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One

Brady Miller’s ideal Saturday was pretty simple—sleep in, be woken by a hot, nad woman for sex, followed by a breakfast that he didn’t have to cook

On this particularly early June Saturday, he consoled hi at 7-Eleven for coffee, two egg and sausage breakfast wraps, and a Snickers barBreakfast of champions

Heading to the counter to check out, he nodded to the convenience store clerk

She had her Bluetooth in her ear, presu in her pocket as she rang hiuy” At this, she sent Brady a half-apologetic, half-co spray-painted-on skinny jeans, a white wife-beater tank top revealing black lacy bra straps, and so much mascara that Brady had no idea how she kept her eyes open

“You knohat they say,” she went on as she scanned his iteht seconds No, it’s true, I read it in Coslossy lips “Hey, cutie, you’re a guy”

“Last I checked”

She popped her gurinned at hiht seconds?”

“Nah” Every ten, tops He fished through his pocket for cash

“My custo disappointed “But Cosht deny it out of self-preservation And in any case, how can you trust a guy who has sex on the brain 24/7?”

Brady nodded to the truth of that state his breakfast, he stepped outside where he was hit by the ed, e fro airlessness of the Middle East or the bitter desolation and frigid te back on friendly soil was new enough that his eyes still autos

Always a soldier, his last girlfriend had complained

And that was probably true It ho he was, the discipline and carefulness deeply engrained, and he didn’t see that changing anyti that required his i his caffeine Sighing in sheer pleasure, he took a big bite of the first breakfast wrap, then hissed out a sharp breath because dary his legs felt hollow In spite of the threat of scalding his tongue to the roof of his an to relax

Traffic was nonexistent, but Sunshine, Idaho, wasn’t exactly hopping It’d been a daer still since he’d wanted to be here He took another drag of fresh air Hard to believe, but he’d actually ood old US of A He’d missed the sports He’d as He’d missed free will

But mostly he’d missed the food He tossed the wrapper from the first breakfast wrap into a trash bin and started in on his second, feeling alood to be back, even if he was only here te without third-world starvation, terrorists, or snipers and bombs would be a five-star vacation

“Look out, inco!”

At the warning, Brady deftly stepped out of the path of the bike barreling down at him

“Sorry!” the kid yelled back

Up until yesterday, a shout like that would havefor the best Since there were no ene his coffee in a friendly salute “No problem”

But the kid was already long gone, and Brady shook his head The quiet was a, and he took in the oak tree- lined sidewalks, the clean and neat little shops, galleries and cafés—all designed to bring in so comri tru in the Twilight Zone

“Easy now, Duchess”

At the soft, feminine voice, Brady turned and looked into the eyes of a wo pranced around like it had a stick up its ass

Okay, a dog He was pretty sure

The woman smiled at Brady “Hello, how are you?”

“Fine, thanks,” he responded automatically, but she hadn’t slowed her pace

Just being polite, he thought, and tried to reme froiven hi here of all places, but it was too late now

Besides, he’d put it off long enough He’d been asked to come, multiple times over the years He’d enoring, but nothing worked with the two people on the planet more stubborn than him

His brothers

Not blood brothers, but that didn’t appear to matter to Dell or Adam The three of them had been in the sao Twenty-four months A blink of an eye really But to Dell and Adah to bond the three of them for life

Brady stuffed in another bite of his second breakfast wrap, added coffee, and squinted in the bright June sunshine Jerking his chin down, the sunglasses on top of his head obligingly slipped to his nose

Better

He headed to his truck parked at the corner but stopped short just in time to watch a woman in an old Jeep rear-end it

“Crap Crap” Lilah Young stared at the truck she’d Just rear-ended and gave herself exactly two seconds to have a pity party This is what her life had come to She had to work in increments of seconds

A arling little bodies in the box on the passenger’s seat of her JeepTwo puppies and a potbellied pig

As the co-owner of the sole kennel in town, she was babysitting Mrs Swanson’s “babies” again today, which included pickup and drop-off services This was in part because Mrs Swanson was ht years ago, but also because Mrs Swanson was the mother of Lilah’s favorite ex-boyfriend

Not that Lilah had a lot of exes Only two

Okay, three But one of them didn’t count, the one who after four years she still hoped all of his good parts shriveled up and fell off And he’d had good parts, too, daot a freebie stupid mistake when it came toin life

Because driving with Mrs Swanson’s babies and—

“Quack-quack!” said the mallard duck loose in the backseat

—A mallard duck loose in the backseat had been a doozey of a mistake

Resisting the urge to thunk her head against the steering wheel, Lilah hopped out of the Jeep to check the dae she’d caused to the truck, eyes squinted because everyone knew that helped

The truck’s bumper sported a sizable dent and crack, but thanks to the tow hitch, there was no real obvious frareat her knees wobbled

That is until she caught sight of the front of her Jeep It was so ancient that it was hard to tell if it had ever really been red once upon a tiin’ rust bucket, but that no longer seeiven that her front end was mashed up

“Quack-quack” In the backseat, Abigail was flapping her wings, getting enough lift to stick her head out the