Laughing, I mutter, “Good, Dimples. I’m glad you’re happy about it, since it would suck for you to be stuck with me anyways, because there is no way in hell I’m letting you go.”
“You’re… you’re not letting me go.”
“Nope.”
“Oh,” she says as we pull up in front of my parents’ place.
Parking and shutting down the engine, I reach over and unhook her belt then wrap my hand around the back of her neck to bring her closer to me. Looking into her concern-filled eyes, I shake my head. “Do not start freaking out about us.”
“I’m not freaking out about us.”
“Good,” I state, even though I can tell she’s lying. Sliding my hand off her neck, I move it up and capture her chin between my fingers. “Nothing has changed.” I dip my head and touch my lips to hers. “Now, are you ready to meet my brothers?” I ask, and the worry that slipped out of her eyes after our kiss comes back. “They’re standing outside waiting for us, so you’ve lost your chance to run.”
Her head flies around to see what I saw moments ago, which is both my brothers standing on the front porch, watching us. “Oh my God,” she whispers, and I chuckle.
Moving back, I open my door, hop out, and head around to her side. Taking the flowers from her, I help her down from the cab. I hand her the flowers back and wrap my arm around her waist, leading her up toward the porch.
“Guys, this is Gia. Gia, my brother Cade.” I nod toward him as we head up the steps. Cade has the same dark hair and eyes as me, but is shorter by a few inches. He’s also built like a bulldog, since he works out all the time so he can stay in shape for his job as a police officer. “And my brother Carson.” I lift my chin in his direction when we make it to the top of the porch. Carson has my same height and build, but he was given Mom’s reddish blonde hair—something he hated growing up, but something he now couldn’t care less about, since it has never stopped him from getting any woman he sets his sights on.
“It’s nice to meet you both,” Gia says, and Carson grins, pulling her from me and tugging her into a hug, where she awkwardly pats his back.
“Nice to finally meet you, Gia,” he tells her, letting her go, and Cade shakes his head, shoving Carson away.
“Mom hasn’t stopped talking about you,” Cade says, giving her a hug as well—his much quicker than Carson’s.
“Where are the girls?” I ask Cade.
“Janet had to run to the store to pick up some more beer, so the girls are inside helping Mom cook while simultaneously destroying the kitchen.”
“I should go help,” Gia murmurs, and I tip my head down to her.
“Sure, baby.” I keep hold of her when she tips her head back to offer up her mouth, making it clear that it’s okay for me to kiss her in front of my brothers. After touching my mouth to hers, I drop my hand from her waist. “I’ll be in in a second.”
She nods then looks at Cade and Carson. “It’s nice finally meeting you both.” With that, she ducks her head and goes inside.
Once she’s gone, I turn back to face my brothers.
“She’s cute,” Carson says pulling his eyes from the door to look at me. “Real cute.”
Shaking my head at him, I ask, “Where’s Dad?”
“Out in the shop,” Cade answers, so I head down the steps and to the back of the house, with my brothers following. Opening the door to the shop, I find my dad where he normally is when he has a free second, which is tinkering with his bike.
“Get me a beer?” he requests as soon as he spots us, so I head over to the fridge and grab a beer for him and one for myself. Opening both with the bottle opener on the front of the fridge door, I take a pull from mine while I place his in his hand. “Is Gia inside?”
“Yeah,” I reply, taking a seat on the wooden bench against the wall.
“You still not going to bring up the gun?” he asks, looking worried.
“What gun?” Cade questions before I can answer, and I look at him as he hands a beer to Carson.
“My nine is missing from the gun vault in my garage.”
“What?” He gets closer and takes a seat on one of the chrome and leather-topped rolling stools.
“My nine is missing. I went to get some cash out of my vault today and noticed it was gone.”
“Did you file a report?” Carson asks after taking a pull from his beer.
“Yeah, a detective is looking into it.”
“When was the last time you saw it?” Cade questions, and I can tell he’s going into police officer mode.
“A few days ago.” Anytime I have tips, I put the cash in there so I’m not carrying it around with me, and that’s the last time I saw it.
“Does anyone have the code?” Cade continues, crossing his arms over his chest and planting his feet apart.
“Mom and Dad, but no one else that I know of. Neither of them took it out, so I have no idea who would have gotten in there. Or why the fuck they would take that gun and nothing else. I have guns in there that are worth close to a grand each. It doesn’t make sense,” I say, resting my elbows on my knees.
“Your code was your birthday, someone could have guessed that.” Dad says and I sigh. He’s right someone could have guessed it.
“You’re not telling Gia about it being missing?” Cade asks, and I look at him.
“She’s already dealing with enough shit. I don’t want her to worry about this.”
“Is that the real reason, or do you think she took it?” he asks, and I sit up straight.
“She didn’t fucking take it,” Dad inserts for me while shaking his head. “Did you meet her?”
“I met her.” He nods, looking suddenly thoughtful.
“That girl would probably run if she ever even saw a gun. Why the hell would she take it?”
“I don’t know.” He runs a hand through his hair. “I’m just asking questions to see if I can figure it out.”
“Well you’re asking the wrong fucking questions,” Dad grumbles, and I grin. He likes Gia and has obviously become protective of her. “We should head in before your mom comes out here to ask why I haven’t started up the grill.” He stands with his beer and heads for the door.
Going across the lawn to the house, we head through the back door that leads into the kitchen. As soon as we step inside, “Uncle Colton!” is shouted toward me in unison. Smiling at my five and six-year-old nieces, I head to where they are both sitting on the large, white marble-topped island in the middle of the room, mixing something in a bowl.
“Hey, Mizza.” I kiss the top of her dark head then lean over to do the same to her sister. “Hey, Imma.” I kiss her cheek, and she tips her head to the side, studying me.
“We met your girlfriend,” she informs me, then continues, “she’s pretty.”
“She is. I agree.” Rubbing the top of her head.
“Are you going to marry her?” Mizza asks, and I smile at her.
“I don’t know, honey.”
“I think you should marry her and let me be the flower girl.”
“No, I get to be the flower girl,” Imma disagrees loudly, glaring at her sister.
“No you don’t,” her sister denies louder, glaring right back.
“What on earth are you two fighting about now?” Janet asks, coming into the kitchen carrying grocery bags, with Gia behind her carrying a box of beer in one hand and a case of wine coolers in the other.
“Mizza said she gets to be the flower girl at Uncle Colton’s wedding,” Imma whines, looking at her mom and crossing her arms over her chest, then pouts. “I want to be the flower girl.”
“You can’t be, because I’m going to be the flower girl when he marries Gia,” Mizza says, looking smug.
“Oh my,” I hear Gia whisper, then turn to see her eyes are wide and her cheeks are pink.
“Before you girls totally freak out Gia any more, how’s if we talk about this when the time comes to talk about it?” Janet suggests, and I hear Mom laugh and notice she didn’t even attempt to wade in to get them to stop fighting.