She had kids. Kids meant complications, kids meant serious, neither of which Beckett was interested in. His best course of action was to avoid his new tenant as much as possible.
Beckett scrubbed his hands over his face. He needed to get out. Get a little distance from the wicked temptation in his backyard. While putting together his lunch he’d actually stood at his kitchen window for ten minutes, hoping for a glimpse of her red hair.
He scrawled his signature across a document, hit send on an email, and dropped a stack of papers on Ellery’s desk.
He’d pay his brothers a visit and check on the construction at the brewery. That would keep his thoughts from Gianna.
Beckett found his brother’s girlfriend, Summer, putting groceries away in the sunny kitchen of the farmhouse. “Hey there, gorgeous,” he said, greeting the stylish blonde with a kiss on the top of the head.
“Beckett!” Her wide blue eyes lit up and she pulled him down for a hug. “How was the Dominican?”
“Beautiful, sunny. Paradise.”
“Ugh,” Summer groaned, shaking her ponytail. “I’m so jealous. Between the move, the magazine launch in January, and the brewery construction, we won’t be able to leave the county let alone the country for years.”
“You love it and you know it,” Beckett challenged her.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she sniffed, feigning innocence.
It was true; he only had to look at her to see the happiness radiating off of her. Summer had come to Pierce Acres as a stressed out, overworked magazine editor to interview his brother Carter for a piece on organic farming. What had started off as a battle of the wills had turned into a flaming hot affair and, finally, a happy relationship.
Summer had quit her job, moved to Blue Moon, and was launching her own online magazine in the new year. She was the happiest person he knew, except for maybe Carter.
“So, tell me you’ll stay for dinner tonight,” she said, turning back to the open refrigerator.
“That depends. Are you cooking?” Summer wasn’t known for her culinary skills.
She shot him a look around the door. “Don’t be ridiculous. Franklin and your mom are cooking lasagna.”
“Mom and Franklin?”
Summer nodded. “Jax, too, and I’m texting Joey to invite her.”
“I’ll pass. I’ve got things to catch up on,” Beckett said, toying with the bowl of fruit perched on the granite island. “All those messages from modeling agencies wanting my body.”
Summer winced. “Haven’t they slowed down yet?”
The side door sprang open and his older, bearded brother walked in. “Hello, pretty girl,” Carter said, laying a sizzling kiss on Summer’s upturned mouth.
“I’m surprised you can kiss her through all that fur on your face,” Beckett quipped.
“Your brother was just telling me that he can’t join us for dinner tonight because he has ‘things to catch up on.’”
Carter plucked an apple out of the bowl and turned his attention to Beckett. “I call bullshit.”
“It’s a legitimate and reasonable excuse,” Beckett argued.
Carter stroked a hand over his beard. “Nope. Bullshit.”
“Beckett, I hate to do this, but I agree with Carter,” Summer said, leaning her elbows on the counter. “I think you should talk to us about it.”
“Talk to you about what? I have things to do. I was out of the country for ten days.”
“You also have an intense dislike of Franklin,” Summer pointed out.
“What is it about him that gets to you?” Carter asked, ranging himself behind Summer to rub her shoulders.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Beckett said crisply. “Being a responsible, productive member of society, I’ve got shit to do tonight.”
“What shit do you have to do?” His younger brother Jax, entered through the side door. Like Carter, he was wearing jeans and a t-shirt that had seen better days and like all of the Pierce men he had dark hair and steel gray eyes.
Carter’s cavernous kitchen was starting to feel crowded to Beckett.
“I came over to check out the progress on the brewery. Can I at least do that without an interrogation?” he snapped.
He saw a long look pass between Carter and Summer.
“Forget it.” He shoved through the door and stormed off the porch.
He heard the door open and close behind him. “Wait up,” Jax called after him.
His brother jogged to his side. “Don’t mind them. They’re just disgustingly happy and feel compelled to make everyone else join their cult.”
Beckett shrugged it off. “I shouldn’t have snapped. I just have some things on my mind.”
Jax clammed up as they caught a glimpse of Joey Greer’s vintage pick-up as it drove past the lane. “Yeah. Me, too,” he muttered.
The door to the kitchen opened and closed again. Carter caught up to them, hands shoved in his pockets and Summer’s lipstick smeared on his mouth.