Her humiliation was complete. Her brother was there, and she knew her hair had the just-climbed-out-of-bed look. Heck, her neighbors had probably still been in the hall and filled him in on the whole scene already.

“She’s busy,” Joseph snapped. She knew he recognized Aaron.

“I’m here, Aaron. Come on in,” she called as she dashed toward her bathroom. She was going to take a few minutes to compose herself. Hopefully, Joseph would be gone when she came back out.

When she finally did reappear she was wearing wool slacks and a thick sweater. She was geared up for protection. She entered the living room to the sound of laughter. Her brother had his head thrown back at something Joseph had said, and Joseph was smirking.

When she approached, Joseph’s eyes pierced her own, desire still simmering underneath the surface.

“Walk me to the door, Katherine,” he commanded. She followed him on auto pilot. He said goodbye to her brother, then bent down and whispered in her ear.

“This is far from over,” he promised. With that, he turned and strode away. A shiver of trepidation raced through her. She had a bad feeling he was right…

“I don’t know whether to be appalled at or smitten with my father-in-law,” Jessica said with a horrified laugh.

Katherine once again returned to the present and looked around the room. She agreed with Jessica. Thinking back to those days, she didn’t know how the two of them ever managed to come to an agreement of any kind.

Their early days were full of passion and anger. Misunderstandings and assumptions. It was so long ago, but it was the beginning.

The beginning of the greatest love she’d ever known.

“We’ll have to continue the story later. Thank you for listening. It actually helps ease the pain of missing him so much,” Katherine said.

“It helps us, too, Mom. It’s hard to imagine the perfect couple as ever having problems, but wow, just wow,” Mark said.

“Your father was a stubborn man. He still is. But that stubbornness is what will help him come home to me,” Katherine sighed.

The family all left the hospital together. Katherine would return soon, and once again, lay beside her husband and draw on the immense strength he carried even while in a coma.

Chapter Nine

“I think we have enough information to agree it’s time to fire Jack. The question is, are we going to press charges?” Max asked.

“Fire him, yes, but I think we’re wasting everyone’s time if we press charges. Yes, we know it’s him, but it’s all eye witness reports and suspicions. He’s done well at covering his tracks,” Trenton said.

“I agree with both of you. We’ll let him go, but I think it’s already going to be messy, and pressing charges is just going to drag too many people into it, who would rather he just leave, so they can get on with their jobs,” Austin said.

Austin despised dishonest employees. His family treated their staff with the utmost respect, gave them good benefits, time off, helped their families and invested time and money into them. That’s why, even though it was business, it felt more personal to him when an employee stole from them.

Jack was paid well, and had been with them for years. There wasn’t a good reason for theft other than pure greed.

“It looks like Dean did a great job of gathering all the information we needed, plus he spoke to all the receivers who had suspicions. Jack got away with about fifty-thousand dollars’ worth of merchandise. He doesn’t have a banking account, so where the money has gone is anyone’s guess,” Max said.

“Well, let’s just fire him and write it off. It could’ve been a whole lot worse,” Austin said with a sigh. He wanted to press charges just because it burned him that the guy was going to get off with nothing more than a job loss. He had to let it go, though.

The family was going through enough stress with Joseph still in a coma and his own life was filled to the brink with personal issues. It had been a couple weeks since he’d last had a moment alone with Kinsey. He was getting tired of her avoiding tactics.

One way or the other, they were coming to a showdown. He could hardly wait.

“All right, guys, that’s the last of the business. Now, tell me about your hot, or should I say, cold, romance with Kinsey,” Trenton demanded, snapping Austin out of his musings.

Austin sent his brother a glare. He was a grown man and shouldn’t have his brothers ragging on him about his love life.

“My relationship with Kinsey is… well hell, it’s… complicated,” he lamely finished.

Max and Trenton started laughing at his frustrated tone. He guessed he deserved it with the amount of grief he’d given both of them when they were having relationship issues. It didn’t feel so good being on the receiving end.

“Are you losing your swagger, little brother? I’ve never seen you crawl before, but it seems to be a constant thing with Kinsey,” Trenton mocked.

“My swagger is just fine. As a matter of fact, I have a list of available women just waiting by the phone for my call,” he snapped. The thought of calling even one of them left him feeling empty.

“Yeah, but the one you actually want seems to think you’re about as appealing as salmonella,” Max added.

“You know, I seem to remember when Cassie had you crawling on your hands and knees, so you’re not one to mock. And before you interrupt, Trenton, Jennifer was making you chase her all over the place,” Austin smugly reminded his brothers.

They both just flashed goofy grins at him. They were so sickeningly in love, his comments didn’t affect them in the least.

