Bluegrass Undercover (Bluegrass Brothers)

he headed back to the couch. His brother always did think he was so important. He held himself as if he were the President of the United States.
    Where Marshall was always dressed in black, and Cade was usually in some form of athletic gear, Miles was never without a suit and tie. What made it worse was that when pushed, Miles was the most dangerous. He and Miles were doing a snatch and grab in the foothills of Afghanistan that turned out to be a trap. He got caught and had transmitted to Miles to get the hell out of there. Instead of leaving his brother behind, Miles took out each and every one of them in under twenty seconds. How? Cade would never know. Miles earned a little extra credit for saving his life, but that was only going to afford him so much when it came to teasing him about Annie.
    “Where do you think? The biggest gossip of us all – Marshall.” Miles laughed as all six feet, two inches of him sauntered in to the living room.
    “Jesus. Marshall needs to learn to keep his mouth shut.” Cade fell back onto his mahogany-colored, leather couch and tossed his feet onto the matching coffee table.
    “When, in all of your thirty years of life has he ever been able to keep his mouth shut?” Being a rhetorical question, since the answer was clearly never, Cade didn’t bother answering. “So, to hear Marshall tell it, you’re ready to get married and have kids. What’s the real story? Who is this woman?”
    “Marriage, no way! I don’t even like her. She’s infuriating. She thinks I’m a helpless idiot.” Cade rolled his eyes and picked up the beer he’d been drinking before Miles knocked at the door.
    “Sounds promising.” Cade didn’t need to look at his brother to know he was trying not to laugh.
    “Ha. She has stepped in front of Corey Bonner who was in a full steroid rage…twice! Supposedly it was to protect me. She told me I needed self-defense lessons. Me! Then she helped me save Bonner’s life, calm as can be.”
    “How is he doing?”
    “He’s stable. His heart has taken a beating though. He’s never going to be healthy again. The walls have thinned after using so much of the drug. His blood pressure was through the roof, but the doctors think he’ll be able to live a normal life after he detoxes and his system basically reboots. He’ll be on heart meds the rest of his life though.”
    “That’s tough for a kid. How did Annie keep her calm? Most women would be slightly hysterical coming upon a fight and then a kid collapsing like that.”
    “That’s just it. She’s never hysterical. Instead she thinks I’m the hysterical one? I don’t know what the school was like in Miami, but nothing fazes her. It just makes me crazy to prove myself to her, which is crazy in itself because she’s so infuriating!” Cade leaned his head back on the couch and cursed himself for not being able to just put Annie out of his mind.
    “Come on. Let’s go to the Café and have dinner. We can talk it out and develop a plan of action,” Miles said, standing up and buttoning up his sports coat.
    “One, you can’t develop a plan of action on handling Annie. She doesn’t fit into any plans. Two, Summer Ridell is bound to be working tonight and she had a huge crush on you.”
    “I was hoping you’d run interference so I could finally eat something without being hit on. Ever since she turned eighteen and graduated, she thinks she should be getting married and having a kid or two. What’s worse, she thinks she should be doing it with me!” Miles said with disgust. Miles did not cook and depended on Daisy and Violet to feed him when Mom’s frozen casseroles ran out.
    “You’re old enough to be her father!” Cade laughed. He enjoyed goading Miles. He really did.
    “I’m not that old. Damn, Cade, you can make thirty-four seem positively ancient . However, it’s too old for an innocent kid like her.”
    “Fine, I’ll go with you. I haven’t eaten at the Café for a while. You can tell me what corporations you’re taking apart for the better good of the little people like me.”
     
    Annie couldn’t decide if she hated or loved the fact that a diner was so close. Hated the fact they didn’t deliver. Shoot, no one delivered. It was great when she wanted real food, but it was strange to have a ten minute conversation with the person taking your order when you just really wanted a chicken salad sandwich.
    Over the past couple of days since her arrival in Keeneston she had been eating