“I might need to come all the way down from D.C. for her pies.” Wyatt, who served as team leader of Echo Team, leaned back on the chair next to A.J., laced his fingers behind his back, and stretched. “And don’t get me started on that catfish.”
“Nothing beats Mom’s cooking.” A.J. eyed his brother Beckett sitting across the narrow table from him as the bartender set down a tray of shot glasses and a bottle of bourbon.
“Maybe if you came home more often, you wouldn’t miss it so much.” Beckett’s statement wasn’t a surprise. He was constantly trying to convince A.J. to move back to Alabama.
“I came home at Christmas,” A.J. reminded him as the bartender filled their glasses.
“And for some crazy reason, McKenna seems to like you the most even though you’re not around.” It was his brother Caleb giving him a hard time now. “Always hanging on to your every word. Begging for stories.”
“I lead an interesting life, what can I say?” A.J. offered the usual answer he gave Caleb. The guy sounded like a broken record, reciting the same lines whenever they saw each other.
McKenna was Beckett’s eleven-year-old daughter and one of A.J.’s favorite people on the planet. A ray of sunshine. When Beckett became a single dad, he moved back home to be near family to help raise her.
A.J. knew his brother Shep would chime in, too. He wouldn’t be able to help himself. And in three, two, one.
“Nah. That’s not the case. McKenna probably likes A.J. the most because he’s not around all that often.” Shep, only two years younger than A.J., threw out his two cents on the matter.
“Every time I come home, I get grilled by y’all, and yet you wonder why I don’t make the trip more often,” A.J. teased, warily eying the shot of top-shelf bourbon, not sure if he should drink given the knot on his head and the ibuprofen. But they were at a bachelor party, and no one liked the sober guy at such an event.
“Such a city slicker.” Shep lifted his shot glass and examined it with scrutiny as if the bartender had poured a Cosmo or Sex on the Beach. “You lost whatever Bama you had in you spending all that time in New York City.”
“Oh, trust me, he didn’t. A.J. becomes as Southern as Southern can get when he’s in the South.” Chris served as Echo Three when the boys weren’t running around shooting paintballs in the woods. He was the youngest on Echo Team, but not by much. He’d be hitting thirty-seven this year. They were all getting up there in age.
“I’ve noticed,” Wyatt began. “I was fixin’ to do this, and I reckon y’all better do that.” Wyatt’s imitation of A.J.’s Alabama drawl had A.J. lightly elbowing him in the shoulder. Of course, A.J. always gave Wyatt hell about his British accent becoming thicker whenever they traveled outside the U.S., so maybe it was Wyatt’s turn to heckle him.
“Well, can you blame me when I’m around these knuckleheads?” A.J. lifted his shot glass in the direction of his brothers, still not prepared to gulp it down.
“Maybe one of you single guys should go chat up that pretty brunette instead of the guy who’s marrying your sister,” Chris announced, which had the men shifting their attention toward the jukebox just as the brunette set a hand on Brian’s chest.
I knew it, damn it. Not good enough for his sister.
“I nominate A.J. for the job of going to rescue that woman from a taken man.” Chris leaned back in his chair with a satisfied grin. A.J. wanted to smack the smile right off Echo Three’s face. That damn knowing smile of his. “Ah, that’s right, you won’t.” One eye closed for a second as if Chris were focusing on reading an eye chart to check his vision. “Because your heart belongs to a woman who doesn’t even know it.”
Shep waved a finger A.J.’s way, momentarily distracted from the girl talking to Brian. “And who is he talking about?”
A.J. grunted, finally tossed back his shot, then coughed out, “No one.” But Chris was right. He’d been unable to get his mind off the smoking hot FBI agent he’d met in Charlotte last year. Literally unable to stop thinking about her to the point he was beginning to worry if there was something wrong with him. Gorgeous women had hit on him, and he’d not had even the slightest stir in his pants. The fucker was asleep. He’d call his dick Sleeping Beauty if his niece didn’t watch Disney movies like it was a sport.
“Well, does this woman have a name?” Shep pressed. He wasn’t going to let this go, and if the man wanted to tangle, well, A.J. knew his brother’s hot buttons and had no problem applying a little pressure.
“Anastasia Quinn. Redhead. Brilliant. FBI agent.” Damn Echo Five. Now Shep would prompt Beckett to do a little recon on her and tap into his law enforcement resources for some dirt since Beckett was sheriff of their small town. A town A.J. hated to admit he did miss. But if he confessed to missing home, he’d have to reexamine his life on the go, and he wasn’t ready to stop operating. The world needed Bravo and Echo Teams. “A.J. believes in ghosts and love at first sight, so it would seem,” Finn added, and A.J. made a mental note to kick his ass the next time they sparred at the gym back in New York.
“She goes by Ana,” A.J. blurted as his attention moved back to Brian, who was still chatting up the brunette.
“That with one n or two?” Roman asked, and A.J. wasn’t sure if Roman was kidding or not.
“I don’t know.” What A.J. did know was that he needed this conversation moving in a different direction. He twisted on his chair to better observe his future brother-in-law. “Does she know Brian is marrying our sis?”
“The question should be, does Brian remember he’s no longer single?” Jesse asked, returning to the table at the right moment—when Brian was two seconds away from getting chewed out by a bunch of protective guys.
Brian turned as if Jesse’s intense stare had morphed into something he could physically feel. His expression said it all—he’d been caught flirting. A dip of the brows. A white slash for a mouth. Brian nodded at the woman, then left her alone at the jukebox, returning to their table.
“Who were you talking to?” Shep quickly asked Jesse as if sensing a potential brawl was on the horizon. Jesse had never liked anyone Ella dated in high school, same as A.J. and his brothers—they were all protective of her. And if Jesse thought for one minute Brian was even thinking about cheating on Ella . . .
Jesse tore his light blue eyes to Shep. “My sister. She showed up in town tonight for a surprise visit.”
“Rory is practically one of the guys. You should invite her to Caleb’s later for part three of this party,” Shep insisted, which drew a caveman-like grunt from Brian.
“She should come,” Caleb agreed, clearly to piss off Brian.
“I’ll ask her. She does miss y’all.” Jesse settled onto the chair opposite Finn next to Roman.
“How’s Rory?” Beckett asked. “She didn’t come home at Christmas.”
A.J. wanted to hear more about Rory, but he was annoyed Brian was given a reprieve from the boys interrogating him about the girl at the jukebox.
“You know Rory. Always flitting about the world chasing artifacts, treasure, or whatever you want to call it.” The lip of the shot glass hovered near Jesse’s mouth as if he wanted to say more but wasn’t sure how much to divulge. “She did tell me she’s considering putting down some roots in New Orleans. Maybe even pursuing her other passion.” Something in his eyes said, God, I hope so.