“Fine. I’m opening the wine.”
He smiled, shook his head and grabbed a beer as she went for the wine. Just then, the doorbell rang.
“Get your wine. I’ll get the door.”
He opened the door to his brothers Barrett and Flynn.
“Hey, asshole,” Barrett said, but then hugged him as he stepped inside.
“Hey yourself, dickhead.”
“I don’t smell anything, other than you,” Flynn said, hugging him. “Is dinner ready yet?”
He hugged Flynn. “We haven’t started yet. Waiting for you to pitch in.”
They laid their bags inside the front door.
“I can cook a masterpiece of a meal for you with hot dogs and a cucumber,” Flynn said. “Let me at your kitchen.”
Barrett snorted. “I’d rather go for fast food than eat something you’ve cooked, Flynn.”
“You’ve obviously never eaten my cooking,” Flynn said, he and Barrett following Tucker into the kitchen. “I’m good at this shit.”
Aubry was leaning against the counter, glass of wine in her hand. “Aubry, you met Barrett before. This is my brother Flynn.”
She pushed off the counter and shook Flynn’s hand. “Nice to meet you, Flynn.”
“You too, Aubry. I hear you and my brother have become master chefs.”
She laughed. “Hardly. I hope Tucker didn’t set your expectations too high for this meal. We’re very new at cooking.” She turned to Tucker. “Maybe I should have bought hot dogs as a backup, just in case.”
“Don’t worry, honey,” Barrett said. “We’re here to help pitch in.”
“Yeah, if we were nuking hot dogs,” Tucker said. “Which we aren’t.”
Barrett glared at Tucker. “Screw you. I can cook.”
“No, you can make hot dogs, Barrett. I can cook,” Flynn said.
“Neither of you can cook.” Tucker went to the fridge and grabbed three beers, handing two over to his brothers and keeping one for himself. “Aubry and I are in charge of this meal tonight.”
“So Barrett and I will just hang out and look pretty,” Flynn said.
“That’s what you two are good at,” Tucker said. “The hanging out part. Not the pretty part.”
Aubry hid her smirk as she followed the three brothers into the living room. If nothing else, this evening should be entertaining. When she’d met Grant and Barrett a while back, she’d been in work mode, treating Tucker for an injury, so she hadn’t had much time or focus to truly capture the camaraderie among the brothers. Now, though, and despite a little trepidation about the upcoming dinner she and Tucker were cooking, she intended to relax and enjoy this.
She slid into a spot on the sofa next to Tucker. “Tucker tells me you’re in town for one of the kid’s school events? Grant’s girlfriend’s brother, if I recall?”
“Yeah,” Flynn said. “Leo plays football, but right now he’s playing baseball. His team is in the championships, so we decided since we were both traveling, we’d head over here and catch the championship games.”
“How exciting for him.”
“No doubt they’ll win,” Tucker said. “He’s developing into a hell of a stud for a kid who didn’t play much sports not that long ago.”
“Grant’s influence,” Barrett said to Aubry. “And ours. You can’t mix with this family and escape without the sports bug.”
“Except for Mia—” Tucker turned to Aubry. “Our little sister. She’s in college, and happy to be away from the nonstop sports talk and roughhousing that goes on whenever we’re together.”
“Does this mean you all play football or baseball whenever you’re together?”
“Baseball?” Flynn laughed. “Who’d want to play that pussy game?”
Tucker pinned Flynn with a look. “I will lay you flat and shove a baseball down your throat.”
“You could try, but between Barrett and me, you’d be the one eating it.”
“Barrett’s my twin. He’ll take my side.”
“Think again,” Barrett said to Tucker. “When it comes to football or baseball, you already know what I’ll choose.”
Aubry laughed. “Poor Tucker.” She rubbed his back. “That’s okay. I might not be able to go up against these two, but there are sharp knives in the kitchen, and I have performed surgery before. I can wield them like weapons.”
“Oh, I like you,” Flynn said. “You talk a tough game. But can you take a beating in a game situation?”
Being an only child, Aubry never had to deal with sibling teasing. However, she’d borne the brunt of harsh competition from peers and harassment from instructors. She knew better than to back down when a challenge was issued. “Bring it.”
“I like her, too,” Barrett said. “But what’s she doing with you, Tucker?”
“Kiss my ass, Barrett.”
With a smile, Aubry pushed off the sofa and stood. “You three can sit here and spar. I’m going to go fix the sauce for the salmon.”
Tucker moved to stand. “I’ll help you.”
She shook her head. “You hang out here. This is a one person job.”
TUCKER SAT BACK AND DRANK HIS BEER, HAPPY TO have his brothers—and Aubry—here.
“I need to stretch,” Flynn said, standing. “Let’s go out back so I can walk around.”