Free Disgruntled by Shelley Wall Page B

recognized his evasion and persisted. “What grandkid,
Tim?”
“None of your damn business.” Tim stomped back to Todd,
still nursing a battered shin. With a growl, Tim pulled him
from the ground and twisted fingers into the neck of his
shirt. When they were almost eye-to-eye he spoke. “Did you
lay hands on my sister or not?”
Todd looked through the healthy eye and shook his head.
The movement sent a shot of pain across his right cheek and
he quickly ended his denial.
“Did you cause that scratch?”
Todd looked at the smear of blood on Reva’s arm. If he
hadn’t let her carry the rocks, the wound would have been
fine. If his eyes had not been focused on her ass and legs as
she flexed to lift the rocks, he’d be a little less bruised. Way to
go, perve. He started to nod.
She stepped in front of him, noticing his acquiescence
before they did. “Of course not, you idiots. He was helping
me carry this stuff to the backyard, like I said.” Reva waved
at the fountain parts. “I scratched my arm in the process.
Well, technically I scratched it a while back because I got it
stuck in a tree trying to get a baseball. But carrying the rocks
opened up the scratches again.”
Ben stooped down to evaluate the equipment. “So, you’re
putting in a fountain, Rev?”
“Yes. Actually, Todd gave me the fountain earlier. It’s a demo
from one of his suppliers and we were going to install it this
weekend. Now, it looks like he’s going to need a couple days
of recovery before we get started, thanks to you two.”
Tim and Ben exchanged glances and backed away from
Todd. Tim ran a hand down his shirt to smooth it and
added, “Sorry about that man. No hard feelings?”
“Reva?” Todd tried to focus her way. “You have any ice in
there?” He motioned to her door as he pressed a hand to his
eye. He understood Tim and Ben. He knew where they came
from and likely might have done the same thing. Still, as
much as he liked her and enjoyed her company, this seemed
to punctuate his reservations about involvement with a
woman that had been through so much. What the hell had
convinced him to keep trying?
“Sure. Come on.” She took his arm between her hands and
led him inside. Ben and Tim followed. “So, now that you’ve
done all the damage you can, mind telling me why you’re
here?” She spoke over her shoulder at her brothers.
“Uh, we just wanted to stop in and check on you,” Ben said.
Reva eyed them suspiciously as she removed a baggie from
the cabinet and filled it. She walked to her living room for a
minute then returned and placed the ice against Todd’s
cheek. He sighed at the coolness of the contact which drew
the
heat
and
pain
away.
Home
sounded
good
at
the
moment. He wanted to lie down for a while, down a beer,
and consider how he’d get out of building the fountain.
“Is that one of your sculptures in the back of Tim’s truck?”
Reva asked Ben.
Tim coughed. Ben shuffled a shoe across in front of the
other before he answered. “Um, yeah. I thought I’d swap it
for the broken one.”
“The broken one’s fixed,” Todd said.
It was difficult to disguise his annoyance. Todd took the ice
bag from Reva’s hand and lifted away from her counter. “I
had better get home. You guys enjoy your night.” He waved
and headed toward the door. Todd chastised himself for
considering this night would end with his mouth against
Reva’s. In truth, since the first time he’d seen her getting out
of her car, that thought had been on his mind. Now, he
realized touching Reva at all might be dangerous, stupid, and
complicated. If this had happened just due to a scratch on
her arm, imagine what might happen if he’d kissed her and
she hadn’t wanted him to. Part of him wanted to protect her
as they were doing, but in all honesty, another part wanted
more than just the role of body guard. Common sense told
him all of that was idiotic to consider at all.
Reva reached out and snagged his arm as he passed. “Wait.”
She looked