There were different kinds of sledgehammers, and she’d have to make do with the metaphorical kind. Micah might not see her, might not want to see her, but he wasn’t blind nor was he immune to her as a woman.
She had an edge over most females because she knew what made him tick. Now she just had to use that knowledge to her advantage.
CHAPTER 8
“So what bug’s been up your ass lately, Hudson?” Gray Montgomery asked.
Micah scowled as he handed the menu back to the waitress. He and the other guys from work, Gray Montgomery, Nathan Tucker and Connor Malone, were at their regular lunch haunt, Cattleman’s, only they weren’t usually discussing one another’s personal business.
“You have been unusually cranky. Not get laid lately?” Connor drawled.
At that Nathan scowled, since he was still a little touchy about the fact that his current girlfriend was the last woman Micah would have been with.
“The world doesn’t revolve around when I got laid last,” Micah said dryly.
Gray blinked. “It doesn’t? I thought that was the standard male milestone for keeping time.”
Nathan laughed. “It is, or at least it’s what the women would have you believe.”
“I told Faith I had a headache last night,” Gray said with a straight face. “There’s only so much I can take. She’s an animal!”
Micah hooted with laughter, relaxing now that the focus was momentarily off him.
Connor groaned and covered his ears. “Not cool, man. Not cool at all. I don’t need that kind of information about my sister.”
“Your sister’s hot,” Micah pointed out.
Nathan grimaced. “I’m going to have to go with Connor on this one. I see Faith too much as a little sister to want to imagine her as an animal in bed.”
Gray snorted. “It wouldn’t matter anyway because if you so much as breathed wrong at another woman, Julie would have your nuts.”
Everyone laughed as Nathan turned a dull red.
“The man is completely whipped,” Connor snickered.
Nathan smiled. “I don’t have any problem admitting she’s got me completely wrapped around her finger.”
“There are worse things than having the love of a good woman,” Micah said sincerely, while Gray and Nathan both nodded in agreement.
Connor just studied him curiously. “So is that what has you in a tailspin? A woman?”
Micah let out a grunt. “In a manner of speaking, though it’s not what you dickheads are thinking.”
“Ahh,” Gray said.
Micah flipped him the bird. “The sister of an old friend of mine is in town, and I’ve got my hands full trying to keep her out of trouble.”
Gray frowned. “Trouble? What kind of trouble?”
Trust Gray’s cop instincts to get all riled.
“She’s a good girl,” Micah said with a note of defensiveness even he could hear. “And that’s the problem. She’s a good girl with no idea of what can happen to a good girl in a big, strange city.”
Connor scowled. “Then why the hell is she here and where is her brother?”
“David died a few years ago,” Micah said quietly.
Even now, after so long, it hurt to say out loud that David was gone.
“He was the only family Angelina had.”
“So you feel obligated to look after her,” Connor said.
The others nodded in understanding.
“Well, yeah,” Micah said.
Nathan raised an eyebrow. “Not going well?”
“It’s going just fine. Or it will be as soon as we get a few rules straight.”
Gray choked on his drink and commenced to coughing. “Yeah, good luck with that,” he wheezed.
“How old is she anyway?” Connor asked.
“Twenty-three,” Micah muttered.
“Is she hot?”
“Very,” he said before he could think better of it. Then he swore. “No, she damn well isn’t hot. And I don’t want you to even so much as look in her direction. You got me?”
Connor held up his hands in surrender. “Whatever you say, man. I swear you guys do your best to keep me away from all the good ones. I should be dating Julie. Not bonehead over here,” he said as he jerked a thumb in Nathan’s direction.
Nathan snorted. “You’re not man enough for her.”
Connor scowled. “And I suppose you are?”
“She’s with me, isn’t she?” Nathan returned smugly.
Gray leaned forward, ignoring the bickering between Connor and Nathan. “So you’re spending your evenings babysitting her at her place or what? And what about during the day? Not like you can keep an eye on her all the time.”
“She’s staying with me until we can find her a decent place. She’s going to be looking for a job.”
For once they fell completely silent as they stared back at