Read Online A Wild Ride (Thompson & Sons Book 4) by Vivian Arend - Free Book Online

only one. “What’s she done now?”
    His friend hesitated. “I hate the guys she’s seeing, but it’s reaching the point I can’t keep interfering. Last night she threatened to castrate me.”
    “That’s nothing new.”
    “She was holding a butcher knife when she said it,” Mike offered wearily. “Life was so much easier before she got on this dating kick.”
    Troy agreed one hundred percent.
    “I guess it’s time for me to let her be in charge.” Mike stirred another spoonful of sugar into his coffee. “She’ll figure it out. She’s smart enough to know who’s good for her.”
    Everything in Troy itched to deny it based solely on the guys he’d seen her with lately.
    “Maybe she needs to sign up for one of those online dating places,” Mike commented. “Would give her some—”
    “Are you out of your freaking mind?” Troy demanded. “Have you seen the kind of bullshit that goes on in those places? You really want her getting pictures of guys’ junk from all over the country?”
    Mike glared at him. “Not everyone online is an asshole.”
    “I thought you were trying to protect her, not hook her up with some ax murderer.”
    “I think they screen out the ax murderers,” Mike deadpanned.
    The idea made his skin crawl. “Still think it’s a bad idea.”
    “I know.” His friend nodded. “You’re right.”
    The conversation lingered in his brain far too long. Even a day later when he was at the shop working with Mitch, he was still trying to come up with the answer.
    Where could Nicole find someone good enough for her?
    “Are you planning to stand there all day staring at that wrench, or can you get your ass over here and put it to work?”
    Troy shook himself alert, glancing over at his brother who was smirking in his direction. “Sorry.”
    Mitch frowned. “You feeling okay?”
    “Fine, why?”
    Mitch took the wrench from him then leaned over to loosen the bolts. “You’re not nearly as talkative as usual.”
    “Lot on my mind.”
    His brother didn’t say anything for a second. “Something wrong?”
    Everything. Nothing.
    Troy ignored the dilemma of Nicole for a moment, and instead gave voice to one of his other concerns. “Is everything okay between you and Anna?”
    Mitch twisted the wrench harder than he should have and swore as the bolt snapped in two. The shaft remained jammed in position while the head fell to the concrete floor with a metallic rattle. “Shit. Get me a pair of pliers.”
    Troy grabbed the tool, bumping his brother out of the way. “Let me get this. I’ve got a more subtle touch,” he taunted.
    “You keep telling yourself that,” Mitch muttered.
    “So, you and Anna?”
    Mitch said nothing for a minute.
    “Your Len impression is good,” Troy said. “Only he doesn’t glower as hard as you.”
    “Shithead.”
    “Ass.” The insults were as natural as breathing and calmed the waters. Troy had been worried since he’d caught them fighting. “You going to tell me what’s up?”
    Mitch checked around the shop, but the other guys were either outside the open bay doors or in the main office. “She’s being stubborn over something important.”
    “She’d hardly be stubborn over something stupid,” Troy pointed out. “She’s smarter than that.”
    “You’d think, but this is different. This time she’s wrong.”
    Troy held his tongue. “About what?”
    Mitch sighed as he leaned a hip against the car. “We’re thinking about kids, but she refuses to put in for a desk job.”
    More kids. They were haunting him.
    He examined Mitch’s face. His brother was dead serious, and dead concerned. “You want her to put in for a desk job now, or after she’s pregnant?”
    “As soon as she’s pregnant. She thinks she should go at least half—” Mitch frowned deeper. “Hang on. You don’t seem surprised about the kid thing.”
    “I’m not.” Or not since Nicole had knocked a simple fact into him, hard. “I figured it out the other day. Her