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“Jackson’s right,” Corey agreed. “Time-out.”
“Since when are you guys the dating police?”
“Since always.” Dillon met her gaze. “It’s what big brothers do.”
They were also men and didn’t get it.
“I’m a grown woman. You can’t ground me,” she protested. “Don’t think I don’t appreciate all you do, but—”
“No excuses. Cold turkey.” Jackson took a sip from his bottle. “I bet you can’t go a month without a date.”
That touched a nerve, but she pushed down the competitive streak. “A woman of my advancing years can’t afford to sit on the sidelines that long.”
“Don’t talk to me about piling up the years.” Dillon, the oldest sibling, shook his head. “You’re just a baby.”
“Hardly,” she said. “And you don’t understand. You all found love without even trying.”
The four of them stared at her, then started laughing.
“What’s so funny?” she demanded.
“It’s never as easy as it looks.” Amusement still lurked in Corey’s light brown eyes. “Jason is the last unattached Traub brother and he’s still in Texas. Maybe it’s something about Thunder Canyon.”
“That’s what I’m trying to tell you,” she said. “And I’ve got to keep myself out there—”
“No.” Jackson shook his head. “That’s what we’re trying to tell you. Time-out, for Pete’s sake. I double dare you to put the brakes on the dating wagon for thirty days.”
Double dare? Rose gritted her teeth. He knew her too well. She never turned down a double dare, darn him.
“You’re going straight to hell, Jackson Traub.” She glared at him and figured the expression was just as fearsome as his.
He looked completely unimpressed. “A brother’s gotta do what a brother’s gotta do.”
Frustration knotted inside her when they all nodded in agreement.
“And if any one of us catches you on a date before time is up, it’s back to day one, plus two weeks,” Jackson warned.
“A month and a half?” she cried.
“Double dare,” he reminded her. “Technically I could double the stakes, but I’m cutting you some slack.”
She blew out a breath. “Done.”
“And remember, this isn’t Midland.” Jackson pointed a finger at her. “Thunder Canyon is a small town and word spreads real fast, so don’t be trying to pull anything. We’ve got eyes and ears everywhere.”
“I’ll get even with you. Every last one of you,” she warned, treating each of them to the Rose Traub double dare stare. “You won’t know where or when, but payback is coming.”
“Yeah, we’re scared.” Dillon stood and the others followed suit.
He patted her head. Ethan tapped her nose. Corey ruffled her hair. Then the three walked away, leaving her with Jackson. As Rose watched their backs, her gaze drifted to Austin. He was frowning at his sister and it reminded her that her brother was supposed to get her information about him.
Rose watched Jackson shrug into his jacket. “So,” she said, “what did Laila say about Austin? Did you get details about why his love life has nowhere to go but up?”
“You’re not dating for a month.” Jackson stared at her as if she had two heads. “What do you care?”
“I don’t.”
That was a big, fat lie.
Even worse than lying to her brother, she couldn’t stop thinking about Austin Anderson.
Chapter Four
Austin supervised a group of teenagers who were putting lights on the Christmas tree at ROOTS. He could have helped, made suggestions about spacing and symmetry, but it was their tree and they didn’t need adults butting in. That was part of the philosophy here. Supervise for safety, advise only when asked. Watching the kids joking and laughing, talking and teasing, he wished there’d been a hangout like this when he was growing up. It had been Haley’s dream and she’d pulled rabbits out of a hat to make it happen.
The mural she’d painted of teens playing sports, using computers and texting on cell phones filled the wall that faced Main Street. She’d found an old couch, a recliner that no longer reclined, ugly lamps and scratched tables that the kids could use without worrying about messing anything up. They came to talk, vent, do homework and have fun. Thanks to a long list of volunteers, there was always an adult on the premises.
Tonight he was that adult.
If only Rose Traub saw him that way. Somehow he was going to change her mind about him, although so far he didn’t have much of a plan about how to make it happen. Last night he’d seen her at The Hitching Post with her brothers who appeared to be pulling rank. He recognized the big brother body language and remembered how young and defiant she’d looked. Austin recognized that body language. He’d gotten an advanced degree in young and defiant.
Angry voices in the corner around the tree got his attention and he moved to defuse the situation. Three girls watched the two boys as arguing turned to shoving. Understanding from personal experience how a flood of testosterone could drown a guy’s common sense, Austin quickly moved in to separate them.
He pushed his way between the teenagers who were both skinny and shorter than he was. But a stray punch thrown was always a concern.
“Break it up, guys,” he said. “Use words.”
“He already did that.” The shaggy-haired blond had fire in his blue eyes. “He was talkin’ trash about my sister.”
“No, dude—I said she was fine.” Black hair and eyes along with low-slung jeans screamed bad boy.
The image attracted girls for some reason and Austin should know. Growing up, he’d excelled at that phase and never lacked for attention from the opposite sex. Then his luck with girls ran out. About the time he’d graduated from college, he’d thought he was grown up enough to have his own family, but the girl he’d asked had easily resisted him.
The bell over the front door dinged, but before he could see who came in, the two combatants lunged at each other again. Austin put his hands out to keep them apart.
“Knock it off, Evan,” he said to the blond. “Looking out for your sister is a good thing, but I guarantee she won’t thank you for punching out the dude who’s giving her a compliment.” He gave the tough guy a hard stare. “It was a compliment right, Cal?”
