“The thought never crossed my mind.” No, he’d been too busy having dreams about literally fucking Hadley, which just went to show how much the drive had messed with him.
He took a sly peek at her ass as she got out of the car. Yes, he was a glutton for punishment in the no-touch zone, but he wasn’t fully awake yet and had absolutely no interest in Hadley, no matter what lies the lusty twitch in his dick tried to tell as he watched her strut around the SUV’s hood.
Damn. He was going to have to get all of this “not interested” under control if he was going to make it through this week without getting distracted. He was a man on a mission, and he wasn’t about to let his brother fall into the same trap that had gotten Will once before. No pretty face or sweet ass would come between the Holts and their money ever again.
Although Will was going to have to be careful about how he went about convincing Hadley that even if Web might be an easy mark, Will would do whatever it took to protect him. There were a lot of places to hide a body out here—not that anyone looked particularly murderous, but if there was one thing he understood more than anything else, it was the power of family loyalty. Judging by the happy tears, hard hugs, and general joy from Hadley’s family as they rushed to greet her, he had no doubt her family understood it as well.
Unable to put off this ridiculous plan any longer, he channeled his twin and put on his friendliest smile before getting out of the car and joining the throng of mostly women surrounding Hadley.
“You must be Webster. I’m Hadley’s mom, Stephanie,” Stephanie said, turning to him with a friendly, if reserved smile and holding out her hand.
He accepted her handshake and managed to cover his shock at the strength in her grip. “Everyone but Hadley calls me Will. She loves to give me a hard time about my name.”
Hadley shot him a death glare. So they hadn’t discussed the name thing, but he was right and he knew it. It was only a matter of time before he failed to answer to Web and then the gig would be up.
Adalyn, judging by her Bride-To-Be T-shirt, cocked her head to the side, her face twisting with confusion. “Isn’t that your bro—”
Her question was cut off by a well-timed elbow from Hadley followed by a speaking glance that said, Shut the hell up.
“My brother’s nickname for me, yes,” he covered.
“Well.” Stephanie paused for a second, not looking the least bit appeased. “Will. It’s good to have you here for this special occasion.”
“Thanks for having me, and please let me know what I can do to help.” The polite words came out almost as a reflex, because the answer was always no when it came to big events that were always catered and planned by professionals.
“Don’t suppose you can cook?” Stephanie asked.
Considering she probably didn’t want her entire family slightly poisoned by undercooked chicken, there was only one answer he could give. “No, but I can wash dishes like you wouldn’t believe.”
“Good.” She gave him a real smile this time that had the corners of her eyes crinkling. “You’ve got a job.”
As everyone started to walk inside, Hadley pulled him back half a step. “Do you even know how to wash dishes?”
“I can load a dishwasher.” Occasionally he even did it. Usually, though, the cleaning crew took care of all that at his Harbor City penthouse.
“But have you ever actually done that?” She took a step closer, looking up at him with a knowing little smirk—the one that told him she knew just how full of shit he was. “Have you ever washed dishes by hand?”
“I’m not a complete spoiled jerk,” he said, sounding exactly like one even to his own ears.
She just lifted an eyebrow.
God, she was pushy—something that should have been annoying. Really, it was annoying. Completely. Utterly. Without a doubt. That was the only reason why he couldn’t drag his attention away from that smart mouth of hers because he couldn’t believe what words came out of it.
“Okay, fine.” He closed the distance between them, using the advantage of his height to look down at her. “No. I haven’t, but I’m sure I won’t have a problem excelling at it just like I do everything else.”