Complete Me (Book Three of The Kirkland Family)

Complete Me: Chapter 26

Chapter 26

It only took Rose twenty minutes to gather what she needed from her and Cole's apartment. Thankfully, Cole had left a basket of freshly laundered and folded clothes so she only had to sort through that, blushing a little as she stuffed a pair of his underwear into the bag. Boxers. Black. Very soft.

When she arrived at the farm, Cole and Zack sat on the front porch, restringing a compound bow, as they laughed and joked like best buddies. Rose couldn't believe her eyes. She'd been a nervous wreck all day, wondering how Cole was faring with both Jak and Zack.

He really wasn't mad about this.

She took the kittens with her as she got out of her car and walked up to them. Zack set his bow aside, and they both stood up. "Hey, Rosie—" Zack began, but she brushed past him, saying, "There's a pie in the back seat; get it, please," and stopped in front of Cole.

"Are you okay?" she asked Cole. His clothes were filthy, his hair was mussed up and clumpy, and he smelled horribly. She never wanted to hug and kiss him more.

He grinned and ran his dirty hands through his hair. "I look awful; I know," he said. "And don't get too close. The fish stink can curl your toes."

Rose set the kitten basket down on the porch. "I don't care," she said, and threw her arms around him. Zack trotted up the porch with the ice cream pie and bag of hush puppy mix.

"Please don't do that around me," Zack said grumpily. "I'm still getting over being jilted."

He went into the house, and Rose's cheeks warmed. "That was inconsiderate, wasn't it?" she asked Cole.

"I cannot define your impulses, nor his reactions," Cole answered. "But I can express how much I'd really enjoy a shower."

She smiled. "You do smell. I have your clothes in the car, too."

"Thanks, Rose," he said. "There is no telling what Jak would have let me borrow to wear."

Rose's smile vanished at the mention of her brother. "Where is Jak?"

"Out back, I suppose," Cole said.

"Uh, huh," she murmured and stepped around him to go through the house in search of the butthead.

But Cole immediately blocked her path. "Whoa there, little butterfly," he said. "I think you should let this one go."

"He needs to know that he can't treat people this way," she said, not looking at him.

"He knows," Cole said calmly.

Rose stuck her hands on her hips. "Then he doesn't care."

"He cares, too." Cole picked up the kittens. "I am taking these sweet munchkins off your hands as soon as I am clean."

"Be wary of Little Jak," she said sourly. "He's being pesky lately."

"Seems to come with the namesake," Cole commented as he handed over the basket. "Give me twenty minutes, okay?"

"Okay," she sighed. He ran to her car, removed the bag of clothes from the backseat, and grinned as he jogged back into the house.

Rose found Jak and Zack in the backyard, firing up the propane fryer by the patio. Her brother and Zack had done a lot with the farmhouse in the five years they'd lived there. After their grandfather passed away and their grandmother moved to live with her younger sister, the property was leased out to family friends for about ten years. Then Jak and Zack finished college and decided to live there together, pooling their incomes to renovate the house and build a new barn for their hobbies.