“Aunt Sloane!” Chloe hissed.
Sloane grinned and went for her purse. “Here’s a $20 for your trouble. Miss Fashion here also dribbled honey on the space bar when she was making tea.”
Waylay pocketed the bills and sat down to get to work.
This time, Naomi locked eyes with me. She didn’t smile, didn’t say “thank you” or “get me naked tonight.” But there was still something there. Something I itched to unlock simmering in those hazel eyes.
And then it was gone.
“Excuse me,” she said, pushing back from the table. “I’ll be right back.”
Nash watched her walk away, that bright yellow material sliding over tanned thighs.
I couldn’t blame him. But I also couldn’t let him have her.
When Jeremiah caught his attention with a question about football, I used it as an opportunity to follow Naomi inside. I found her bent over the rolltop desk next to the stairs in the living room.
“Whatcha doing?”
She jumped, shoulders hitching. Then spun around, holding her hands behind her back. When she saw it was me, she rolled her eyes. “Is there something you need? A slap across the face? An excuse to leave?”
I closed the distance between us slowly. I didn’t know why I was doing it. I just knew that watching her smile at my brother made my chest tight, that being frozen out was getting to me. An
d the closer I moved to her, the warmer I felt.
“Thought money was tight,” I said when she tilted her head to look up at me.
“Oh, bite me, Viking.”
“Just sayin’, Daisy, your first night on the job, you gave me a sob story of losing your savings and supporting your niece. Now it looks like you’re feeding half the county.”
“It’s a potluck, Knox. By the way, you’re the only one who didn’t bring anything to share. Besides, I wasn’t doing it to socialize.”
I liked the way she said my name when she was exasperated. Hell, I just liked my name on those lips.
“All right then. Why are you hosting half of Knockemout for a potluck?”
“If I tell you do you promise to do us both a favor and go away?”
“Absolutely,” I lied.
She bit her lip and peered over my shoulder. “Fine. It’s because of Chloe.”
“You’re throwing a dinner party for an eleven-year-old?”
She rolled her eyes. “No! That adorable chatterbox is the most popular girl in Waylay’s grade. They have the same teacher this year. I was just trying to give them a chance to spend some time together.”
“You’re matchmaking sixth-graders?”
Naomi’s jaw jutted out and she crossed her arms over her chest. I didn’t mind because it pressed her breasts up higher against the neckline of her dress.
“You wouldn’t understand what it’s like to walk through town and be judged by people just because of who you’re related to,” she hissed.
I took a step closer to her. “You’re dead wrong about that.”
“Okay. Fine. Whatever. I want Waylay to go to school with actual friends, not just rumors that she’s Tina Witt’s abandoned daughter.”
It was probably a solid play. I’d had my brother and Lucian on the first day of school when we’d moved here. No one in school had the guts to say shit about one of us since we were protected by the pack.