“You’ll meet her soon. I told Ro this already.” Duncan was not above pointing out their gossiping, but he had to admit he loved that they all cared enough to poke at him.
“Good. Pops says he loved that ‘fine thing.’ She cute?”
Great, how was he to answer without growling out that Declan didn’t need to know how fine she was? Duncan knew it was stupid, but he wanted to have Kayla for himself. He wanted to get to know her without his family butting in and scaring her away.
He decided to joke, as was his way. “You ever seen me going out with a scarecrow?” He pulled into the parking lot of Mills Security.
“Guess not. So Pops said she’s Irish as well, and boom, he decided to stick around longer and watch little Duncans run around at Lucky. His words, bro, not mine.” Declan chuckled at his grandfather’s words, and Duncan joined him.
“Ha! Crazy old man. He’s not going anywhere any time soon,” Duncan said with a grin.
Pops often spoke about dying, but there was nothing wrong with his health. He was seventy-eight years old, yes, but he was as healthy as a horse. He was just cranky, as he hated getting older and growing dependent on others. If you were stupid enough to assist him in anything, he would bite your head off.
“Look, I’m having lunch with her today. I’ll call you later, Dec, okay?” Duncan couldn’t wait to see Kayla. Last night was something else. The moment his lips met hers, they sparked like a sizzling hot fire he’d never experienced before. After weeks of hanging around at his brother’s office to get to know her, one night at Lucky’s broke down a little piece of the wall surrounding Kayla. He hoped that now that they’d kissed and she agreed to go on a date with him, she was going to let him in.
Kayla sat behind herdeskand one of the elevators dinged. As usual, she looked up from her work to see who’d entered their floor. She wasn’t prepared for the sight of Calum walking out and striding straight toward her.
She jumped right out of her chair, which fell to the floor with a loud bang, and rushed over to him. He opened his arms wide so she could fly into them. She instantly burst into tears.
“Shh, Kay-Kay... shh,” Calum whispered as he held her tightly to his chest.
“Kayla? Are you all right?” Donovan asked from behind her.
She could only nod her confirmation. She was intoxicated by the familiar smell of her brother—of home, even. She hated that she’d left them all behind, without even admitting to the real reason for her sudden departure. It all had been a mistake, and now she realized what she’d done, not only to herself but to her family as well. She cried even harder from the shame that came over her.
“Ooh, sis. Shh, all is okay now. Please stop crying.”
She looked up at her brother and tried to give him a reassuring smile, but she couldn’t see him through her watering eyes.
“He’s your brother, Kayla?” Donovan was still standing there and had picked up on the fact that Calum had called her “sis.”
“Yes, he’s my brother.” Kayla took a step back from Calum, grabbed his hand, and turned around to see Donovan’s concerned face. “Donovan, meet my oldest brother, Calum. Calum, this is Donovan Mills. He’s my boss here at Mills Security.”
After they shook hands, Kayla introduced her brother to Jordan, Mike, and Jacob. The guys had all jumped right up from their desks when they heard the loud bang of her chair falling. She was so thankful for all of them and felt cherished by their protectiveness.
“So, Calum is your oldest brother. Can we expect more of them coming over and making you cry?” Jacob joked.