Cole swallowed.

Debbie hooked her finger on the long zipper at the front of the jumpsuit. She grinned as she walked past him. He followed the sight of her little rear swaying gently as she headed toward her room. He saw her arm move down, heard the rasp of the zipper as it came undone, and walked into his room and slammed the door.

Debbie jumped as the echo reverberated in the hallway and she smiled wider.

*  *  *

“What do you think you’re doing?” Cole asked as he walked into the kitchen.

Debbie was pulling a package of frozen chicken breasts from the freezer. “I think I’m going to fix dinner?”

“No, you’re not,” he said. “Remember what I told you about taking it easy?”

“But—”

“No buts. We’ll either eat out or order in. Your choice.”

The smile that lit up her face made him forget what the hell he’d been going to say next.

“Really?”

He managed a nod. What in the world had he said to put that look on her face? When he got his answer, he wanted to laugh at the simplicity of it all.

“I would love to order in. Rural Oklahoma offers a world of benefits, but one of them is definitely not takeout food. You either go out to eat or cook it yourself. What can I order?”

Cole grinned. “Just about anything you want,” he said.

She nearly clapped her hands. “Let me ask Morgan and Buddy what they’d like to—”

“You choose, honey,” he said gently, unaware of what he’d called her. “They’ll eat anything.”

Her eyes lit up, and she made a half circle of the kitchen floor and then stuffed the frozen chicken back in the freezer.

“Could we have Chinese, with all those cute little boxes of different stuff and lots of eggs rolls and even fortune cookies?”

He laughed long and loud. “Hell, yes, you can have Chinese, cute boxes and all. Fortune cookies added.”

“Did someone mention cookies?”

Buddy walked into the kitchen. Cole rolled his eyes.

“Your timing, as always, is impeccable, brother.”

“Thank you,” Buddy said, uncertain what Cole was referring to, but convinced that, for once, Cole was right.

“We’re ordering in,” Debbie said. “We’re having Chinese.”

“Cole’s mad at us,” Buddy told Debbie.

“Not anymore,” she said gently, catching the look of guilty regret lurking behind Buddy’s glasses. “It’s okay.”

“I like sweet and sour chicken,” he said, as usual, jumping from one subject to another.

“Egg rolls are my favorite,” Debbie answered.

Cole sighed, envious of the instant communication his brother and Debbie seemed to have. “I’ll call in the order,” he said, and headed for the phone.

*  *  *

“I don’t know whose idea this was, but it was sheer genius.” Morgan speared another shrimp from the box.