She pushed his hand aside. “He’s my brother,” she all but yelled at him.
“Are you okay?” Colin asked.
“Don’t I look okay?”
Colin’s gaze moved between her and Dameon and back again. “Who’s this?”
“What do you mean, ‘who’s this’? What are you doing here?”
“You didn’t answer your phone.”
She patted her back pocket and remembered she’d tossed it in her purse that was sitting in the trunk of her car. “It’s in my car.”
“We were supposed to meet at the Sierra Highway site.” By now the heat in Colin’s voice had started to ebb.
Grace lost some of her fire as well. “Oh, damn, that’s right. I got sidetracked.”
“When you didn’t answer, I used Friend Finder and saw your phone was up here.” Colin had stopped looking at Grace altogether and was staring at Dameon. “In the middle of nowhere, where anything could happen.”
“I’m capable of taking care of myself, Colin.”
“Considering everything that’s happened in the last year, you’ll have to forgive my intrusion.”
Any heat that was still lingering in her body left. She knew exactly what he was referring to.
Dameon took a step forward and reached out a hand. “I’m Dameon Locke.”
For a half a second, it looked like Colin wasn’t going to take it.
The men grasped hands and shook. Only Colin didn’t let go. “So you’re Dameon. I’ve heard a lot about you.”
Oh, no . . . this was not going to happen.
“Oh? Is that right?” Dameon gave her a sideways glance.
The handshaking continued with white knuckles from both of them.
Grace placed her hands over theirs and pushed hard. “Enough.”
Their hands broke free, but she couldn’t tell who let go first.
Colin found her eyes. She knew she flashed a huge warning for him to shut up, but he was ignoring her.
“So, this is the stalker?”
Her eyes rolled back and she turned to Dameon. “I didn’t call you that. Erin did.”
Dameon looked at her, his lips holding the slightest grin. “Who’s Erin?”
“A friend,” she told him.
“Our brother’s girlfriend. Who has had her share of stalkers and is pretty good at identifying the like,” Colin said.
Grace swiveled so hard she nearly lost her balance. Two strides and she was in her brother’s face. “This macho big brother trip was cute when I was sixteen. Now knock it off! Dameon and I are here going over plans for his project. I’m doing my job.”
“That’s not what it looked—”
She lifted her foot and slammed it on her brother’s toes.
“Oh, damn, Gracie, that hurt.” Colin limped back a step.
“Be happy it wasn’t your balls.” She stood as tall as she could. Which wasn’t much, in light of the fact she was wearing tennis shoes and not heels. “Now . . . thank you for your concern, but kindly shut the hell up.”
Colin grunted and put one more dagger in his look at Dameon.
“Next time keep your phone with you,” he told her.
She really couldn’t hold that against him. “Next time, knock.”
He leaned over and kissed her cheek. “Love you.”
“Love you, too.”
Dameon spoke from behind her. “I’m sorry we met under these circumstances.”
She wanted to melt into a puddle and seep into the carpet just to escape the awkwardness of the moment.
“I’m glad to have a face with the name,” Colin said.
Grace lifted a fist in Colin’s direction and he retreated. “Goodbye, Colin.”
She watched as he walked through the rain and climbed into his truck. After he backed out of the driveway, she released a sigh.
“That was, hands down, the most entertaining encounter I’ve had in at least a decade,” Dameon said, laughing.
Thank God he was laughing. She wanted to crawl into a corner and die. “I’m so sorry.”
“Is your family Italian?”
“No.”
“Are you sure?”
“No, I’m not. But no one has claimed it.” She finally dared a look in his direction. Even with the fading light, she saw his grin.
“So, you told Erin about me.”
“You’re going to make this more awkward, aren’t you.”
He shook his head. “No. I’m going to hold on to that fact and let it settle for a while.”
“Good.”
“You wanna tell me what Colin was talking about when he mentioned this last year?”
“It’s really not my story to tell and edges on gossip.” Not to mention it was still raw for her.
“Considering your brother wanted to yank my hand out of my arm, I’d like to know the context of his concern.”
She reminded herself that Dameon was first and foremost a client. And aside from the fact that he had nearly kissed her . . . and she’d nearly let him, he did have some