Total pages in book: 30
Estimated words: 27534 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 138(@200wpm)___ 110(@250wpm)___ 92(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 27534 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 138(@200wpm)___ 110(@250wpm)___ 92(@300wpm)
I giggled. “Mm-hmm, you sure are.”
“Working with them and seeing them around town is one thing.” He tightened his hold on me with a playful growl. “Just do me a favor and don’t ever date one.”
My dad had moved us three hours south from Lancaster to San Diego after he retired from the Air Force, right before I started high school. He loved his job at a local aerospace company, testing new airplane designs for their flight worthiness. Andrew made the same move during my senior year when his Air Force career abruptly ended after his PTSD diagnosis.
Almost as though my brother had a built-in radar for any discussion of my dating life, he walked back over to us. “Who is Annalise dating? Why haven’t we met him yet? When did they meet?”
“Nobody,” I huffed, rolling my eyes.
Andrew ignored me and waited for our dad—who found his displeasure hilarious, judging by how hard he was laughing—to answer his questions. When he finally managed to pull himself together, he explained, “Nobody, as far as I know. I was just reminding your sister that she better not bring home a squid. If she’s going to date military, it should be an airman.”
My brother crossed his arms over his broad chest. “Nah, she’d be better off with a successful businessman who can help finance this place. Or a veterinarian who can give all the dogs free medical care.”
“It’s really too bad that I didn’t decide to train K9 dogs for the police or military,” I muttered, glaring at him. “Then I could test their attack command on you.”
I felt a burst of happiness as he chuckled at my taunt. “We both know you’d never do something like that, sis. You love me too much.”
Planting a fist on my hip, I tilted my head. “Or maybe it’s just because I’d never misuse an animal like that.”
“Uh-huh, sure.” He tugged at the end of my ponytail. “Whatever you have to tell yourself to make you feel better about being a softie when it comes to me.”
“Yeah, well, I can come up with other nonviolent ways to make you pay for being so overprotective,” I warned.
Dad was used to our friendly bickering but still urged, “C’mon, kiddo. Don’t give Andrew a hard time for doing his job as your big brother.”
“Like what?” Andrew looked up at the sky while stroking his chin, pretending to consider those options. Then he snapped his fingers and exclaimed, “I know. You could mashed potato my lawn like you and your friends did that one time during your junior year.”
“I cannot believe you just tattled on me like that,” I cried, narrowing my eyes at him.
“Mashed potato?” my dad echoed, his brows drawing together. “What the hell are you talking about?”
Andrew snickered as I explained, “You know those fake mashed potato flakes that come in the box that you used to buy before I learned how to make real ones from scratch?”
Dad nodded. “Yes.”
“Well, we…um…bought a few boxes of those and poured them on Zachary Bryant’s yard when he dumped Tori the day before junior prom,” I admitted. “His parents had the sprinklers programmed to go off every morning, so they fluffed up all over the grass by the time anyone realized what we’d done.”
My dad’s eyes widened, then he threw his head back and laughed. “That’s a hell of a lot more original than the toilet papering your brother used to do when he was in high school.”
“It sure was.” I stuck my tongue out at Andrew before beaming him a satisfied smirk.
“But you still shouldn’t have done it,” Dad chided. “There would’ve been hell to pay if you’d gotten caught.”
I jerked my chin toward Andrew. “The only reason he knows about it is because he was home on leave and eavesdropped on our conversation. Then he tailed us to that jerk’s house and waited with the lights off until we finished. I have no idea how we didn’t notice him while we were walking there, but he got us into his car and safely back home before anyone saw us.”
“Of course, I followed you. Making sure you didn’t get into trouble, or worse, was my job as your big brother.” Andrew shot me a triumphant look. “Just like I’m doing now when I tell you that you’d better give me the name of anyone you date so I can have Phillip check to make sure he doesn’t have a record.”
My lips pressed together as my pulse quickened. “I’m pretty sure he’s not allowed to do stuff like that for personal reasons.”
“He has younger sisters.” Andrew shrugged. “So he understands the challenges I face.”
“Um, no. If anyone faces challenges due to their sibling’s behavior around here, it’s me,” I scoffed, pointing my thumb toward my chest. “I’m the one who has to put up with your ridiculously overprotective behavior.”