Wyatt (Lane Brothers #1) by Kristina Weaver Page A

when he was three after his mom, my dad’s sister, passed away from a heart attack.
    He’s two years my junior and one of the best execs I have running my business while I’m on leave.
    I love him like I love Jared and Miah and actually share a closer bond with him because we’re closer in age.
    If he’s here, as well, and not working as usual, then it means whatever Miah and Jared have uncovered is worse than just bad, and I’ll probably have to speed things up if I want to protect Ellie and take her home like I planned.
    I’d bargained for another week, but I’ve also been homesick and wanting to take her to meet Ma, so this might not be such a bad thing at all.
    Unless she loses that glow she woke up with this morning and starts throwing shit at my head when she finds out the truth.
    There’s really only one way to find out, but damn me if I’m not about to take the coward’s way out and keep the truth from her a little longer. It’s just too soon, and she’s still not where I need her to be emotionally if I want her to forgive me.
                  I find her where I left her in the kitchen and say hesitantly, “Baby. I, uh, I need to go talk to my brothers for a bit. They’re…here on business, and I need to take care of it.”
    “Your brothers? They’re here?”
    “Yeah,” I answer, not pleased to have to share her with anyone so soon.
    “Well invite them to breakfast.”
    That would be a n—
    “Good God Almighty, what is that glorious smell? Are those biscuits and gravy?”
    They all stream into the kitchen, sit down, and immediately start eating my breakfast as I look on in annoyance.
    “Hmm, this is better than Ma’s biscuits and those things are good enough to start wars. How you make this, Ellie? Any special ingredients?” Jared asks around a mouth crammed so full, a few crumbs fly out with every word.
    Damn pigs.
    She blushes at the compliments and looks down, embarrassed and appreciative.
    “No, I make them the same way everyone else does. Would you all like some coffee, juice, more bacon or gravy?”
    “Shit, I knew I should have made a play for you myself. Now this fool gets the best, and what do I get stuck with? Girls who floss their asses and eat lettuce as a meal. Fucking life’s unfair.”
    “Yeah okay, Jared, keep it to yourself. Hey, Ellie, you got more of these scrambled eggs? What did you put in it?”
    “Cheese and some onion powder.”
    My teeth are ground so tight ten minutes later when the greedy idiots finally stop stuffing their faces and introduce themselves, just barely keeping myself together when Jace leans in and kisses her hand. Thankfully for the fool, she doesn’t titter and blush like most women would, and instead just rolls her eyes at his dramatic sighs.
    “Are you guys here on business?”
    My look warns them not to answer in any way that I won’t like, and they all just shrug.
    “Ma told us that you and she speak, and since we’ve been dying to meet the woman who finally brought our ugly sibling to heel, we decided to make a stop and meet you ourselves.”
    “Hey, screw you, Miah, and Jace, leave the rest of us something to eat, would you? Ellie, baby, sit down and stop babying these fools. They can get their own coffee and serve themselves.”
    So maybe my tone leaves a lot to be desired when I turn my glare on them and glower. Ellie is my girlfriend—fiancée, if we’re being honest, since I fully intend to marry her. She just hasn’t said yes yet, and I’ll be damned if she fawns all over these bozos.
    She should be fawning over me, or at least letting me fawn over her in private while I convince her that we’re the best fit on the planet.
    “Jeez! Possessive much? Hey, Ellie, does this caveman keep you in the kitchen all day with this cooking? If you were my girl, I’d…only keep you in the kitchen half the day.” Jared laughs, making my teeth ache from the way I’m grinding them.
    That gets her laughing, though, so I may