Batter of Wits (Green Valley Chronicles #22) - Smartypants Romance Page 0,48
chair and studied me, much more carefully than he had when I first sat down. "I like you, Tucker. In fact, I liked you so much yesterday that I started thinking of ways I could get you to partner with me in starting a business."
A brief flare of excitement at his words was doused as soon as his eyes turned cold and unflinching. Gone was the laid-back guy I'd met in the parking lot, the one who teased his sister and invited a stranger on a hike without blinking.
"But I'll tell you this," he leaned forward, mirroring my pose, and lowering his voice into something rife with warning, "if you fuck with my sister, there won't be enough pieces left of you to identify by the time I'm done with you."
One eyebrow lifted slowly. "That so?"
"Yup."
"You think it's a good idea to threaten a lawyer?"
"I don't give a shit what you do, man. She’s my sister."
If I wasn't the recipient of his violently protective tendencies, I'd be impressed at how thoroughly he was able to harness them.
Grady leaned back again, his face relaxing incrementally. "Glad we had this chat."
"Honestly," I told him, "I don't think you need to worry about it."
He huffed a laugh. "Why's that?"
"If I did something to hurt her, I'm pretty sure your sister would castrate me with a hot knife before you could lay a hand on me."
Instead of breaking up the tension, Grady shook his head a little bit. "You've got a lot to learn about her, Haywood."
"What do you mean?"
Grady stared out the window and smiled. "She's probably ready to kill me for being in here talking to you."
"Is that why you picked a table by the window? So she could see us as she drove out?"
His grin was unrepentant. "I might risk jail time for her, but she's still my sister," he said by way of explanation.
"As I don't have siblings, I'll have to take your word on that."
Grady stood, gathering his things and giving one more look out the window. Inside my gut was a gnawing sense that I didn't want him to leave, that I should use this time to pick up information about her, because, for all intents and purposes, she'd flipped my life upside down. And I still felt very much like I didn't know her.
"Before you go," I said, "just tell me one thing I should know about her. The last thing I want to do is hurt Grace."
He took a moment to think about that, still studying me as he did. It was strange to see so much of Grace in her brother's face, because he was taller, broader, and didn't look feminine in the slightest. But she was there, in the tilt and color of the eyes, the line of the nose, and the shade of hair.
"Grace is all heart. When she feels, she feels big. Bigger than most people. So, if she loves you, she'll love you harder than anyone you've ever met." He smiled. "Same goes for hurt. It won't break her, because she's got a backbone made from steel, but she'll feel that hurt so much deeper than you think."
A valuable nugget, but one I still wasn't sure what to do with.
Those were the extremes, love and hurt and the byproducts of both. Eventually, I might learn that for myself. How she loved, how she hurt, and what came after. But there was no point in jumping past all the steps in between.
I stood and shook Grady's hand. "Thanks. I appreciate your honesty."
He nodded. "Leave it to her to turn Green Valley on its head, less than a week after she got here."
I was still chuckling about that when my phone started vibrating. I pulled it out and sighed heavily when I saw J.T. MacIntyre flash ominously across the screen. Absolutely unwilling to have a conversation with him within earshot of anyone sitting in that bakery, I ducked out the door and walked around the corner of the building.
"J.T., what can I do for you?" I answered, mentally girding my loins.
"What the ever-loving hell did you do to my daughter?" he yelled. "She missed a meeting, and I find her sniffling and sobbing into her pillow, going on about you breaking up with her? You broke up with her?"
His booming voice was loud enough that I had to pull the phone away from my ear. I pinched the bridge of my nose before I answered.