A bit starker, Gabe’s house had whiter walls, and the sectional was a chocolate brown. Rather than a woodstove, he had a fireplace.

Caz had gone for luxuriant with dark reds and oriental carpets.

All three were comfortable. Almost cozy.

Hawk’s place was rougher and more rustic. As with the others, the living area was open to the two-story roof. His had dark wood beams like Gabe’s. Only here, the wood appeared as if it’d been cut with a chainsaw and left unfinished.

The big dining table was battered and old, yet still sturdy. The flooring was what she would call filled with character, holding an aged patina. Very distinctive. “Are your floors made from reclaimed wood?”

“Yeah.” The scarred corner of his mouth tilted up. “Good eye. The sarge re-used anything he could; I do the same.”

Interesting. She stroked her hand over the coffee table that was a glossy long slab of wood and raised her brows in inquiry.

“A friend cut down a backyard maple.”

And Hawk had turned it into something lovely. “I love when a house has some history.” Kit tried to spot more. The wood stove sat in a recessed area of stonework with a heavy wood mantel. “The mantle?”

His grin flashed. “Mining camp.”

“That is so cool. You like the history but aren’t fanatic about it. Your furniture is really comfortable.” The two overstuffed chairs were upholstered in a soft brown leather and bracketed a dark blue couch large enough to suit Hawk’s big frame, but not as massive as Bull’s sectional.

Hawk glanced around. “Not as comfortable as Bull’s place.”

She rolled her eyes. “Please. At the PZ compound, I lived in a barracks with an assigned bunk bed and no possessions. This is wonderful.”

“I had help.” He half-smiled. “I had the two chairs and a woodstove. Audrey and JJ decided I needed more.”

“You said no?” When he nodded, Kit bit her lip against a smirk. She could guess who won.

He snorted. “At Christmas, I ended up with a couch, rugs, pillows, and the blanket.”

She considered how stark the room must have looked before, and a bubble of laughter escaped. “Who decided your décor would be brown and blues?”

“That’d be Lillian.” The amusement in his gaze took her breath away.

When his lips tilted up or when the sunlines at the corners of his eyes deepened with his smile, he was as gorgeous as his brothers. Or maybe more so because the change was so marked.

She averted her gaze and swallowed, searching for something else to say. “I, um, ran out of things to read at Bull’s.” Although Audrey had offered to bring her books. “I don’t suppose you have anything?”

He pointed at the shelves adjacent to the woodstove surround. “Help yourself.”

Perfect. She edged forward on the couch and—

“Here.” Once again, Hawk stood in front of her, hand out.