The Sunstone Brooch : Time Travel Romance Katherine Logan (no david read aloud TXT) 📖

JL. I told you that on the phone. Don’t worry about it.”

“Excuse me for asking again, but the whiplash is hard to handle. You went from not wanting to see any of us to ‘Here I am. How’s everybody doing?’”

Austin’s breathing quickened, and his nostrils flared. He glanced away for a moment before returning his gaze to JL. “Look. We’ve moved on. It’s time for you to do the same.”

JL’s brows snapped together, and she grimaced. “After dealing with your attitude the past twelve months, I’m struggling to believe that.”

Austin picked up a plate and loaded it with sandwiches. “I enjoyed playing with Lance and Blane. Their basketball skills are improving.”

JL snapped her hand to her hip like she had a pistol strapped there and intended to draw it to emphasize her point. “How would you know? You haven’t seen them in months.”

Austin continued loading his plate with spoonfuls of potato salad and egg salad while the back of his neck turned an angry red. What the hell was wrong with JL? Austin was doing everything he could to stay calm, but Ensley didn’t think he’d keep his cool much longer.

Trust me. Love me.

“JL, did you hear about the grizzly Austin shot?”

“I heard three different versions—and not one of them from Austin.”

Ensley let out a harsh breath. Enough was enough. She looked around for an escape. Kenzie was standing across the room and gave her a nod, which Ensley interpreted to mean, “If you need to run, come this way.”

“Excuse me,” Ensley said. “I have to ask Kenzie a question.” She all but darted across the room. “What in the hell is wrong with JL? I can’t believe the way she’s talking to Austin.”

“JL’s in a snit. And Kevin won’t call her out on it, so no one else will, either.”

“A snit must be a Southern thing. In North Dakota, we just come right out and call someone a bitch when they’re acting like one.”

“You know Charlotte, so what can I say? But yeah, JL is acting like a bitch. She wigs out like this hours before she flies to Richmond, and it takes her a few hours to calm down once she gets here.”

“If she hates the place so much, why come for a visit?”

“She loves it here, but she hates flying. Kevin was piloting his Cessna from Lexington to Chesterfield County Airport right outside of Richmond eight years ago. The landing gear collapsed, and the impact caused JL’s placenta to abrupt, and she went into premature labor. Lance almost died and spent months in the NICU, so I understand why she turns into the Wicked Witch of the West. But that doesn’t mean I have to be nice to her when she does.”

“Why doesn’t she drive?”

“Nobody will ride with her, and she doesn’t want to travel alone.”

“Why not?”

“Would you ride in a car for six hours when you could fly here in forty-five minutes?”

“No, so why don’t they put her on a damn bus?”

“Yeah, right.”

“Well, I don’t care about her travel plans. I only care about the way she treats Austin. He might end up taking the leading role in another disappearing act.”

“She’s complaining about everything today. She’s also pissed about the treasure. If we vote to haul it out of the cave, I don’t know what she’ll do.”

“She can’t get much worse…can she?”

“This is about the worst I’ve seen her, but she’s premenopausal, so there’s no telling how bad she can get.”

“She needs a pharmaceutical intervention.” Ensley watched JL and Austin another minute before deciding it was time to bail him out. “It looks like they’re wrapping up their conversation. I’ll head back over there.”

“Hey, wait! Not until you tell me about last night.”

Ensley toyed with a lock of her hair, remembering how involved her hair had been in last night’s lovemaking marathon, and her cheeks heated. “Fantastic. He’s a sensitive, gentle, and highly erotic lover. He knows how to use his body to enhance a woman’s pleasure. Anything else you want to know?”

“So everything…fits…together?”

“Perfectly.”

Kenzie gave her a side hug. “I’m so glad.”

When Ensley reached Austin, JL was still scolding him for something, which pissed Ensley off again. She didn’t care about JL’s phobias, but Ensley pressed her fingers to her mouth out of fear the words forming on her tongue would jump out and attack JL and her shitty attitude.

Thankfully Pops came to the rescue. Austin set down his plate and hugged him.

“Good to see you, son. I haven’t seen you this happy since the championship a few years ago.”

“That’s because I haven’t been.” Austin cupped Ensley’s shoulder, pulling her close. “She’s changed my life, Pops.”

Pops winked at her. “Austin had a one in four chance of winning your heart, and I had a feeling you’d choose him over JC, Tavis, and Remy.”

“That’s some serious competition. All four are loving, intelligent, talented men worthy of a GQ or Men’s Health cover. So why’d you think I’d fall for Austin?”

Pops cocked his head, then fixed her with a gaze that caused a squirt of adrenaline to pump into her veins. She knew exactly how one of his subordinates must have felt when on the receiving end of a reprimand by the former NYPD Deputy Police Chief. Then his gaze softened, but before he answered her question, he cleared his throat, which sent another squirt into her veins.

“The brooches have a way of finding young men when they’re most in need of being found. Remy’s not lost, JC’s not looking for a forever love, and Tavis isn’t emotionally available.”

“Wow! You’ve got them pegged,” she said. “But that doesn’t—”

“—Let me finish, Ensley. Austin was lost but emotionally available”—Pops stopped and held up his finger—“but only for the right woman. Your background, growing up on a ranch, your passion for literature, and your total disinterest in sports meant you would see the whole man without being distracted by his star power, which he has in spades—even off the court.”

Ensley blinked as if blinking blew away the dust, the haze, the