Beau emitted a weird little noise from the back of his throat, breathing heavily through his nose as he watched Charli and Cam. He sounded like a bull that was about to rampage a small village, his hand squeezing his beer can so tightly that he was crushing it as beer slopped over the sides of the can and down his hand.

“Something wrong, Beau?” I asked, trying to fight my threatening smile.

He looked down at his hand and then up to me before jerking his eyes away and shotgunning his beer in a single gulp. “Fine,” he snapped. “I’m going to get started on the burgers.” He crumpled the can into oblivion and tossed the remnants into the trash can as he stalked inside. Oh, Beau…

My stubborn ass brother came back outside a few minutes later holding two trays of hamburger patties that he, Cam, and Bode had made earlier. He fired up the grill and started cooking. I noticed that his eyes followed Charli as she walked into the house, and they snapped back to her as soon as she emerged again, holding a couple of packages of cheese.

Yep, there is definitely an attraction there.

Grabbing a bottle of water, I watched as Charli approached and began separating cheese slices and handing them to Beau to lay across the patties. I craned my neck to shamelessly eavesdrop, but I couldn’t hear what they were saying. But my brother was definitely talking… like a real conversation.

I adored my brother with all my heart, but I was concerned about his behavior toward my young nanny. She was all sweet and kind, and my brother didn’t have the best track record with women. He pretty much treated them like they were as disposable as used tissues, and I certainly didn’t want him treating Charli like that if there was something going on between them.

On the other hand, I’d always hoped someone would tame my slutty brother and make an honest man out of him. He had the biggest heart of anyone I knew, and Charli was exactly the kind of girl he needed to date, not the bimbos he tended to gravitate toward. In my expert opinion.

A few hours later, after we had all eaten burgers and I had opened my presents, Axel and I were in bed. He had just ravished my body for hours, and I was cuddled up against him with my head on his chest.

“Thank you again for my bracelet, Ax,” I said, looking down to where a replica of the platinum bracelet he’d given me years ago was clasped on my wrist.

“I thought it was time for an updated version,” he said, leaning down to press his lips to mine.