Page 48 of Idaho

"You're going to burn those pancakes."

I jerked at the sound of Lock's voice next to me. Looking down, I studied the bubbles in the batter before I shook my head. "Naw. They need a few more minutes." I looked back up and found Eva watching me. Her cheeks flushed again and she turned away quickly. I chuckled as I poured some batter onto the hot griddle in front of me.

"She's not your usual type," Lock commented, scrambling the eggs he dumped in a pan.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked, keeping my eyes on what I was doing.

Lock shrugged. "She just seems...innocent."

"We haven't been close in years, Lock. You don't know what my type is anymore." There was no heat, or accusation, in my tone. It was just the truth.

"No, he's right," Static said, from the other side of where Lock was standing. "She's too good for you." He shot me a shit-eating grin.

"Probably true," I admitted. "But I'm not planning on keeping her." Twin snorts of disbelief had me looking over at them with narrowed eyes.

"Sure, you're not," my twin said as he flipped the eggs. "You're only helping out a woman you just met out of the goodness of your heart."

"Pretty sure that thing is as small and black as the coal Santa supposedly gives to bad kids," Static joked.

I rolled my eyes at their taunting. They didn't know me very well if they thought I'd be interested in anything more than a quick fuck with a woman like Eva. She deserved a man who would treat her well and love her for the rest of her life. A man like me would ruin everything she had. I wasn't willing to take any kind of chances with her. So even the fucking was out of the equation, as difficult as it was to remember sometimes.

"I'm not going to touch her."

Lock snorted again, but didn't comment further. Static just shook his head and went back to work cooking. The three of us worked side by side for a while, making breakfast for everyone. The women and children began shuffling, grabbing paper plates, plastic utensils, and drinks as they waited patiently for the food to be ready.

They formed an orderly line, and I took the opportunity to study their faces. They looked happy. It was easy enough to see the shadows lurking in some of their eyes, but I was willing to bet those had faded quite a bit since they'd been here. My brothers were good men, and they were doing right by these people.

"You're staring," Eva whispered from behind me.

I turned around and found her standing close to me. "What are you doing?" I asked, ignoring her comment.

She shrugged and held up a stack of napkins. "Helping out." The box holding the supplies was sitting right behind me.

"Go eat," I told her.

Her eyes widened slightly, then she narrowed them at me. "I'm waiting for the others to be served."

Glancing up, I watched Hush point to Seek, then to the end of the line, which was right outside the door. Seek gave her husband a patient smile and went to stand where he directed. The other women followed her. "The others are getting in line. Go."

She huffed out a little sigh. "Are you ever going to stop ordering me around?"

"No. I like it. Go get in line, Duchess."

She muttered something under her breath that I didn't catch. It made my lips twitch as she walked away from me. She was so fucking adorable when she was mad at me. I wondered if she'd be as feisty in bed as she was out of it. That. Right there. That was the damn reason I couldn't seem to remember that I was supposed to be keeping my hands off her. That fucking voice in my head kept putting images of her naked and in sexy ass positions in my mind. Plus, there was the fact that my damn dick got hard anytime I saw her, or heard her voice.

"Yeah, you're not interested in her at all." Sarcasm dripped heavily from Lock's voice as he chuckled. "You've been staring at her ass for a solid minute now."

I shot him a glare, then flipped him off before turning back to the griddle and flipping the pancakes.

"Don't fuck this up," Lock said quietly.

Sighing, I focused on him again. "I'm not going to touch her," I insisted. The fact that I already had wasn't something I was about to bring up right now. It wasn't going to go any farther. "I know better than to mess with women like her."

"Like her how?" Lock asked.

"Women with potential."

Lockout searched my gaze, then shook his head. His eyes slipped past me and landed on someone behind. "Sometimes there's not much you can do about it. Doesn't matter if they're completely wrong for you. You can't seem to help yourself."