these pictures?”
His scowl intensified. She imagined that his intention was to intimidate her, or maybe even frighten her off, but he apparently didn’t realize how sexy he looked with a frown. He probably looked sexy with a smile too, but she had yet to see it.
She hoisted herself onto one of the barstools her mother had lined up in front of the kitchen’s island. “I’ll go first. Who’s Anthony?”
The widening of his eyes and flaring of his nostrils was there and gone so quickly she might have missed it if she hadn’t been paying close attention. But she had been and she called him out on it. “Don’t try to pretend you don’t know who I’m talking about.”
He leaned over the island, his gaze boring into her as if he might be able to see into her brain through sheer force of will. “Did he contact you?”
“Uh uh. I’m asking the questions here. How do you know him and why is that picture so important to you?”
“I don’t know him. And how did you know it was that picture I was after?”
She smiled up at him. “I didn’t know for certain but you just confirmed it.”
He muttered a curse under his breath and her smile grew. He was adorable when he was rattled. Adorable probably wasn’t a word often associated with this big lug, but it seemed to fit now when he was pacing her kitchen like a bear with a thorn in its paw.
Her gasp had him shooting her a questioning look but she bit her lip and held in the laughter. Oh, Mack would love this. She’d not only met a bear…she’d taken him in.
“What are you laughing at?” he demanded.
“I’m not laughing.” She opened her eyes wide with feigned innocence.
“You’re trying not to, close enough.”
She shrugged. “I was just thinking about that tattoo you’re going to give me.”
He stopped pacing. “The red rose?”
“Mmhmm. It’s suddenly taken on a whole new significance.”
He wore a look of resignation, as if he’d come to grips with the fact that this conversation would never go according to his plans. “And does this new significance in any way relate to the topic at hand?”
She shrugged. “Somewhat.” Because she figured he might not care to hear that he’d been cast as the surly bear in a fairy tale, she didn’t mention it. “It’s a nickname that my new former stepsister gave me and just now I kind of got why she chose it.”
He was staring at her like she was nuts—not something she was unfamiliar with, but still. “I told you that at the tattoo shop, didn’t I?”
He let out a long breath and she couldn’t tell if he was irritated with her or himself. “How exactly does one acquire a new former stepsister?”
“I told you that I just found my birth mother and father, right?”
He nodded.
“Well, my birth father married another woman and they had Jenna—she’s my half-sister. She’s a lawyer and if you need any help with legal advice—”
His glare stopped her.
“Right. Anyway, when Jenna was a teen-ager my father remarried and his new wife had a daughter the same age as Jenna. Her name’s Mackenzie. But that marriage didn’t last long so they’re not technically stepsisters anymore.”
“So she was never really your stepsister.”
Andie was fairly certain her scowl was nearly as formidable as his. “But she would have been.”
“Uh huh.”
He didn’t seem convinced and she bit back a sigh. “Do you have any siblings, Dagger?”
His eyes narrowed with suspicion. “Why?”
She held up her hands in innocence. “No evil agenda, I’m just curious.”
“I have two brothers.” The words came out grudgingly, like she might somehow throw that tidbit back in his face.
“See, that’s wonderful.”
He raised a brow. “Clearly you’ve never met my brothers.”
She lifted one shoulder. “I don’t have to. The fact that you have people in your life who have known you forever—good and bad—that’s amazing. It’s the kind of bond I’d always wanted as a kid and never had.”
His gray eyes were filled with understanding, at odds with the grim, unreadable expression he wore. “So now that you’ve found a half-sister and this former stepsister…”
She smiled up at him. “I’m over the moon. It doesn’t need to be blood relations that share the bond. My foster brother is just as much my brother as Jenna is my sister.”
She thought she saw a flicker of a smile tugging at his lips. “You’re so happy about these new sisters that you’re commemorating them with a tattoo?”
“Not exactly. I’ve gotten a tattoo