Read Online Her Very Own Family by Trish Milburn - Free Book Online

attack. She got the impression he was watching her legs. Her face heated even more at that thought, so after carrying the last box upstairs, she flopped down on her bed and stared at the ceiling.
    Why was simply being near Brady affecting her this way, making her all jittery? She barely knew the guy. She couldn’t remember ever feeling this strangely around Darren, and she’d thought she would spend the rest of her life with him. Was it only a physical, hormonal thing? Brady was bigger, masculine and very, very sexy. Darren had been attractive and capable of getting her blood pumping, but there was just something… more about Brady. Maybe she was just enjoying the sexy-carpenter fantasy. After all, she’d never heard of a sexy-stockbroker fantasy.
    Especially not a stockbroker who dumped the woman he supposedly loved because her tanking reputation might ruin his career.
    Not wanting to go down that mental road, she sprang from the bed and walked to her desk. She pulled her checkbook from the drawer and, after running some numbers, wrote out checks to Nelson and Brady. To prove to herself that she could avoid any infatuated feelings about Brady, she deliberately didn’t brush her work-messed hair before descending the stairs.
    “I was beginning to think you fell asleep up there,” Nelson said as he held a two-by-four in place for Brady to hammer.
    “No, had to do a bit of paperwork.” When she reached the bottom of the stairs, she extended the checks to them.
    “What’s this?” Nelson asked.
    Audrey caught Brady’s eye before looking away. “Payment for all the work you two have been doing.”
    “We’re just being neighborly,” Nelson said.
    “Dropping off someone’s mail or giving her a potted plant is neighborly. This,” she said as she indicated the interior of the mill, “is a lot of work for which I insist on paying you.”
    “That’s not necessary,” Brady said, surprising her with the sincerity of his tone.
    She caught his gaze again and held it this time. “It is if you want to continue helping. Who do you think I would have hired, anyway? I’m guessing there’s only one construction company in town.”
    His eyes stayed locked on hers for a moment, then he nodded as he took the proffered check from her. She thought she saw respect in his expression, and that meant more to her than anything he’d done for her so far. Her heart swelled at the thought of that much-desired respect.
    It meant so much that she forgot her decision to not think of Brady in a romantic way and smiled at him. When he smiled back, her heart somersaulted like it was trying out for the U.S. gymnastics team.
    Afraid she might start giggling like a thirteen-year-old girl, she glanced over at Nelson, who unfortunately looked like he was trying to hide a smile himself. Fantastic. He’d probably caught the goofball look on her face and knew his son was the cause of it.
    “It’s been a long day,” she said. “Why don’t you two pack it in for the evening.”
    “On one condition,” Nelson said.
    Wary, she examined his expression. “And that would be?”
    “You let us make you dinner.”
    She nearly laughed at the stricken, openmouthed expression on Brady’s face as he shot a look at his dad. She might have declined otherwise, but that look sealed the deal. This had disaster in the making written all over it, but in a hilarious way. She couldn’t resist seeing what these two came up with. They could always drive into Willow Glen or even Elizabethton if the culinary results were inedible.
    “It’s a deal. What time?”
    “Six-thirty,” Nelson said as he wiped his hands on the towel that always hung from his belt.
    “See you then.”
    From the shady area inside the doorway, Audrey watched father and son drive away and couldn’t help the excitement pulsing in her, even if this dinner might be a bad idea.
    It’s just dinner with two friends, she told herself. Yeah, but one of those friends was extremely easy on the