Rule got up off the stool and threw some money down on the bar. “It happens to all of us now and then.”

He told me good-bye and hollered the same to Asa as he appeared behind the bar. I introduced the bartender to Sayer as well and he thanked her in much the same way Rule had, only with far more charm and a grin that was designed to make her want to go to bed with him. I hoped it didn’t work. I was just getting used to the idea of having a sister. I couldn’t even begin to try and work my way through how the idea of her sleeping with a lothario like Asa made me feel. He told us drinks were on the house for the night and gave me a smirk like he knew exactly what part of the gutter my mind had nose-dived into. I flipped him off as I followed Sayer to one of the tables that was up near the stage Rome had built during his remodel of the Bar. It was going to get busy later but for now it was quiet enough we could talk and not have to shout at each other over bar noise.

I was surprised when she took a bottle of Coors Light instead of ordering a mixed drink or a glass of wine, though I wasn’t even really sure they served wine here that wasn’t the equivalent of the stuff that came out of a box.

“I’m glad you asked to meet with me.” She talked in a way that was very cultured and even but her constantly moving hands gave away how nervous she was.

“Sometimes it takes me a minute to work my way around to where I’m supposed to be. Like I told you in your office you didn’t deserve that kind of treatment. I’m usually a pretty decent guy.”

“Maybe not, but I get that this is all kind of hard to process.”

I picked up my beer and looked at her over the top of it. “You had to process it as well.”

She nodded a little and picked at the sticker on her beer bottle. “My dad was always finding new and perfectly horrific ways to mess with my life. I’m used to trying to process through it all.” Her eyes that were an identical match to mine darkened like a cloudy day. “When I started trying to track you down I was mad at him. I was alone, you were alone, and he knew it all along. We could have had each other and helped each other and he purposely kept us apart until he was gone. I’m pretty sure he counted on you being a greedy, selfish bastard that would just snap the money up without a thought. He was trying to hurt me, but really he gave me the one thing I always wanted.” The corners of her mouth tilted up just a little bit. “Someone else to call family, someone else to care about and share things with. The fact that you are a good man, and that you turned out so amazing all on your own, really is an epic ‘screw you’ to the old man. I could love you unconditionally for that alone, Rowdy.”

I paused with the beer halfway to my lips and just looked at her. That was probably one of the nicest things anyone had ever had to say about me.

“I’m really not interested in taking half of your inheritance, Sayer. I don’t make lawyer money but I do all right and I can support myself just fine.” I finally took a slug of the beer and put it back down on the table. “It sounds like you earned every single cent in the hardest way possible.”

She moved some of her hair over her shoulder and leaned a little closer to me so that she could prop her elbow on the table and rest her chin on her hand.

“I’m going to be really presumptuous and overstep my bounds for a second, so don’t get mad at me.”

I lifted an eyebrow at her but grinned because she really looked concerned about what my reaction might be. I couldn’t blame her. I hadn’t exactly rolled out the welcome mat for her thus far.

“I’ve spent some time with Salem. I adore her and think she’s about as perfect for you as any girl could ever be. I know you guys have some history lingering between you but from the outside the two of you act like you’re a team. Before you dismiss saying yes to money that is rightfully yours, you might want to think about the fact you are not operating independently anymore. That money could pay for a wedding. It could pay for a down payment on a house. You could use it for a new business, or for college if you have kids down the line. It’s no small sum, and honestly, Rowdy, you earned it just as much as I did.”

Fuck me. I hadn’t even started to think about what an unexpected windfall might mean if my relationship kept moving forward with Salem the way it was. There was no doubt she had ahold of my heart and had always owned my soul. Sure I was probably going to put a ring on her finger down the line and the way this group was popping out kids left and right that would probably be on the agenda at some point as well. I just hadn’t really thought about it in terms of being right around the corner.

“We are a matched set.” I liked Salem’s way of looking at how we fit together. Sure there had been others along the way but no one fit in the empty places the way she did, no matter how hard I might have tried to force them. “You’re right. I need to talk to her before just turning the money down cold.”

“She’s a very dynamic young woman.”

I laughed because that was one way to put it. “She’s a force of nature.”

“The tattoo she has on her back, the one you drew for her when she was a teenager, I’ve never seen anything so beautiful. I think your drawing is amazing and the fact she carries her favorite gift she ever received with her every day is pretty special.”

I had never really looked at it that way before, but Sayer was right. It was special. Really special, just like the relationship I had with Salem was. “I always thought I had bad luck, ya know?” I leaned a little closer to her as well. “My mom died because some dirty bastard tried to carjack her.” I sighed and felt the weight of that loss settle on me like it always did. “I’m sure you know that because you dug into my life trying to find me, but what you don’t know is that she was out that night because I was sick. I had a fever and was throwing up, so she was just running to the store real quick to grab some 7 Up and kid’s Tylenol for me. We didn’t live in a good part of town, so she never would’ve been out unless it was for me.”

Emotion crawled up my throat and made it hard to talk. I had to look down at the table because the sympathy in Sayer’s gaze was too much for me to handle.

