Free Barefoot With a Stranger (Barefoot Bay Undercover Book 2) by Roxanne St. Claire

as Chessie’s—why the hell hadn’t he noticed that when he met her?—narrowed like a pitcher about to wind up and throw a hundred-mile-an-hour fastball. Mal braced for the assault.
    “For one thing, she’s lovesick over this dick-brain bozo who’s been stringing her along like she was fishing line on the end of his pencil-sized pole.” Gabe put his hand on Mal’s shoulder and guided him toward the road that joined all the bungalows on the cul-de-sac. “Maybe you can help in that regard.”
    Mal’s steps slowed. Help? Gabe was giving him permission ?
    “I mean, you could be like a father figure, but not one of her brothers or her cousin.”
    Mal choked. “A father figure?” Oh hell no.
    “She might look up to you.”
    Or up at him, from flat on her back. Like she did last night. “Hate to break it to you, big bro, but I’m not that much older than she is. She’s thirty, right? That’s what you put on the passport.”
    “Yeah, but…” Gabe shook his head and led Mal to another one of the Spanish-style bungalows. “Shit. I keep forgetting she’s not sixteen.”
    “She is certainly not sixteen,” Mal said, keeping all irony out of his voice. “And I’m thirty-eight. Definitely not old enough to be her father.”
    “But you are wise,” Gabe shot back. “One of the best spooks I know.”
    “Used to be,” he said, this time not able to keep anything out of his voice. Not the longing for his old life, not the bitterness for how it had been taken away from him.
    Even if it was by his own doing.
    “The main thing is that you’re not her brother or cousin, so maybe she’ll listen to you,” Gabe continued, his brain obviously on his sister’s past and not Mal’s.
    “Define listen,” he muttered. ’Cause he was pretty sure Gabe didn’t mean Mal should be teaching her the things they covered in the sack.
    “She’s a planner, our Chess,” Gabe said. “She’s obsessed with things being done in order and by an agreed-upon agenda. Must be the computer programmer nerd in her. She’s never made an impulsive move in her life.”
    Yeah? She was pretty fucking impulsive last night. “That so? Why is that?”
    “Who knows? She’s the baby of the family, so maybe we’ve overprotected her a little bit.”
    “A little bit?” Mal joked.
    “Fine, a lot. And I’m the worst, probably, so I guess that’s why I should be the one to encourage her to get out of her, you know, comfort zone.”
    Oh, he knew her comfort zone. He remembered exactly how it tasted. “I’m sure she can get out of it when she really wants to.”
    “But she’s never been interested in the family business beyond computer shit and claims she’s not an adventure and danger junkie like the rest of us.”
    He considered that. If true, she sure acted out of character last night, or maybe Gabe didn’t know his little sister at all.
    “In my opinion, I’m doing her a favor with this gig,” Gabe continued. “She needs to get out and see the world and stop obsessing about settling down and having kids. She hears that clock ticking.”
    Well, that took Mal out of the running. Not that he wanted to run with her, but it was good to know what she was about. Although, last night? There was no settling down going on.
    Mal glanced in the general direction she’d gone, trying to reset his understanding of Chessie. “Maybe you see her one way, but she acts another when she’s out in the world?”
    Gabe shot him a look. “She’s my sister, man. I know her better than anyone.”
    Maybe. Maybe not.
    “Chess needs to get out more, so this job is perfect. Especially if you can make her forget that fuckwad she’s been with for a year.”
    And two months. And ten days. “How do you think I’m going to do that?”
    “Make her love life in the field, bro.” He elbowed Mal. “I want her to move here and work for me, so help me sell this shit.”
    Not exactly how he was thinking about making her forget her ex. But, if Gabe was right