“Yeah, and look at me now. That unbelievably beautiful woman is mine,” Max said, his chest puffing out. It was more than obvious Max would walk on water for her.

“Making Jennifer my wife is the best thing I’ve ever done. She and the kids make me realize why dad wanted us to find someone so badly. If you think Kinsey is the one, you need to hold nothing back. Don’t let her get away because, trust me, it will haunt you forever,” Trenton warned.

Austin sat back and waited while Trenton talked. He knew his brother’s heart was in the right place, but he was sick of people telling him what to do. What was wrong with wanting to just live for the moment? As he saw it, nothing. He liked Kinsey. Big deal. Females came and went. Yes, he wanted to be with her, but not for the rest of his life.

He grabbed a beer and took a long swallow as Max joined in and said something inaudible. Austin decided he just needed to tune both of them out. Since they’d gotten married, they’d become too sentimental. The thing that scared the living crap out of him was he wasn’t so emphatic in his bachelorhood convictions anymore.

Another large drink of cool liquid went down his throat. His brothers were messing with his head. He had to get out of there. Maybe he’d better go have a chat with Kinsey. Yes, that seemed like the thing to do.

“Look, both of you,” Austin finally interrupted, stopping Max mid-sentence. “I don’t know what I’m doing right now, but I like her, okay? It’s not like I’m planning on bedding her at some cheap hotel, then throwing a fifty on her pillow. She’s pig-headed, irrational, over-emotional, and a royal pain in the ass, but for some reason, I can’t quit thinking about her. When I next need your opinion on the status of my dating life, I’ll ask, but for now…”

“Okay, okay, we get it. Butt out,” Max said, his lips turning up at the corners.

“Paybacks a bit-” Trenton tried to say.

“I get it. I’m sorry for all the grief I caused while you were chasing Jennifer,” Austin interrupted.

“Hey, I wasn’t chasing her. She wanted me,” Trenton said, though they all knew the truth. Jennifer had taken one look at him and ran the other way. Trenton had quickly followed. It seemed all of the brothers had gone from running as fast as they could from anything that even resembled wedding bells, to sprinting down the aisle.

Was it their age? Was their mortality catching up to them? Austin didn’t even want to think about that. He was only thirty-four, certainly didn’t have one foot in the grave yet. It has to be stress, that’s all, he reasoned with himself.

One thing he did know for sure, though, was that no matter how irritated he became with his brothers, sister, or even cousins, he would still always love them. He’d also be there for any of them in a heartbeat, so it went to reason that he’d also put up with their ribbing, and their long-winded advice.

That’s what families did for each other. Take ‘em or leave ‘em.

“I gotta run,” Austin said as he jumped to his feet. He had to see her, talk to her. He had to be with her again. Then his life would go back to normal.

Trenton and Max said nothing as he left the room. He was sure they’d start talking about their insane brother as soon as he was out of earshot, though. He didn’t even care.

Austin made a beeline for the hospital. He looked at the employee parking lot and breathed a sigh of relief when he found her car in its usual place. He knew her shift had ended a half hour ago, but this was her on-call night.

Since Joseph’s condition was steady and George was home, she was only on call at the hospital two nights a week, though also working five twelve-hour day shifts. Still, it made it difficult to track her down, try and get her alone.

Austin strode inside and made his way down the quiet hallway. He preferred the hospital late at night. There wasn’t as much chaos as the lights were dimmed, the staff lighter, and the halls quiet.

He found her room and knocked.

No answer.

He knocked again and waited. Still, no answer. He tried the knob and found it unlocked so he peaked inside the incredibly small space.

A rush of relief filled him when he saw her curled up on the small bed with a book in her hand, a dim reading light illuminating the side of her face. She wore a pair of headphones, probably hoping to drown out any noise from the hallway.

Expectation.

Hunger.

Need.

They all filled him as his gaze took in her fragile frame. She was wearing her scrubs, but from the look of her damp hair, she must have recently climbed from the shower. He could just smell a hint of mint in the air, making his nostrils flair.

He didn’t want to desire her, but he couldn’t deny that he did. His body urged him to move forward, while his mind reasoned for him to slow down. He was too involved, too mixed up over her.

His desire won out.

He couldn’t tear his gaze from her naturally pink lips, the hint of cleavage barely showing, her shapely legs curled beneath her. He knew what was underneath the unflattering scrubs, and his fingers itched to remove any barrier from their path. Her long, dark hair was resting across her shoulders. He loved it when she wore it down, the thick waves acting like a curtain. He wanted her on top of him, her hair falling forward and rubbing against his chest.

His body tightened more.

He stepped inside and closed the door, waiting for her to look up and notice him. When she did, her eyes widened as she clutched at her chest.

“You startled me,” she said with a nervous laugh.

“Sorry.”