Rebellion crackled in the dark eyes, then backed off a notch, signaling a truce. Full surrender would take time. And maturity.
“Yeah,” the kid finally said. “I didn’t mean anything.”
“Didn’t think so.” Austin dropped his hands. “Take five, guys, and grab a soda. Cool off.”
In the back room there was a refrigerator with fruit, cold drinks and water. A pantry was full of crunchy snacks. Not only could teenage boys consume unbelievable quantities of food under normal circumstances, sometimes kids also weren’t getting enough to eat at home. There were families in financial need because of job loss in the recent recession. Austin hoped the green engineering process he was working on would create employment opportunities for some of them.
“Is it always this exciting around here?”
Austin knew that voice belonged to the redhead on his mind. There was a wide grin on his face when he turned.
“Rose.”
She lifted a mitten-covered hand. “Hi.”
“It’s usually pretty quiet in here,” he said, glancing at the doorway where the teens disappeared. Their voices drifted in from the back room.
“I know it’s wrong to condone fighting, but—” She smiled. “A brother protecting his sister’s honor.”
“It’s what we do.” He’d stepped in to defend Angie when Haley had brought home a teen in trouble. Although it turned out he’d misinterpreted the situation. But Rose wasn’t talking about him. “This is a pleasant surprise.”
Not his smoothest dialogue. Maybe he should pull out his bad boy alter ego and see if it still worked magic.
“How are you?” she asked.
“Good. You?”
“Fine.” She was bundled up in a puffy jacket, navy cashmere scarf, matching hat and mittens. Black slacks and boots completed her winter look. “How’s Angie?”
“Busy. Between college classes and work, she’s got a lot on her plate.”
“Sounds like it.” She pulled off her jacket and mittens which meant she wasn’t in too big a hurry to leave. “I saw you with her last night.”
“Yeah.” When Rose had walked in, he could hardly keep his eyes off her. “We stopped for a quick burger.”
“The Hitching Post has pretty good ones.”
“Arguably the best in town,” he agreed. “Is there something you wanted? Not that I’m pushing you out the door, but—”
“Right, I’m not the typical demographic for ROOTS.”
“We specialize in rebellion, group therapy for angst-related issues and anger management. It’s a lot about healthy, positive ways to channel hormones.”
She laughed. “What a diplomatic way of saying I’m too old to be here.”
“Not from where I’m standing.”
They were in the middle of the room with no convenient place to hang mistletoe, but he’d never wanted some of that twig more in his life. It would give him an excuse to kiss her. And he badly wanted to which was becoming a chronic problem. Every time he saw her, the urge to take her in his arms was stronger.
With every lamp and overhead light on in the room, he knew the pink that crept into her cheeks was a blush and not from the cold outside. That was good, right? At least it was some reaction to him.
“I just walked over from the mayor’s office to deliver some Christmas cheer in person,” she said.
“You walked?”
“It’s only a couple of blocks and the night is gorgeous and clear.”
“Not too cold?” Austin asked skeptically.
“I bundled up.”
He could see that. While the Eskimo look was cute, he did like her in the black lace dress that was like sex in motion when she walked. “So what’s the news?”
“As you know, I handle public relations and communications for the mayor’s office.”
She seemed a little nervous, and from his perspective, just happened to be the cutest communicator he could imagine.
“The mayor hasn’t decided to revoke the ROOTS permit, has he?”
“No,” she said quickly. “Just the opposite. Sort of. I mean I’m not here with another permit. You don’t need two. But Mayor Clifton and the town council believe this place has proved to be beneficial to the teenagers. There’s been a definite drop in nuisance-related complaints since it opened. He’s allocating funds for tutoring and more computer equipment.”
A sudden burst of laughter from the other room told him the boys had let go of their anger as boys usually did.
Austin grinned. “That’s great. Haley’s on her honeymoon, but I’ll let her know when she gets back. She’ll be really happy to hear about that.”
“The press release is going out tomorrow, so I wanted to stop by for a minute and deliver the good news.”
“I’m glad you did.” And not just because the equipment and scholastic help were so badly needed. “Some kids don’t have a computer at home and they’re not likely to broadcast that by using the ones at the library. It’s an academic disadvantage without access at home. Plus, this place has become the cool place to hang out. Putting a subtle emphasis on study might make schoolwork a little cooler, too.”
“I see what you mean.” She smiled. “This is the best part of my job.”
The kids drifted back into the room and after a curious glance at the newcomer, they resumed stringing lights on the tree.
Austin looked back at Rose. “Actually, by showing up you saved me a phone call.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah, I was going to ask you out, but now I can do it in person.”
“A date?”
The distressed expression on her face meant this was not starting out well. “When a guy invites a woman to dinner, by definition it’s called a date.”
“I was afraid of that.”
“Afraid? Why is it a problem? Because I’m not your ideal age?”
“No.” She hesitated. “I mean yes, you’re not. But that’s not the only thing.”
“What else?”
“I’m on a dating diet.”
That was pretty close to the lamest excuse he’d ever heard. He could see the headline now. Former bad boy crashes and burns. Reputation on life support. Irritation chipped away at him and he didn’t want to set a bad example for the kids.
“How about some coffee?”
“No, thanks.”
He took her arm anyway and led her into the back room. This discussion wasn’t for curious teenagers to hear.
