Read The Other Brooks Boy (Texas Wildfire Series) for Free Online Page B

course, but kicking it, nonetheless. The boy clearly needed
some remedial education in how one spoke to one's mother. Greg wasn't putting
up with that crap for another minute.
    But Ryan was no
fool. He'd wedged himself in the corner of the truck cab and was either
feigning sleep or truly a teenager through and through. They could sleep any
time, any place, Greg figured.
    So he had some
quiet windshield time to think about what had happened with Cara. Not just the
discussion either. He thought about that kiss. The revelation that she thought
she had kissed him was a complete game changer. And it took him by unholy
surprise.
    He had to think
about this for a while, try to wrap his mind around exactly what happened last
Saturday. She'd been flirty all night. No doubt about it. Whispering in his ear
when she first came in  ... telling him how good he looked in his tux. And
looking pretty much like a single woman out there on the dance floor with some
hip hop moves that showed her assets at their best. And twirling that leg
around for him to see her pedicure while he'd carried her. Yeah, flirty stuff.
But he'd taken it pretty much all under the brother-in-law clause. She knew
damn good and well he was safe territory. She always had flirted with him.
Since ... well, hell, since high school, he figured. They'd been in the same
class, while Jason was already attending U.T. classes, and she'd treated Greg
the same way then. Flirting and teasing with him because she knew he wouldn't
do a damn thing with it. He was as safe as home plate in a home run.
    Until now.
    What was he to
do with the knowledge that she thought she'd kissed him? Did it mean that she'd
wanted to kiss him? That she'd been attracted to him? Really attracted? And if
so, what the hell were they going to do about a mutual attraction?
Because he was done denying that he was attracted to Cara. There was no denying
it. He didn't understand how you could be a part of someone's life in one
capacity for twenty years and suddenly find yourself looking at them
differently one day. But there it was. Right in his face.
    He wanted her.
     

Chapter
Three
     
    Greg called her
on Sunday afternoon when he got home from Fort Worth, and they had a perfectly
normal conversation. It felt totally normal. Well, except for the part when
she'd seen his name on her phone and got a belly full of butterflies. That was
definitely not normal. Otherwise, it seemed normal. Ryan had made it to camp
fine. He might have been missing a little of his butt. Greg assured her they
had had some serious discussion about authority and respect, and that he
expected a change in Ryan from now on.
    That was a
relief. She was tired of being a single parent. Not that Greg was Ryan's
parent, of course, but it did feel good that someone had her back on this
issue.
    Maddie left for
New York on Wednesday after so much drama about what to take and what to leave
home. Cara had been ready to pull her hair out by the time she put her on the
plane. Maybe fighting with her children was God's way of allowing her to let
them go for a few weeks. They all needed a break from one another, she'd about
decided. She'd held them so fearfully close after Jason's death until they
probably felt a little smothered. And she needed the time, too.
    She was in that
sweet spot of summer. No private dance lessons to teach this month, and cheer
day camp was still a couple of weeks away. Nothing to do that she didn't want
to. Yeah, she could get used to this.
    Her Aunt
Francesca called on Wednesday and they had a great visit, talking for well over
an hour.  Her mother's much younger sister was dear to Cara, only ten
years older than she, but lived in California, and Cara saw far too little of
her these days.  Francesca had been a teen in Cara's childhood, a
glamorous, gorgeous, ultra-cool female to admire and emulate when her own
mother had been distant and elusive.  Summers spent with her grandparents
and Francesca in California were among