Undone (A Country Roads Novel) by Shannon Richard Page A

stopped scratching Sydney and shook Jax’s hand before Shep stepped in and grabbed her hand.
    “It’s good to put a face to the name,” Shep said. “Brendan’s talked about you.”
    He what?
    “Now if you boys don’t come over here and give me some sugar I won’t be serving you any pancakes,” Lula Mae said, crossing her arms.
    “Sorry, Grams,” Jax said, walking over to her and giving her a kiss on the cheek.
    “Won’t happen again,” Shep said, giving her a loud smacking kiss on her other cheek.
    “It better not,” Lula Mae said, giving them a stern look.
    “How you boys doing?” Oliver asked, patting each of them on the back.
    “Pretty good, the bar has been busy the last couple of nights,” Shep said, leaning back against the counter.
    “Did Grace say it was called the Sleepy Sheep?” Paige asked.
    “It goes with the whole Shepherd thing.”
    “Right.” Paige nodded.
    “I see you haven’t moved,” Brendan said, coming back into the room. Much to Paige’s relief, he was wearing a white T-shirt with red swimming trunks. She didn’t need to get all hot and bothered again with all of these men in the room.
    “I think Sydney might have switched allegiances,” Jax said.
    “Me too,” Brendan said, smiling at Paige, his eyes lighting up as they traveled up her legs. “Not that I blame her.”
    Apparently it didn’t matter that he was wearing a shirt. There was no skin-to-temperature ratio where he was concerned. He made her hot and bothered anyways. He shouldn’t be allowed to look at her like that; it wasn’t fair.
    “I’m going to start making the pancakes,” Lula Mae said, scooping dollops of batter onto the sizzling griddle. “You boys go set the table,” she said, making a shooing gesture.
    “Yes, ma’am,” Shep said, pushing off the counter and all three of them left the kitchen.
    *  *  *
    “So that’s her,” Jax said, leaning back to look at Paige through the kitchen doorway.
    “Yeah,” Brendan said, going over to his grandmother’s china cabinet and pulling out a stack of dishes.
    “Damn those legs are long,” Shep whispered, leaning over Jax’s shoulder to get another look at her too.
    “I will kill the both of you,” Brendan said, putting the dishes down on the table and folding his arms across his chest.
    Both men turned back to him, grinning.
    “Grace wasn’t kidding,” Shep said, raising his eyebrows. “The new girl’s got your panties all in a twist.”
    “Shut up.”
    “Yes, sir,” Jax said, giving Brendan a mocking salute and grabbing the juice glasses.
    *  *  *
    Breakfast turned out to be an interesting event with all seven of them crowded around the dining room table. Brendan was conveniently seated next to Paige. He was pretty sure everyone had conspired to make sure they sat next to each other. And she’d been so incredibly flustered it was ridiculous. It probably didn’t help her any that he kept deliberately letting his arms and legs brush up against hers. He’d pushed his thigh into hers as he’d passed her the sausage and she’d almost dropped the entire plate into his lap.
    “Stop it,” she whispered after she passed the plate along.
    “Stop what?” he whispered back innocently.
    “You know what,” she said, grabbing her napkin and putting it in her lap. “You’re doing it on purpose.”
    And he’d continued to do it for the rest of the meal.
    When they’d loaded up into Jax’s truck, Brendan and Paige magically wound up sitting next to each other in the backseat. Brendan kept up his shenanigans on the drive down to the beach. He really couldn’t be held responsible for his actions. Paige was literally pushed up against him and he desperately wanted to turn his face into her neck and just breathe her in. But since it wasn’t the right time for that, he made due with letting his arm brush up against hers.
    When they pulled into the parking lot of the beach, Brendan jumped out and turned to help Paige get out on his