“Damn, dude, you gonna take all day?” Kaleb muttered from the safety and security of the ground below.
Sawyer didn’t turn to look at him because heights just weren’t his thing and he happened to like the way his head looked right there on his shoulders. No point in trying to rearrange his anatomy by falling to the ground at this point.
Pushing the next clip in place, Sawyer tugged the strand of lights that were half hanging off of the roof, half strung around the ladder and clipped them in place. Hell, he hoped these damn things actually lit up because, if he had to guess, Kaleb hadn’t bothered to check that out before tossing an end up to him.
“Nice. Now, if you get a move on, we might have them up by this Christmas, not the next one.”
“Shut the hell up,” he grumbled to his brother. “I’d like to see you go any faster.”
“Get your ass down then and I’ll show you how it’s done,” Kaleb taunted.
Didn’t need to tell him twice. Without further ado, Sawyer scrambled down the ladder and Vanna White’d his hands toward the ladder as a gesture for his brother to take over.
Instead of standing around to supervise, Sawyer ventured to the stack of boxes that Brendon and Braydon had just brought out. Originally, when he’d snagged Kaleb and their father to join him outside, he had thought they were just going to have to plug up the eight foot tall inflatable Santa Claus that his mother adored. Instead, he’d somehow been talked into the rest of the lights which meant the rest of his evening was shot.
Not that he had any plans anyway. Unless he considered heading out to Moonshiners for the night. Or maybe the bar in the neighboring town. Either way, the only positive on his horizon at the moment was the potential for sex. Considering it was going to be the normal routine of picking up a woman, taking her back to his place or going to hers – which he preferred because he could get away easier – and then either waking up alone, or waking up to find he needed to break some woman’s heart and send her on her way.
That seemed to be the story of his life these days.
Unless…
Nope, there was no reason to go there. If Kennedy Endsley would give him half a chance, he’d be more than willing to substantiate those rumors she’d heard about him. Because yes, he was known as the fun-loving playboy, and he’d rightfully earned that title, thank you very much. Then again, that seemed to be her hang up with him. Or so she said.
Not that he was proud – ok, maybe he was a little proud. Even if that did make him a horn dog. That was life. He had no complaints at the moment. His family was all in good health, the resort was about a month and a half from being complete, Walker Demolition, despite the neglect they’d been giving that company, was still thriving, and he wouldn’t have to spend a night alone if he didn’t want to.
It wasn’t like he needed any more than that. And, as was his motto, he was certainly going to continue to look on the bright side.
♂♀
Kaleb
Watching Sawyer teeter back and forth on the ladder was amusing, but boring as hell. Knowing that he would gladly hand over the task of stringing up the lights, Kaleb continued to rib him until he gave up. And what do you know, twenty minutes later, Kaleb was finished, three strands of lights hanging effortlessly across the front of the house.
“Who’s gonna turn these on?” he hollered toward the twins who were propped on the front porch railing, dangling their feet down one side while they chatted it up like a couple of cackling hens.
“Last time I checked, your legs weren’t broken,” Brendon snapped, laughing. Of course, his comeback was followed by him jumping off of the rail to shove the plug into the wall socket on the porch.
A fit of laughter erupted behind him, and Kaleb turned to see Sawyer nearly rolling on the ground, Zane moving in behind him with a satisfied grin on his face.
Fuck.
Ok, so maybe he should’ve plugged the damn things up to see if they worked first.
“How many strands are out this time?” Ethan called as he made his way around from the side of the house.
“Looks like half of them. That’s better than last year, right?” Braydon answered, moving out from under the porch to stand beside Sawyer.
Kaleb stared up at the roofline, smiling. This he could fix, just like he did every year. Then again, he didn’t mind entertaining his brothers, and they’d come to expect him to put the lights up half lit anyway.
“I’m ready for any one of you assholes to volunteer to do this anytime you’d like,” Kaleb retorted, trying to conceal his own amusement.
About that time, Beau, Travis and Gage made their appearance from around the back of the house with Curtis not far behind. Another round of laughter along with some snide comments about consistency. Yadda, yadda, yadda.