A Reckless Witch - By Debora Geary Page 0,11
everyone is as allergic to marriage as you are.” Nell put a hand on his arm, and her voice lost the teasing tone. “They’re awesome together. Jamie’s really happy, Dev.”
He nodded. “Good to know.” It really was—he wanted only the best for his brother, even if it seriously cut into their cross-country motorcycle trips.
Nell pulled her car up to the curb. “Prepare to be mobbed.”
He grinned. “Prepare to be invaded.”
He almost made it out of the car before three nieces landed in his lap. “Uncle Devin!”
“Aren’t you guys supposed to be in school or something?”
Mia giggled. “It’s Saturday, silly. We’re supposed to be coding, but Uncle Jamie let us escape long enough to drag you down to help.”
He wiggled his fingers. “Master coder, ready for action. Lead on, minions.” Laughing hands tugged him toward the house. Time to shake the rust off his coding skills, preferably before his nieces figured out he was badly out of practice.
Given what he’d seen of Ginia in Realm lately, he was probably in trouble.
Jamie stopped their small herd at the bottom of the basement stairs and gave Devin a quick hug. “Shh, guys. Aervyn and Lauren are working on something a bit tricky, so let’s not disturb their concentration, okay?”
Hey, Devin. Good to see you again. Lauren’s cheery mental voice didn’t sound overly occupied. Aervyn’s doing all the heavy lifting—I’m just holding things steady for him. We’ll be done in a minute.
The last time he’d seen her, she’d been Nat’s maid of honor, and Matt had won the coin toss to escort her down the aisle. He’d assumed the slight itch he’d felt all that day had been related to the wedding. As he watched her doing magic with his nephew, it was pretty clear he’d been wrong.
The itch was back. And his brother’s wife’s best friend was way out of bounds for his usual love-’em-and-leave-’em routine.
Jamie punched him in the shoulder. Way out, dude. She’s not your type, anyhow. Boobs are too small, brains are too big.
You might want to save your discussion of my boobs until there are less people listening, sent Lauren dryly. Aervyn’s education on that front could stand to wait a few years.
Jamie winced. Sorry, I forgot I was monitoring the two of you.
Really. Lauren rolled her eyes and Aervyn shook with giggles, but they managed to close off the spell before totally falling apart.
Devin picked up his giggly nephew for a big bear hug. He also kept his eyes way, way off Lauren’s chest. “How’s it going, superboy?”
“I’m good, and I’m learning to fly on a broom.” Aervyn’s hearing aids flashed visible for a moment, a clear sign he was trying to whisper. “And I think Lauren’s boobs are pretty nice.”
Terrific. Now his three nieces joined Lauren in the puddle of laughter on the floor. Jamie sighed. “You’re not helping us out here, cutie. It’s not really nice manners to talk about that kind of stuff.”
Aervyn nodded solemnly. “It’s guy stuff, right? For just inside our heads.”
Devin, well used to being in hot water, caught Nell’s well-aimed pillow just before it pinged Jamie in the head. His sister still had her MVP pitching arm.
She’d stopped partway down the stairs. “Brownies in the kitchen for all people with boobs, and all boys too young to know any better. You big boys are out of luck.”
Aervyn debated which category he wanted to be in for a moment, but the lure of chocolate was strong. Jamie grinned at Devin as they were abandoned for sweeter pastures. “Welcome home.”
Man. In trouble in less than five minutes. It wasn’t a record, but it came pretty close. Devin grinned back. “Port us some of those brownies, and then you can fill me in on babies and Net power and whatever else I’ve missed.”
~ ~ ~
Sierra stared at the box on her bed, heart in her throat. It was about twice as big as a shoebox and wrapped in plain brown paper with Care Package—From Nell written on the top. It had landed on her bed about thirty seconds ago, like it had beamed in from outer space.
And it smelled like heaven.
She grinned and ripped off the paper. Whatever it was, her belly wanted some.
A whole plate of cookies sat right on top. Sierra had three of them down before she realized the box contained plenty of other stuff. Moving more slowly now, she lifted up the plate and contemplated the contents underneath. Four neatly wrapped packages and a big envelope that said Read This