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

“But you didn’t warn him.”

“Not yet. The night’s still young.”

“Bullshit.” Tavis followed the road toward the house. “This family is so fucked up.”

Remy drummed the headrest again and laughed. “And you fit right in.”

JL’s phone dinged with a text message. “Connor’s at the barn. He says to stop there first. He’s getting the horses ready.”

“Hope he picked out a sweet mare for me,” Remy said.

Tavis followed the road to the barn. “If he does, you better watch out. If Ferdiad isn’t back from the vet clinic, I’m taking Monte Carlo. He’s one mean stallion, and I betcha he’ll be all over your sweet mare.”

“Aw, shit,” Remy said. “My mare ain’t gonna be your bitch. I’ll get me one of those horses who’s had his nuts cut.”

JL turned up her nose. “Remy, do you have to be so crass?”

Tavis laughed as he pulled up next to a white Ford F150 SuperCrew Cab King Ranch pickup truck and cut the engine. “The ba-dum-ching guy doesn’t know any other way.”

“I can be just as suave and debonair as you, Stuart. So get off my case. Who got the girl the last time we went out?”

“You did, just like always. I called it quits before midnight and Ubered home. You were still buying drinks for a table full of Kappa Kappa Gamma chicks from the University of Kentucky while milking your football stats for all you were worth. I’m not even gonna ask when or how you got home.”

“Good, because I doan kiss and tell.”

Tavis popped the tailgate and left the key fob in the cup holder. “You’re full of shit. Everybody has figured you out. We’ve got your number.”

“Best number ever—eighty,” Remy said. “And they retired my jersey.”

Tavis rolled his eyes. “They just told you that. They really threw it in the dumpster.”

Remy slammed his door. “Why’re you giving me shit tonight? What’s pissed you off?”

“Not a damn thing,” Tavis said. “But if you slept with that cute blonde with the huge blue eyes, I’m never going out for drinks with you again.”

Remy slumped against the vehicle, roaring with laughter. “So…that’s”—snort—“what this”—snicker, cough—“is about.” He kept laughing. “That blonde left ten minutes after you did. She gave me her number and asked me to give it to you.”

Tavis held out his hand, and Remy slapped it. “What? What do you want?”

“The fucking phone number.”

“I didn’t bring it. It’s on my dresser back at the house.”

“You’re a lying piece of shit.”

“Even if I gave it to you, you’d never call her.”

JL hopped out of the car, pushed her way between Tavis and Remy, and shoved them apart. “Stop it. We don’t have time for this shit. Remy doesn’t have the girl’s phone number. He’s only trying to piss you off because it’s so easy to get a rise out of you. Both sets of McBain twins are better behaved than you two. I hope you don’t act like this around Teddy Roosevelt.”

“Oh, come on, JL. If you can’t recognize pre-operation jitters, then you’ve been out of the businesses way too long.” Tavis grabbed Remy around the neck and gave him a loud, smacking kiss on the top of his head. “We’re bros. Don’t ever doubt it.”

Remy flipped his hand over his hair. “Doan expect me to reciprocate.”

“Reciprocate? You don’t even know what that means. I always buy the beer, and you always say, ‘I’ll get the tab next time.’ In three years, you’ve never paid once.”

“Why should I? You always take care of it,” Remy said.

“For the third time, stop it!” JL snapped. “Will you please get your heads out of your asses and focus on what we’re doing here?”

JL was right. Goofing off was a great stress reliever, but it was time to get his mind in the game. It was showtime. Tavis checked out the Ford and noticed it had temporary tags. “Is that Connor’s new ride?”

“Looks like the picture Olivia sent,” JL said. “Connor finally realized driving a Mercedes Coupe when you live on a ranch was pretty dumb.”

“Man, he’s always been a quick learner,” Kevin said. “It only took him—what? Six years? Isn’t that how long he’s lived in Colorado?”

Connor waved from the barn’s end door that opened into the center aisle. “Did you bring the saddles?”

Tavis walked around to the open tailgate. “We brought two. Elliott said there’s one here he used last year during the Leadville Boom Days celebration.”

“I got it out already. Do you want to saddle the horses now or wait until you bring Austin down?”

“Better do it now and get the gear loaded. Once we knock Austin out, we’ll be cutting it close to get back here before he wakes up.”

Tavis carried the saddles inside the barn and dropped them on top of a short stack of hay bales. “Remy, get the gear.”

JL hugged her brother. “Have you seen Austin tonight?”

“I called to check on him,” Connor said. “He told me he’s watching a movie and to leave him the hell alone. If I’d been close enough, I would have smacked the crap out of him. If he only knew how many nights I comforted him when he was an infant or a sick toddler or lost a game in elementary school. And now he acts like an asshole.”

“You were an awesome big brother to both of us.”

Connor gave her an are-you-serious look that must have something to do with Austin’s birth parents’ identity—JL and an NBA superstar—which made him Connor’s nephew, not his brother. Austin discovered the truth several years ago, and it almost destroyed the family.

“By the way, thanks for not sending the code,” JL snarked.

Connor picked up one of the saddles and grabbed a horse blanket off a shelf. “Austin changes it daily, JL, just for kicks. He likes to taunt us. Something he learned from you. He knows we can get in. He thinks slowing us down will frustrate us enough that we’ll leave him alone. He forgets we were cops and spent hours