“You must be Summer,” he says, grinning at me appreciatively as he leans up against the door frame. His hair is trimmed tight and there’s a polish about him that Rhett and Cade don’t have.
“This is Beau,” Harvey pipes up, pulling a seat out at the oversized table. “You caught him home between deployments.” I can’t help but smile back at the older man. His pride is spilling out of him all over the floor.
Harvey Eaton loves his boys with a fierceness I admire.
“Nice to meet you, Beau. I’m Summer Hamilton.” I smile softly, already loving the family atmosphere here in the cozy house. Even if it is testosterone overload.
“You all finished with your meeting?” Harvey asks as Cade starts digging through the fridge and pulling out ingredients for dinner.
“Yes,” Rhett announces before I can say anything.
I stand, feeling sufficiently dismissed by Rhett’s cool tone. “I’ll get out of your hair.”
“Where you going, lady?” Luke asks. “It’s dinner time. I thought you lived here now? I heard Grandpa say it.”
I suck in a deep breath and glance down at Rhett, whose eyes have dropped shut, a small smile playing across his features.
It looks good on him.
“You live here now?” Cade’s head snaps up, his face in what seems to be his favorite expression—bitchy.
“Um. Just for a while.” My gaze settles on Harvey, who shakes his head and looks down like he knows what’s coming.
“Hang on.” Beau’s head is swiveling between Rhett and me, amusement dancing on every feature. “Your agent is living with you? Why?”
“It’s very temporary—” I start.
“Is this because you punched that guy?” Beau continues, intelligent eyes working through things so plainly.
“You punched someone?” Cade asks, brows knitting together.
“Bro. You need to turn a TV on now and then. You live in the dark ages.” Beau laughs.
Cade turns to Rhett, who still hasn’t opened his eyes. “Did he deserve it?”
Rhett smiles now, a real big smile. “So fucking much.”
“Bad word, Uncle Rhett!” Luke’s hands slap down over his ears with a shit-eating little grin.
My eyes bounce between everyone in the room, living for the level of comfort here. It’s amusing. It’s charming. It’s so different from how my childhood home felt.
“He’s in a tight spot with his sponsors, that’s all,” I clarify.
Cade grunts as he chops carrots. “When is he not in trouble?”
“Wait.” Beau’s face brightens. “Did you get assigned a babysitter?”
Rhett groans and drops his head back against the couch.
“I don’t like my babysitter either, Uncle Rhett.” Luke pats him like a dog and a laugh bubbles up out of me. Because Rhett called this. Harvey called this. They knew exactly how it was going to go down, and that level of familiarity is heartwarming to me. It’s chaotic in here already, and I love it. I’m starry-eyed and giddy.
“Mind your manners, Lucas Eaton,” Cade says while pulling a pan out from under the stove. “Answer the question, Rhett.”
Rhett glances over at Beau and says, “You can contact my agent for a comment.”
Beau barks out a laugh and looks over at me, hands held up in prayer position. “Please, Summer. Make my day. Tell me he’s in time out. Tell me he’s a thirty-two-year-old man with a full-time nanny.”
I press my lips together, dedicated to not throwing Rhett under the bus—no matter how badly I’d like to. “I’m new at the firm. This job is so that I can get some experience under my belt outside of the office.”
“Yeah. She told me that too,” Cade interjects as he seasons a sizeable chunk of beef now. “I think Miss Hamilton might be full of shit though.”
“Mind your manners, Daddy!” Luke shouts, right as Harvey scolds him, “Cade!”
I rub a hand over my mouth to cover my smile. You grow up around Kip Hamilton and a few bad words aren’t going to phase you.
“I’ll go grab dinner in town, leave you all to it. I don’t want to be a nuisance.”
Beau holds up a hand to stop me. “Not a chance, Summer. You’re going to take a seat and tell us everything over Cade’s famous pot roast. Then I’m going to take us all for drinks in town at The Railspur so you can get a warm Chestnut Springs welcome and meet my buddy, Jasper.”
“Jasper is home?” Harvey’s head snaps up from where he was watching his grandson with an amused expression on his face.