“Then there was the Cruz sisters. I needed Salem and she left. I thought I loved Poppy and she didn’t want me. More bad luck.” I gave a broken laugh that sounded like it was coated in rust. “Then there was football. I was good at it, really good, but I didn’t love it and what I did love I couldn’t see a future in.”

I cleared my throat and then looked back up at her. “After the last month or so I’ve started to change my mind about that luck. Salem came back and set my world right even though I didn’t know it was upside down. Poppy will always be important to me in a different way that still really matters. Phil found me and taught me how to make a living off of art. My mom might be gone but everywhere I turn now I run into someone that loves me and considers me family . . . including you. That’s more good fortune then most men get in a lifetime.”

Her eyes got really shiny and she told me, “You’re going to make me cry.”

I grunted a little and decided to change the subject. “What about you? No one was pissed about you picking up and traipsing off to find your long-lost little brother?”

She made a face and it was her turn to be unable to meet my gaze. “I was engaged before I left, but it just wasn’t a good fit. I broke it off before I moved and the fact I was more concerned about you and what you would think than him and how I might have hurt him was a huge indicator that splitting up was the right choice.”

“That’s a bummer. Were you together for a long time?”

“Five years, engaged for two. He was a nice guy, just not the right guy for me.”

“That’s still rough.”

She lifted her chin up and gave me a grin. It so surreal how much of myself I could see in her when she looked back at me.

“I think I’d like to hold out for something like you seem to have with Salem. I want someone that looks at me like I’m the beginning and end of everything. That’s the way you look at her.”

“My first and last.”

She cocked her head to the side and looked at me in confusion. I picked up my beer because she might be my sister but she was still a virtual stranger and getting all personal and gooey and emotional wasn’t really what I had planned for this meet-up.

“Salem was the girl that was a lot of firsts for me even if I didn’t recognize it at the time. Now that she’s back in my life I’m trying to focus on the lasts that she’ll be to me.”

Sayer nodded and picked up her own beer. “Like the last girl you’re going to love?”

“Exactly.”

“That’s what I want.” I was going to tell her to hold out for it and to ignore Asa as he walked over with two more beers and put all of his southern charm and hospitably on display, but I didn’t get the chance because Zeb walked in looking like he had been rolling around in sawdust and Spackle for hours. He had wood particles stuck in his beard and grime streaked across his forehead.

I was used to his burly and unkempt appearance but I thought it might intimidate Sayer when he pulled out a chair without asking and ordered, telling Asa to bring him a beer. Asa walked away laughing and sent Dixie back over with a drink for Zeb.

“Who is this?” His voice sounded like it was hewn from the mountains and rattled with thunder. I wasn’t sure but beneath the beard and dust I think he was leering at Sayer.

“My sister. Sayer, this is my buddy Zeb Fuller. He actually designed and built the new tattoo shop in LoDo.” I was surprised how effortless calling her my sister was and how much I liked the way it sounded.

Zeb’s leafy-green eyes glinted in humor. “You have a sister? A hot, classy sister?”

I saw Sayer blush and look at me with big eyes. Zeb kind of resembled a grizzly bear and there was nothing about him that came across as welcoming and cuddly, but I think he was actively trying to flirt with my sister.

“It sure looks that way.” I narrowed my eyes at him and tried to kick him under the table. It was like jamming my boot into a tree trunk.

“Full of surprises, aren’t you, Rowdy? First the cutie from back home and now a gorgeous sibling you’ve been keeping all to yourself. Who else is gonna come crawling out of the woodwork after you?”

I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of telling him Poppy was also in town, so I just glowered at him while he continued to grin at me through his beard. I was expecting an awkward silence to descend, but like she kept doing, Sayer surprised me by being able to talk shop with Zeb like a pro. As it turned out, she had purchased an old Victorian in Governors Park and the thing was in absolute disrepair. Two beers later I think they had plans in place for him to come check her property out and look over the work she thought her current contractor was ripping her off on. She also didn’t bat an eyelash when Zeb disclosed his criminal past. She in return informed him that because she was a lawyer she knew all too well that sometimes the legal system got things wrong. By the fourth beer I think she was actively flirting back with my giant friend and I was distinctly uncomfortable and feeling like a third wheel.

I texted Salem to see if she was home yet, and when she responded with a selfie of herself in bed, curled up with her glasses on and from what I could see nothing else, I bid a hasty good-bye and headed to my girl. Poppy let me in the door and just laughed at me as I brushed past her with hardly any kind of greeting or acknowledgment on my way to Salem’s room.

She was awake and waiting for me and she really did only have on those trendy black frames she only wore when she was at home. Her black-and-red hair was a wild mess all over the pillows and it took me about three seconds to strip down and join her. At some point when I was making her moan and holler my name, it occurred to me that we weren’t exactly alone in the apartment and I should have some consideration for Poppy, but then her hands started rubbing over the piercings in my dick and I couldn’t think about anything but how amazing she was and how I never wanted anyone to put their hands on me again besides her.