My Kind of Wonderful by Jill Shalvis Read Free Book Online

from the original radio call, Sean was airborne, bound for the trauma center.
    Now officially on break, Mitch headed for the cafeteria for food. Hud stood amidst the lunchtime chaos outside the lodge and found himself once again looking around for that cherry-red hat.
    But there was no sign of her. Telling himself he was good with that, even if he’d given her way too much thought over the past week, he pulled out his buzzing cell phone.
    “Cafeteria,” Aidan said in his ear. “Family pow wow.”
    “Busy,” Hud said. And by
busy,
he meant he had that ten-minute nap on tap.
    “Penny said to tell you
please
.”
    Shit. Hud had no problem refusing his brothers Gray and Aidan whatever they thought they needed, but Gray’s wife Penny was another thing entirely. She had big warm eyes and was the sweetest tyrant he’d ever met. “Sure,” he said.
Sucker
.
    He headed over to the lodge and stopped short at the sight of a ladder against the north wall. A very bad feeling came up from his gut and he strode inside. Gray, Penny, Kenna, Aidan, and Aidan’s fiancée Lily sat at a table having a late breakfast.
    “Told you he’d come if there was food involved,” Gray said. “He thinks with his stomach. That’s because he’s single.”
    “What part do you think with?” Penny asked him.
    Gray waggled a brow suggestively.
    Penny rolled her eyes. “And I put up with you why again?”
    “I’ll remind you after breakfast,” he told her, voice husky.
    “
Eww
,” Kenna said. “Old people shouldn’t talk about sex.”
    “I’m thirty-two,” Gray said.
    “Old,” the twenty-five-year-old said.
    There was an empty seat waiting for Hud. A plate had been loaded with his favorites: bacon, eggs, hash browns, sourdough toast, and… a big, fat blueberry muffin, the top of it dusted with sugar.
    His mouth watered. “Who died?”
    Penny laughed. “No one, you big lug. Sit down and enjoy.”
    It was hot as hell inside. Making a mental note to have someone check the thermostat and make sure they weren’t bleeding money with a heater cranked up too high, he dropped his jacket, hat, and gloves. He unzipped his sweatshirt and sat. Then he looked at Penny, aka the sweet tyrant.
    “What?” she asked innocently.
    Shit. He knew it. The plate had been a misdirect and he’d fallen for it. “Talk to me about the ladder against the wall.”
    Penny looked at Gray.
    “Told you he was smarter than he looked,” Gray said, stuffing his face.
    “Your mom emailed us about the mural,” Penny said as Hud picked up the muffin. “All of us. She said she thought of it as a family endeavor, a family picture, and you know what? I realized we don’t have a single one of all of us. How sad is that? So she’s right. We’re taking a vote.”
    Well, hell. Hud put the muffin down. “I’m sorry,” hesaid. “She shouldn’t have asked this of you. I know I should take away her phone but—”
    “I like the idea of a mural,” Gray said.
    Hud stared at him. “What?”
    “Yeah,” Gray said. “Actually, we all like the idea.”
    Of course, because they were insane, each more than the next. “No,” he said. “We don’t
all
like the idea.” He said this even though a small part of him was remembering his mom’s joy at the thought of the mural. And her claim that Bailey was special, that she’d been through a hard time.
    For all Hud knew, his mom had recycled a story she’d heard or seen on TV. Or hell, maybe Bailey had actually given her a sob story. He didn’t know and didn’t care. She wasn’t his business.
    The resort was his business. “We’re not doing a mural simply because you all feel sorry for my mom.”
    “Well of course not,” Gray said, stuffing his face with thick French toast. “That would be stupid. Hey, are you going to eat that food or what?”
    Hud shoved his brother’s hand away from his breakfast and pulled the plate in closer to protect it—necessary with this bunch. “A mural is impractical,” he went