A Date With Fate by Tracy Ellen

my hand in return.
    “Isn’t it kind of creepy to go buy the same exact truck of a man I want to date?” I rushed on hopefully, “But maybe you don’t think that would be too cutesy if we drove twin trucks?”
    I saw when the meaning of my words hit home.
    His eyes shot up to stare at me.
    I smiled shyly and blinked.
    My badass wolf burst out laughing.
    My smile went huge.
    I really love it when my instincts are spot on. I had hit the seldom seen, nearly extinct trifecta of manly muscles, intelligence, and humor.
    Luke started to answer, but then the front screen door banged sharply. We both turned to look as my brother came out onto the porch.
    Walking towards us, Reggie called, “Hey, if it isn’t the most favorite of all my sisters! I thought I heard your Jeep.” Eyeing the food, he rubbed his hands together. “So, what have you brought me?”
    Reg gave me an affectionate, one-armed squeeze around the waist while checking out the basket on Luke’s arm. He grabbed and opened the Northfield Bakery pink bag holding the chocolate chip cookies.
    He took a deep whiff. “Either these smell almost edible or I’m hungrier than I thought.”
    I hadn’t actually baked the cookies myself but based on general principle, I casually rubbed my cheek with my middle finger. It was a private gesture of affection for my brother. Luke glanced up from the basket just in time to catch me being sisterly.
    Reggie chuckled at my blush. “Luke, meet my sister.” He relieved Luke of the basket. “Junior, meet Luke Drake. Luke’s my new neighbor down the road. He’s inherited Ben Drake’s farm.” Reggie noticed my blank expression. “You know, Junior, the farm that has the toy John Deere combine mounted on the mailbox. Old Ben was your uncle, right Luke?”
    “Great uncle.” Luke absently answered my brother.
    I wasn’t listening much to Reggie, either. I ignored the questioning gleam in my brother’s blue eyes as he looked from me to Luke. I also ignored his brief, knowing smirk shot my way before he waved to the screen door. “Let’s head inside and go to the deck.”
    I went up the steps, feeling the searing intensity of Luke’s gaze on my back with every step. “Thanks for the intro, but Luke and I have met.” I flashed a mischievous glance at Luke over my shoulder. “He knows I want his…truck.”
    I didn’t wait for the men, but walked ahead into the house to get supplies from the kitchen. I could hear the low rumble of Reggie’s voice behind me on the porch stairs saying something that caused Luke to laugh out loud.
    I rolled my eyes. He was probably being a traitor to the blood and warning Luke not to let me near his truck. I have a slight problem with curbs. One of the few side effects I live with as a result of poor vision in my left eye. That’s my story and I am sticking to it.
    I used the Omnipotent Sister trick and called back to him through the screen. “I heard that, Reg. Good thing you have three other ‘most favorite’ sisters who get their tushes out of bed and bake for you.”
    I snickered when the immediate response was, “Oh, peace out, Junior! You’re so sensitive.” I heard a low voiced, “Shit, she’s got the hearing of a bat.”
    I passed through the sizeable living room set up with four sawhorses instead of furniture. The flooring was still at the plywood subfloor stage, but I observed it was screwed down in place since the last time I had stopped by.
    There were two, ancient six panel doors laid across the sawhorses in the process of being stripped of their multi-layers of old paint. I wrinkled my nose at the noxious odor. That job I did not want to do. Thankfully, the doors and windows were wide open to let the breeze in and the toxic fumes out, but it was still a brain tumor waiting to happen.
    In the spacious but outdated kitchen, I reached on pointed toes for a few of Reggie’s endless supply of paper plates located up in an old cabinet. When that didn’t work, I jumped up and