Off Season (The Blake Boys Book 15) by Rhonda Laurel

mean to be nosey, but we heard the ruckus coming up the drive. I thought you two had come to an agreement about your security work?” Isabelle bit her lip.
    Sam continued to smile. “Everything is fine. We’ve never been better.”
    “I don’t want to hear it young lady!” J.J.’s voice echoed from the kitchen to the foyer.
    “But!” a woman’s voice replied, and was immediately cut off by another salvo from J.J.
    “Parker’s here,” Sam said.
    There was no shortage of badass women in Sam’s family. Parker Judith Carson was determined to follow in her big sister’s footsteps, and that meant earning her stripes in the police department. She was a good cop, but she always reacted first and thought about the consequences later, just like her big sister.
    “What happened?” Morgan peeked down the hall.
    “She was part of a standoff with some drug dealers they were trying to arrest. She tried some heroics that didn’t go well with her captain. When the family saw the footage on TV…well, it’s been a downhill slide from there. Luckily, her cowboy antics didn’t get her shot.”
    “Poor Parker,” Isabelle lamented.
    “No, poor Parker.” Sam grabbed her purse off the foyer table and led them out of the house. “What she did was impetuous and stupid. She’s always out to prove she’s the baddest thing around.”
    Morgan and Isabelle stopped in their tracks and looked at Sam.
    “How quickly we forget about that bomb incident,” Morgan mused. “I think that was the reason J.J. broke things off with you. Because not knowing if you were dead or alive nearly killed him as Channing drove him to the hospital.”
    “In my defense, that was different. I didn’t go looking for the bomb. Parker looks for random gunfire.” Sam sashayed past them and got in the backseat. “She deserves that stern talking-to that John’s giving her with both barrels. It was long overdue.”
    Morgan and Isabelle got into the car too. “So she came all the way to the ranch to get chewed out? I think she would have avoided this place like the plague.”
    “I lured her here under false pretenses so he could have a chat with her.”
    “You are diabolical, Sam,” Isabelle said. “Do you think she’ll be attending the family dinner?”
    “Yeah, if he hasn’t grounded her. She was suspended from work, so she’ll be around for a while.”
    “Well, I bet Teri-Lyn will be cooking her something to cheer her up.” Morgan clicked her seat belt and pulled off.
    “Sam.” Isabelle shifted in her seat to look at her. “Morgan and I were talking about what first impression we got from the kids when they were born. Care to share your thoughts?”
    “That’s easy.” Sam sighed. “Jack was all ‘I’m here and ready to take over the world.’ Gabe felt like an old soul. He was like ‘I’ve done the baby bit before.’ He always has this look on his face like, ‘I want to grow up now.’”
    “So true.” Isabelle giggled. “He always looks like he’s thinking deeply about something. Morgan seems to think she and Mackenzie are going to be the next fight of the century.”
    “I can totally see that. I’ll buy my ringside ticket now.”
    “See.” Morgan narrowed her eyes at Isabelle. “The writing’s on the wall.”
    “And if you like this space we’re going to look at, the fur is really going to fly,” Sam chimed in.
    “Why?” Morgan looked at her in the rear view mirror.
    Sam chuckled. “The name of the project is Mackenzie Square. This is one of the properties in her real estate portfolio. Jared has been working on this one for months. Didn’t John Jacob tell you?”
    “You might want to slip her an extra dessert every now and again to keep her happy.” Isabelle covered her mouth to suppress her laughter.
    “Awesome. Just awesome.”
     
    * * *
     
     
    Morgan was surprised that the location was only twenty minutes away from the ranch. The project manager showed them the layout for the entire project. It would