I felt my lips twitch before I said, “Coming right up, Jim-Billy.”
I moved out to the garage, got Jim-Billy a beer and headed back.
When I arrived I saw Mr. T was still sipping his coffee but now doing this perched on the arm of the couch.
Jim-Billy had his hand out for the beer, which meant I didn’t waste time making it to him so I could give it to him.
Cal was doing his thing.
But Wood and Ty were upstairs.
And Deke was coming to me.
I tipped my head back when he stopped, not Deke close, which was close but also not the close I’d like.
It was a new close. A what I thought of as a fragile-Justice-in-his-trailer close, in other words close-close, as in the close I liked.
A close he didn’t need to use when we weren’t in his trailer but instead I was surrounded by awesome people in my huge house.
But he used it.
“Baby, Wood and Ty are workin’ with me today. You down with that?”
My brows drew together. “I thought Wood owned the local garage.”
“He does, which means he can take the day off whenever he wants. He’s also a man. And when I say that, I mean a man. Not sure he’s ever hung drywall. That said, think men like him instinctively get how to hang drywall.”
I’d been in Wood’s presence for maybe five minutes and he’d not said a word to me and I still had the feeling he was the kind of man who instinctively knew how to do a lot of things.
“Ty works for Wood and Wood’s givin’ him a day off to work here,” Deke informed me. “He’s worked construction so he just knows what he’s doin’.”
“Are they, uh…does Max need—?” I stammered but Deke cut me off.
“Max won’t care. He’s tight with Ty, they’ve worked together on jobs back in the day and if you’re talkin’ about payin’ them dick, I think we had this discussion.”
“So crates of hooch all around,” I muttered.
Deke grinned, caught me at the back of my head, pulled me to him, bent in, kissed my forehead then let me go and strolled to the ladder and up it.
God, I was going to miss those bits of Deke he’d surely take away when he decided I was no longer fragile and needed his affection so I wouldn’t come flying apart.
I turned to the improvised seating area and saw Jim-Billy belting back a slug of beer.
Mr. T had eyes to the upstairs.
Those eyes came to me.
Then he rearranged his position, pulling out his phone and not perching on the arm of the couch like he would rather not have his ass touching it. An ass that was in trousers that I figured had another half back at a hotel in town, this being the suit jacket of a suit of Italian origin that cost more than that couch he was sitting on when it was new. Instead he settled right in that couch, rested his coffee cup on the arm and started sliding his finger on the phone.
At this juncture, a vehicle could be heard.
“Jesus,” was also heard right after, this being Cal who started heading to the door.
“I got it,” I told him and his eyes cut to me.
“No, you don’t.”
At the firmness of his tone, I stopped moving.
So Cal wasn’t playing butler.
Even though it was highly unlikely my attacker would show in broad daylight with my house filled with people, Cal was playing bodyguard.
So sweet.
Cal opened the door.
Half a minute later, Lexie sauntered through accompanied by two adorable little girls.
She glanced at Cal, looked to me, said, “Hey,” and at my hey back, she said “Hey,” to Jim-Billy,” to which she got a, “Yo, gorgeous,” then her eyes slid through Mr. T and swung around and up where she clearly spied her husband because she called out, “Hey, baby.”
Ty called back, “Mama.”
Yikes.
Ty’s rumbling “mama” might be better than Deke’s “baby.”
Though, not better than his “gypsy.”
“Hey, Daddy!” one of the little ones shrieked.
“Hey, baby,” Ty called back to his daughter.
Okay, that “baby” was even better than “mama.”
Yeesh.
Mountain men.
Who knew?
Lexie drew her girls closer to me. “Lella, Vivie, this is Miss Justice. Say hi.”
The older girl standing and holding Lexie’s hand waved shyly.
The younger one Lexie was juggling in an arm at her hip, shouted, “Hey, Miz Justiz!”
“Hey, beautiful babies,” I greeted them.
The one at Lexie’s hip beamed.
The one holding Lexie’s hand moved into her mother’s leg and ducked her head.
I did the round of introductions.