavy.”
“Maybe I should be the one delivering Piper’s homework?” Karen swore she could hear Edna lick her lips. Not that she could blame her. “Okay, enough of that. But I did think he was hot even when he was two years my junior. So do you think Piper’s safe with him? Maybe they should both leave the state?”
“Something tells me that he can handle things.” Karen thought about the danger and confidence emanating from the man and knew she was telling the truth.
“Okay, then we continue to get Piper her homework, and just handle it like we would any student who has to miss school. Are you safe being the go-between?” Edna suddenly asked.
“I’m fine,” Karen assured her friend. “He’s going to have a friend pick me up.”
“If it gets dicey, we could do things via e-mail and SKYPE,” the principal suggested.
“We’re working on the college and scholarship applications,” Karen reminded her.
“Darn it, I forgot. I just didn’t want you to be in the middle of all of this.”
“I can handle myself. If things get really bad, I’ll call in my brothers.”
“I’ve been hearing about the Eastman boys for five years now. Are you sure you haven’t been making things up?”
“I’m sure. But they’re in Alaska. I think it’s a little far for them to come.”
“I think if they hear their baby sister is in trouble, they’ll show up.” Edna laughed.
“Probably. I should have some of Piper’s completed assignments day after tomorrow, so I’ll see you then.”
“Sounds good.”
Edna hung up. Karen got up and took her empty mug into the kitchen, still contemplating everything she’d learned that day. Nope, she wasn’t going to let the Averys handle this on their own.
***
“Will I like him?”
“Huh?” Drake looked up to see Piper watching him. He’d been staring at the security monitor. Aiden should be there in twenty minutes, he didn’t need to be checking the screen now.
“What’s your friend like? Is he like you?”
Piper was biting the tip of her pencil as she was sitting cross-legged on the couch with her text book in her lap.
Drake went over and sat next to her. “Aiden’s great, Tinkerbell. He’ll love you.”
She gave him a slow smile. “Well, that’s a given. But will I like him?”
Drake burst out laughing. “Now that’s the important question, isn’t it? He’s not nearly as charming as I am. And he’s old.”
“How old is he?”
“He’s over thirty,” Drake teased.
He watched as Piper gave him a considering look.
“Aren’t you going to be thirty this year?”
“Busted. I didn’t think you’d know about that.”
“Trenda and Eva talked about it. Trenda was really sad when she mentioned it.” Piper tapped her pencil against her book. She looked up at him. “I know this situation sucks, but having you home is a really good thing.”
He hugged his little sister. Drake kissed the top of her head. “Yeah, I’ve missed you, Tink.”
“I missed you more.” She smiled up at him.
He stood back up. “Give Evie a call. She hasn’t checked in. I told her I wanted to hear from her every hour. It’s been seventy minutes since her last check-in.”
“She’s only ten minutes late.”
“All she had to do was text. I agreed she could go to work, but she had to obey those rules while at the hotel. Call her, Piper.” Drake went over to the screen and saw an SUV, similar to the one he rented, pull up to the gate. He waited until he could see Aiden on the screen before he activated the intercom. At the same time, he could hear Piper talking to Evie behind him.
“Avery?” Aiden asked.
“I’ll let you in,” Drake said through the intercom. He depressed the button to open the gate. Then he went over to Piper where she was on the phone with Evie. He held out his hand, and she gave him the phone.
“Evie, you were supposed to check in ten minutes ago.”
“I got busy,” she said belligerently.
“All you had to do was press send on your phone. That’s no excuse. If this were Piper, would you put up with it?”
He could almost hear her thinking. Then she sighed.
“I won’t let it happen again.”
“Thanks.”
“Has your friend shown up?”
“Yep.”
“Good. Trenda needs you to go over to her place.”
“Why what’s wrong?”
“Give her a call. You’ll want to bitch her out, then you need to get your ass over there.” The line went dead. Dammit, was his sister never going to learn how to say good-bye like a normal person? He punched in Trenda’s number.