Free Making Chase by Lauren Dane

not that I feel like I owe you for raising me. You’re my sister and my best friend and I love you. We’re family and that’s what family does. If anyone says one wrong thing I’m planting a boot in their ass.” Tate laughed. “Well, I’d pay to see that one.”

    “You ready for your date tomorrow?” Marc took his shot as he spoke to his brother.
    “It’s not like I’ve never been on a date before.”
    “Not with the one you haven’t. Liv’s all worked up.” Marc grinned and his eyes gravitated to his wife who sat at the front of The Pumphouse at her usual table.
    “You shouldn’t bring her. It’s smoky in there. It’s not like you have to protect me from Tate Murphy. She’s barely five feet tall.” Matt chuckled.
    “You say that as if I have a choice in what my beautiful wife does.
    She assures me we’ll get a table near the back doors which are open during the summer.”
    “They’re all planning on something,” Shane rumbled as he looked at the table.
    “Count on it. Maggie’s the ringleader no doubt. She wants to be sure we get there early so we can welcome Tate properly. And she warned me about those stuck up bitches I used to date and how I’d better be sure to make Tate feel more welcome than she felt.” Kyle grinned.
    “For a little thing, your woman is scary.” www.samhainpublishing.com 59

    Lauren Dane
    Kyle laughed. “And now yours is even smaller. What’s Tate? Like five-one?”
    “She claims five-two but I think she’s fudging a half an inch. There’s a lot to her.”
    “Well, I’m looking forward to getting to know her better. I have to say I heartily approve from my time with her at your place a few weeks back.
    When are you going to tell Momma and Daddy?” Kyle asked.
    “I’m trying to get her to come to dinner on Sunday. I figured I’d talk to Momma tomorrow afternoon. I need to pick up some stuff they’re donating to the firefighter’s auction. I’m sure adding another plate won’t be a big deal.”
    Marc laughed. “No big deal? Yeah, you keep thinking that.” Matt couldn’t believe his eyes when Tate opened her door. She stood there in a black dress covered in big red roses. Bright red lips, silver hoops in her ears. She’d done something to her hair so that it hung in smooth, pale waves around her face. She looked like a fifties movie star.
    “Holy shit. Tate, you look gorgeous.”
    She blushed and he couldn’t help but kiss her on her neck.
    “Thank you. It’s Beth’s doing. She picked it out. You look very nice too. I haven’t seen you dressed for dancing.” He kept an arm around her waist and pressed another kiss just beneath her ear, up the side of her face and over her brow. “You taste good.”
    “My, you’re very fancy with the compliments. By the way, a few of my siblings are going to be at The Tonk tonight. I hope you don’t mind.” He escorted her to his truck and helped her in.
    “Of course I don’t. My brothers and sisters-in-law will be there too.
    They’re all anxious to get to know you.”
    “Yeah, ‘cause that won’t make me nervous or anything.” 60
    www.samhainpublishing.com

    Making Chase
    “They’re all very nice people. You already know Liv and Maggie.”
    “Sort of. It’s not the same, working for someone. It’s not like I’m friends with them or anything.”
    He nodded, chewing over that mentally as he drove. “Well, okay, if you say so. It’s hard for me to know and all, they’re part of my life so I just think of them as friends.”
    “Liv was your girlfriend too, right? For awhile a few years back?” He laughed. “Yes. Odd isn’t it? She married my little brother and she’s going to have his baby in September.”
    “Odd, yeah that’s a word for it.”
    “Does it weird you out?” Admittedly, he hadn’t thought of that, of how the woman he’d want to be with would feel about Liv.
    “Well, I don’t really have a place to be weirded out. It’s just a date.”
    “Tate, it’s not just