RACING HOME
Bryant Brothers book 1
C’mon, Camila, you can do this. It’s only four days. You have to report back to work on Friday, and there’s a good chance your stalker will be gone by then.
Laying low at her sister’s boyfriend’s house is the perfect solution to Camila Alverez’s problem, until top motocross racer in the country, Tommy Bryant, answers the door.
He has the celebrity status, the money, the looks, the confidence, the girls—except Camila, who wants nothing to do with him.
Too bad Tommy didn’t get that memo.
Bryant Brothers series
Each book has its own happily ever after, however it is recommended they be read in the following order:
Racing Home ~ To Love & Protect ~ The Right Tool ~ Picture This
Meet the Bryants
From the moment she said “I do,” Deanna Bryant was surrounded by testosterone. The Realtor who sold them the home she and her husband would raise their children in was male. The doctor who delivered all four of her babies was male. Every dog, cat, hamster, and ferret that joined the family over the years had been male.
And of course, all four children…boys.
To rub salt into a perceived open wound, her offspring had been—and still were—boys’ boys. None of them discovered the opposite sex until much later than the average age. And even after they did realize there were girls in the world, the three oldest didn’t see them as anything more than a good time and a distraction from their hobbies-slash-careers.
Which were also distinctly and stereotypically masculine.
Tommy, the oldest, raced motorcycles. Philip, the next eldest, after a stint in the military, had taken some mysterious job that involved security and contracts. His brothers liked to call him Philip Bond, much to his annoyance.
Kyle was number three and a mechanic who, conveniently enough for his eldest brother, could fix damn near anything but specialized in motorcycles.
Elliot was the baby of the family, and still in college. About to start his senior year, he was a photography major who had no earthly idea what he wanted to do with his life. He was, however, the first to bring a girl home to meet Mom and Dad.
Funny enough, this book isn’t about him.
Chapter One
“You need to come home.”
Tommy yawned so widely his jaw popped. He was still in bed, his eyes closed, his body exactly the right temperature in the cocoon created by the sheet and a thin blanket. “Why are you whispering, Mom?”
“Your brother’s home.” She paused then added, “Elliot.”
Good thing she clarified, since Tommy had three of them.
“You’re whispering because Elliot’s home?”
“Yes. Everybody’s still asleep.”
Valid reason, except his parents’ house was huge, and his mom was probably standing in the kitchen or maybe in the family room, and both areas were plenty far enough away from the bedrooms that she could speak at a normal volume with no worries about disrupting anyone’s sleep.
Except Tommy’s, of course.
“Mom, I just got home”—he pulled the phone away from his ear to look at the screen and closed his eyes again—“six hours ago. It’s the first weekend I’ve been in town since Easter.”
“I’m well aware, since I water your plants.”
“Plants you gave me.” He’d never admit that he actually liked the greenery. It gave his otherwise barren apartment a somewhat comfortable feel, which was nice for someone who spent the vast majority of his time on the road, living out of hotel rooms. He should make an effort to do more to make it feel homey, except whenever he was home, the last thing he wanted to do was decorate.
“And the fact that you’ve been gone so long is a perfect excuse to come visit your parents.”
“I planned to stop by,” he defended himself. “No way I’d come into town and not gorge myself on your cooking.”
“Don’t even pretend you only come here for the food.”
“Fine, I won’t, although your cooking is definitely one of the top ten reasons for visiting.”
“Good, then come over right now. Well, in an hour. I’m making brunch.”
Okay, that was tempting, considering he hadn’t been able to talk himself into stopping at the grocery store when he rolled into town in the middle of the night last night, and he was pretty sure he didn’t even have bread to make toast at this point.
“Just a few more hours,” he countered anyway.
“Elliot brought a girl home from college.”
Tommy’s eyes popped open. “Seriously?”
Holy shit, none of them had ever brought a girl home. He was pretty sure none of them had ever introduced a girl to their mother, even as a friend. It was too risky. She was likely to start planning the wedding within the first ten minutes.
Poor Elliot. He probably should get over there, if only to play interference between his baby brother and Mom’s need for an estrogen rush.
Plus, he wanted to meet the girl his brother was willing to bring home and risk Mom throwing out baby names over dinner.
“Fine,” he said on a sigh.
“Stop and get a couple bottles of champagne on your way.”
“What? Why?”
“Can’t have brunch without mimosas.”
Tommy blew out a relieved breath. For a minute there, he thought they were going to toast his brother’s engagement, and while that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, he figured he ought to actually meet the girl before the banns were posted.
***
When Camila parked her Mustang next to the curb in front of the address her sister had given her, she noted that the door was open and two cars were parked inside the garage, plus two vehicles in the driveway. One was Maddy’s old Ford Focus and the other was a tricked out, newer model, black on black Silverado pickup truck.
The house was a colonial, situated in a western suburb of Detroit. This place was actually closer to the bar where Camila worked than her own apartment was. The siding was white, the shutters dark green. Established bushes and trees dotted the front yard, and a mass of red, white, and purple petunias spilled out of a half barrel on its side next to the walkway leading to the front door.
This was what her life had been reduced to? Begging her younger sister to ask complete strangers to take her in so she could hide from some unnerving bar patron who had decided he and Camila should be together forever, regardless of her opinion on the matter?
She’d called Maddy and casually (well, that was the goal, anyhow) mentioned that she was looking for a place to stay for a few days—but not with their parents—and her sister had invited her to hang out with Maddy and her new boyfriend at his parents’ house.
C’mon, Camila, you can do this. It’s only four days. You have to report back to work on Friday, and there’s a good chance your stalker will be gone by then.
There was, wasn’t there? Being stalked was messing with her sleep schedule, as in she wasn’t getting much of it at all because her brain wouldn’t stop imagining all those scenes from too many Criminal Minds episodes that could actually happen to her.
Her purse vibrated, and she dug out her phone to read the incoming text.
Maddy: Where are you?
Why was she stalling? This was a far better option than spending the week alone in her apartment. Plus, Maddy had mentioned a pool. It was practically a vacation.
Scratch that, there was no practically about it.
Sucking in a deep breath and expelling it slowly, Camila shot a reply to her sister that simply said, “Coming,” and then she climbed out of the car, grabbed her bag, and headed toward the house.
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