Blurb: The sixth son in the Hill family, Ross, has always been an afterthought. He doesn’t even know what career to try. But he does like the look of Mr. Yummy the carpenter. Fortunately Perry Scott likes him too and agrees to let him try a career in construction—and other things.
Life has settled down into a calm pattern with Chris and her baby CC, Stuart and his baby daughter, Kathleen, and four of Ross’s brothers happy with their life partners. A crew of carpenters is busy extending the house for all these new people, and Ross likes talking to Perry.
Everything is peaceful and happy until the morning when Stuart goes for his usual daily run pushing Kathleen in her baby carriage, and they’re attacked by Tom Frame who is convinced they’ve stolen his son and is determined to get even with them all, kill Chris, and take CC.
Buy link: http://www.bookstrand.com/book/spoiled-brat-wants-man-to-love-him
STORY EXCERPT
It wasn’t fair. Being the youngest of six sons sucked great big hairy donkey’s balls. All Ross’s life, his older brothers had gotten the best deal every way, every time, and he’d always been stuck with the leftovers no one else wanted.
Take his apartment for example. Right now the family home was overrun with tradesmen renovating two of his brothers’ apartments plus building a whole new playroom for the two grandkids. And what was he getting? Absolutely nothing. Zip, zilch, nada, a big fat zero.
Of course his apartment was on the short side of the rectangle so there was no extra space for him to expand his apartment into anyway. And he didn’t have a kid to use the playroom. He didn’t even have a partner. Four of his brothers were all happily partnered up, but not him. Oh no. As always, he was overlooked, neglected, left until last.
If he dared open his mouth to say anything, anything at all, one of his older brothers would throw him in the swimming pool. And right now, March in Ohio, was not the time for a swim. Likely he’d catch his death of pneumonia. Would anyone care? Absolutely not.
Ross stopped pacing and his mental rant. Actually that last bit was unfair. His brothers did care about him, but they would still throw him into the pool.
“Why can’t I ever be first? Be the cherished, most important one? Why can’t I even find a man I like enough for more than a one-night stand?”
Ross stood at the doorway of his not-being-extended-dammit apartment and stared across the courtyard garden at a group of tradesmen framing up the third-story extension above his parents’ apartment. One of the men was incredibly yummy in just the way Ross liked his men. Big, broad shoulders, bulging with muscles, tanned arms, and longish hair held off his face with a bandana.
Ross left his apartment and walked into the garden. The courtyard was in the center of the house, which had blank walls to the outside and all the windows and doors opening into this central area. In addition to the swimming pool, there was a large barbecue and a Zen garden his mother regularly changed around. He stood looking at the intricately placed pebbles and sand brushed into patterns, but it didn’t completely soothe his disgruntled humor.
Stuart emerged from the apartment he shared with Ross’s brother Jude. Stuart was wearing shorts, a T-shirt, and running shoes, and pushing the baby carriage holding his two-week-old daughter, Kathleen. Stuart and Kathleen had moved in with Jude a week ago, and for the past four days, Stuart had gone running, pushing the baby carriage, every day.
Ross thought he was quite mad. It was two miles to the park, half a mile around the park, and two miles back home. For some unknown reason, Stuart seemed to think that was a nice run. Not to Ross’s mind it wasn’t, but he waved to Stuart anyway. What was that saying? Different strokes for different folks? Yeah, well, he wasn’t running from here to the park for anyone. He wasn’t planning to take his sweater off anytime soon either. The sun might be shining, but the weather was a long way short of hot.
Just a week ago they’d all been sitting on Lanikai Beach, Oahu, sipping champagne at the wedding of his brother Storm to his partner, Cruz. Ross sighed. Damn, that seemed like a million years ago as well as a million miles away. Well, it was more like five thousand miles, but it might as well have been a million. Ross kicked at one of the pebbles on the edge of the Zen garden moodily.
“Hey! What the fuck are you doing?” yelled a loud, angry voice.
Guiltily, Ross pulled his foot back from his mother’s garden and looked around for who had dared to chastise him. That voice sure as hell wasn’t his mother’s. But no one was looking at him. However, all the tradesmen on the roof were staring out to the road, and the big brawny one, the yummy one, was waving his arms around.
“Stop that.”
“Leave them alone,” yelled a few of the others.
Oh fuck! Was someone hurting baby Kathleen?
Ross raced for the exit from the courtyard, a wooden door, throwing it open and charging outside. One hundred yards down the road, someone was trying to pull the baby carriage out of Stuart’s hands. Stuart was holding on with all his strength, his heels digging back onto the concrete path and all his weight thrown against his opponent.
The workmen yelled even louder, and out of the corner of his eye, Ross saw a rope thrown down the wall, but he had no time to worry about what they were doing. He ran as fast as he could and launched himself onto the back of the man trying to grab Kathleen’s baby carriage.
Ross weighed more than Stuart, but probably not as much as the attacker, who had quite a solid build. Between him and Stuart, though, it was enough to make the man let go and swing his arm up in a punch toward the baby carriage. In response, Stuart shrieked and dived between the man and Kathleen.
And then another man was there was well. He hauled the attacker around by his shirt and slammed his fist into his face, dropping him to the ground.
Stuart was still screaming, “Kathleen, Kathleen,” and snatched his daughter out of the carriage, holding her in his arms.
Kathleen must have been distressed by all the noise and movement, and she started to howl as well.
Ross grabbed the attacker and turned him over. The man swung his fists up in the air, but this time, Ross was prepared for them and blocked his hands with his forearm.
“Frame. What the fuck are you doing here?”
Buy link: http://www.bookstrand.com/book/spoiled-brat-wants-man-to-love-him
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