The door to the trailer opened, and Annabelle and Lexi stepped outside. They were both smiling so I assumed the meeting of the minds had been a success.

“I’ll stop by your office tomorrow,” Lexi said. “We can finalize the details with your bosses.”

“Excellent,” Annabelle said. She glanced at me and Jackson, and I could see she was positively vibrating with excitement.

“Are you finished?” I asked. “I need to make some calls if we’re going to be up and running tomorrow.”

The relief and gratitude in Lexi’s gaze was a look I was going to cherish forever. “Thanks, Nicky.”

She was never going to curb that habit. I sighed. I spun to face Jackson and said, “Don’t even think it.”

He shrugged right before a grin appeared out from behind his face hair and he said, “Sure thing, Nicky-oli.”

“You’re an idiot,” I said.

His big bark of a laugh drowned out my words, and I noticed Annabelle and Lexi were laughing, too. Whatever.

I walked toward the steps. Might as well get the next battle over with. “Lexi, I have an additional condition on my support.”

The laughter was wiped clean from her face replaced by a wary look. “What’s that?”

“While this development is under construction, Jackson here is going to act as your bodyguard,” I said.

“Oh, hell no!” she snapped.

Jackson looked at her in surprise. “That seems an overreaction.”

“Nothing personal,” she said. “But I’m thirty and I can take care of myself.” She shot me a dark look as she stomped down the steps with Annabelle following. “I’ve had a lot of practice.”

“What the hell does that mean?” I asked. I knew a dig when I got hit with one.

“It means that just because I’m your little sister, you do not get to manage my life,” she said. “I don’t need a bodyguard.”

“Little sister?” Annabelle asked. She sounded surprised. Her gaze cut between us as she compared our features.

“Yes, Lexi is my sister,” I said.

“Not really,” Lexi said. She sounded a tad bitter. “We’re siblings, but we haven’t seen each other in almost twenty years.”

I frowned at Lexi. “I’ve seen you.”

She planted her hands on her hips and glared. “When?”

“I saw you graduate from middle school, high school, and college,” I said. “And I’ve followed you on social media for years. You really need to make your settings private.”

She gasped. “You’ve been stalking me?”

“Stalking?” I raised my hands in the air in a what the hell gesture. “I’m your brother. I had to make sure you were okay, didn’t I?”

“But that’s not fair,” she cried. She sounded so much like little Lexi, I expected her to stamp her foot just like she used to do. “I didn’t know. I . . . you . . . you should have reached out.”