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Angie reached across the table to put down a bowl of green beans and both Nik’s brothers leaned over a bit to get a good look at the long legs stretching out from her shorts.

He slapped both of them in the back of the head. “Stop doing that. Now.”

“A man can appreciate a view,” Ban joked.

“A man can also lose both his eyes in a tragic tiger mauling.”

His brothers snickered and he felt his annoyance grow. Hard not to let it happen when he was as horny as a dog. Just watching her move had his mouth watering. Classy. Sweet. Funny. A real lady.

Angie evaluated the table, then stepped back. “Dinner!”

All three brothers jumped. A real lady who could out-scream a football stadium.

His parents showed up as the rest of them made their way to the table. His mother stormed out of Boris’s pickup truck, slamming the door behind her. She looked angry as hell, but she still had a hickey on her neck.

“Good,” Boris boomed. “I didn’t miss Momma’s fried chicken.” He smiled at Angie. “Best fried chicken in the entire South.”

Boris stood at one end of the table while Nik helped his grandmother into a chair on the opposite end. His father pulled out a chair for Angie and then another for Nik’s mother. Angie sat while Natalia slapped Boris’s hand away, re-adjusted the chair, and sat down. The fact his mother agreed to stay for dinner at his grandmother’s house was quite a feat for his father. No wonder the old man beamed like he bought another company.

Nik settled his grandmother and walked down to the seat beside Angie. Ban already took Nik’s seat next to Angie, so he grabbed the chair his brother sat in, lifted up both, and moved him closer to Reena. He grabbed another chair and sat down beside her.

Angie shook her head. “And to think I used to wish I had brothers and sisters.”

“What do you mean? I love my family.”

Angie simply snorted in response.

Nik pushed a stray hair behind Angie’s ear. “So, sugar, why exactly are you here?”

“Spending quality time with the Clampetts really can’t be beat.”

His hand strayed down to her bare leg, caressing it under the table. He loved that she jumped at his touch. “Still think you’re better than my family?”

“Oh, honey. I don’t think I’m better than your family.” She lifted his hand and placed it on the table. “I think I’m better than you.”

Nik smiled as his father slammed his fist down on the table.

“I do like this girl!”

Well, Angie had to admit it. She liked these people. They were funny and interesting. They kept her laughing all through dinner with stories of their other relatives and the people from town, shifter and human. Broyna said very little except for the occasional snide remark about a cousin or local. She seemed simply to enjoy having her grandkids and son around.

Angie found none of this surprising. Southerners always did tell the best stories. Of course, they were also the ones with relatives named Big Earl and Jackie Ray.

After dinner, things slowed down a bit. The family wandered from the table, Ban and Alek helping their grandmother back into the house. Reena and Kisa went off to talk to Natalia while Boris stepped away to check his messages on his cell phone.

All of which essentially left her alone with Nik.

He grabbed hold of the chair by its legs, turning it, and her, around so she faced him. He pulled the chair in close to him, so that his big legs ended up bracketing hers.

She expected him to say something, but he didn’t. He simply stared at her face. After two minutes of that, she grew considerably uncomfortable.

“What?”

“Nothin’.”

“Then stop staring at me. You’re freaking me out.”

“Everything freaks you out.”

“Not true. I have a very high tolerance for weirdness. I have a high tolerance for you, don’t I?”

“And my family.”

“They’re nice.” She always wondered what it was like to come from a big family. Angelina didn’t know. Her parents were never close to their few siblings and other relatives. And once they dumped her off in Texas it was like she no longer existed to the rest of her family.

Nik rubbed her legs with both of his hands, stopping to touch a rather long, simple scar cutting across her right knee.

“How’d ya get this?”

She glanced down at it. “Knife fight.”

“A knife fight?”

“Yup…well…I didn’t have a knife. I’m not really good with knives.”

“I see.”

“I had a baseball bat.”

She looked off down the path that led to the house. Headlights headed their way in the murky light that came before it went pitch black.

“I guess you learned to use that from the baseball player.”

“Nope. He taught me to pitch. The head of the motorcycle club I dated when I was sixteen until Marrec found out—he taught me how to use a baseball bat. I don’t think he expected me to use it on him, though.”

She glanced at Nik. “Hey, don’t look at me that way. He’s back on solid food.”

“You gonna tell me what happened?”

“What’s there to tell? He was mean to my friends. That’s all I needed to know.”

Nik grunted and, for some unknown reason, seemed satisfied with her answer. Maybe it was a shifter thing. She’d stopped telling her dates that story long ago. They’d go to the bathroom after dinner and never return.

“Someone’s coming.”

Nik nodded, but he seemed eternally interested in her legs. “I know.” His big hands wrapped around her knees and she marveled at the size of them. “Do you have a boyfriend, Angelina?”

Why did the men in his family insist on asking her that question?

Angie thought back on the rodeo clown. He’d wanted to be her boyfriend. At least, he did in the beginning. Like all the others, however, he soon realized her friends were the most important thing to her and she really didn’t want anyone touching her unless it involved sex. That last bit seemed to be the biggest problem for the cowboy. She had no idea why. He still would have gotten laid. Instead he got needy and possessive. She hated that.

“No. I don’t have a boyfriend.”

“Good.” He squeezed her knees.

Suddenly, the man’s hands were on the move, sliding up her legs, his thumbs disappearing between her thighs. Angie jumped, practically off the chair, and a little whimper escaped her throat. Her hands grabbed his wrists and he stopped moving. But she knew he could have kept going if he wanted to. His arms were like big, thick steel rods.

“I felt you underneath me this morning, Angie. I don’t think anything’s ever felt that good before.”