watching her in the kitchen and having insane fantasies about that lovely, pale green dress and the pretty white apron.
Just then, she had the skirt hiked up to her knees and she was sitting with her feet in the water while she watched some of his cousins playing in the pool with his nephew, Clayton.
Lowering himself down onto the edge, he took a minute to pull off his socks and boots, rolling his jeans up to the knees and sliding his legs into the water. Abby didn’t look his way.
“Are you mad at me?” he asked quietly.
A sad sigh escaped her and she reached over, caught his hand. “Why would I be?”
“You don’t like it when I fight with my brothers.”
He watched as she ducked her head. She’d pulled all of her hair into a thick, complicated twist but a few wayward curls were starting to escape, trailing down her neck, curling around her ears. He wanted to catch one of them and wind it around his finger, but just then, he hesitated to touch her.
“Right now, I’d almost like to fight with one of your brothers.” Then she nodded at his hand. “Did you hit Seb?”
He glanced at his hand. He’d taken a minute to go into the bathroom and actually bandage it, then he’d cut a wide berth around his mom, hoping she wouldn’t notice. He wasn’t counting on it. Moms noticed everything.
Wiggling his fingers, he shrugged and said, “Nah. I hit the wall. It’s almost as hard as Seb’s head, and it wouldn’t cause problems when he heads back to work. If I busted his pretty face, it would cause a headache and a half and it’s not worth it just because he’s an ass. At least not yet.”
He stroked his thumb down the back of her hand, looking across the pool. Sebastian had finally come out of the house and their mom was heading for him. The kid had the look on his face of a deer caught in the headlights of a car bearing down on it, at oh . . . two hundred miles an hour.
Zach could pound him into the ground and Sebastian would fight right back.
Put their mother in the mix and the two of them felt like they were back in middle school.
“I can still go punch him if you want,” he offered, watching as Sebastian tried to get lost in a crowd of the cousins. They aren’t going to protect you, kid. Nobody got in their mom’s way when she was on the warpath.
“Yeah, sure you will.” Abby snorted. “I see what you’re looking at. Denise’s after him now. You want me to believe you’d go punch him now when she’s about to get a piece of him?”
He ran his tongue across his teeth. “Sure.” She was bluffing. Abby wasn’t that mad.
She let go of his hand. “Have at it, slugger.”
Aw, hell.
Panic shot through him. Now what in the hell did he do? Slowly, he pulled his feet out of the water, his mind working rather furiously as he tried to figure a way out of it. But he’d said he’d do it, and damn it if Sebastian didn’t deserve it and—
Abby caught his wrist, laughing a little. “Damn it, Zach. The look on your face is just about priceless. Enough. You don’t have to go risk your mom’s wrath on my account.”
He was only a little relieved. Okay. A lot. Zach would slay just about any dragon for her.
But his mom wasn’t a dragon. His mom was . . . hell.
Blowing out a breath, he tried to put on a brave face. He could still act, right? “I can go do it,” he lied through his teeth. “It’s not like he doesn’t deserve it.”
“Oh, he deserves it, all right,” she agreed. “Stupid ass.” Then she blew out a breath and shrugged. “But being a stupid kid and having you punch him in the face and cause problems on set isn’t worth it. Besides, then people would start wondering how it happened and we don’t know everybody here. It would get out and that would just lead to a hassle there. For all we know, they’d start speculating on why you punched him in the face.”
“According to the media, I’m on everything from drugs to human blood.” He shrugged and shifted in closer, bracing one hand on the ground behind her. Dipping his head, he pressed his lips to her shoulder. “What’s it matter if I punch him in the