“Hmm.” She gives a playful laugh. “I wonder what that could be? Let me guess. You’re going to feed me breakfast.” Her knee grazes my balls ever sogently.
“You’re crude, you know that?” A dull laugh dies in my chest as I lean over to the nightstand and pull out a small velvet box with a disheveled bow and hand it toher.
“What’s this?” She hikes up on her elbows, eyeing the curiosity as if it were a scorpion. “My God, do you give all of your one-night stands a parting gift? You’re a real prince, you knowthat?”
“I might be a prince, but to answer your question, no. That’s just a little something I’ve hauled around with me from move to move for the last six years. We broke up before Christmas.” I take a deep breath at the thought. “Remember? Anyway, that was your Christmas gift. It’s a littleoverdue.”
“Oh?” She sits up in bed until I’m eye level with the girls. Lex has never been shy about her body, and dear Lord, she doesn’t have a reason to be. “If this is an engagement ring, I’m going to say no.” She bites down over a smile while stealing a moment to glance atme.
“It’s not an engagement ring.” I frown up at her playfully. “But now that I see how much pleasure the prospect of turning me down brings you, the next gift just mightbe.”
My phone buzzes over the nightstand, but I choose to ignore it. Whoever it is will have to wait until later, until tomorrow if I’m lucky. I’ll do every acrobatic stunt in the book to keep Lex locked in mybedroom.
She plucks at the old worn bow and peels the box back, exposing a frail gold necklace with a pendant attached with three shiny Xs attached in a row. “Oh my goodness! Triple X!” She gasps, pulling it to her chest with delight. Triple X was what I called her in private. But Lex did her part too and lived up to the moniker. “I love it!” Her feet kick at the sheets in an airborne version of the happy dance. “Help me get it on.” She hands me the box, and I carefully free the necklace from it and clasp it around herneck.
Lex holds the tiny pendant out, examining it from a new vantagepoint.
I brush a kiss over her hip before sitting up next to her. “I always knew it was all you would ever have to wear. It’s perfect onyou.”
A laugh bubbles from her as she opens her arms and pulls me down on top of her. Lex is smiling right down to her toes, her golden eyes, each with a laugh of theirown.
“Lex,” I whisper right over her lips. I can feel the words bubbling up inside me, begging to jet on out. “I love you. I still love you.” I dot her lips with a kiss. “I never didstop.”
A gasp gets locked in her throat, and she flattens her palms over my chest. Just as she’s about to either slap or deck me—probably both, the hard thump of a fist pounds over the frontdoor.
“What in the hell.” I land a kiss at her temple before jumping into my pants and heading for the door. “Waithere.”
The pounding intensifies, and the doorbell goes off in spasms. The doorman would never let a madman through those gates, but then again, my phone did ring. Worst-case scenario—a madman made it past him, and he tried to warnme.
I peer through the peephole and spot an officer dressed in uniform, the magnification of the tiny hole barrels his chest out a little too much. He leans in, and the stubble on his face comes at me so fast I backup.
Lex ambles into the room and speeds next to me, desperately trying to button the dress shirt I wore last night. It’s a good look on her, and I can’t help but give a lopsided grin at the sight. “Who is it?” she hisses. Her nose does this cute little twitch that opens the floodgates to a thousand different memories, and all I want to do is carry her back to thatbedroom.
“It’s a cop. I’d better see what he wants.” Just as my hand goes for the lock, the door thumps to lifeagain.
“You in there, Lex?” a deep voice thunders from the other side. “Don’t make me beat this doordown.”
Shit. My adrenaline skyrockets. “You know this guy? Is this some amped up ex ofyours?”
“No.” She taps her hands in the air as if motioning for me to keep it down. “It’s my amped up bigbrother.” She hides her face in her hands a moment. “I forgot all about meeting him for coffee thismorning.”
“Big brother—Marlin?” Crap. It’s been years since we last had the misfortune to meet, but something tells me it wasn’t longenough.
More pounding ensues, this time with the threat of taking medowntown.
“I guess I should let him in.” I unhook the lock, and Lex presses her body against the door. Her lips quiver as she looks up at me withfright.
“Have you lost your freaking mind? He’s going to kill us. You first, thenme!”
The door pulsates with each thunderous bang. “Lex? I can hear you for shit’s sake. Open the damn door before I beat itdown!”
I’m not sure what happened next. Either I twisted the knob or Lex hit it just right with her hip or Marlin just got lucky because the door cracks open and his foot is suddenly wedgedinside.
“Oh my God!” Lex jumps away from the door as if it morphed into a snake. And just like that, Marlin spills into the room clad in blue. The shiny silver badge on his chest proves that he’s the real deal. Jepson PD. Who would have thought that after all these years he and I were just a hair away from meeting up again? And, unfortunately, it wasn’t some run-of-the-mill speeding ticket that reconnected our paths. It’s the fact Lex overslept in mybed.
Marlin is basically Lex in male skin, far more aggressive, both arms riddled with tats, his biceps bulging as if silently promising me a broken nose, leg, and arm before he takesoff.
His eyes ride up and down his sister in disappointment. “Go get some clothes on,” he growls as he refocuses his attention back on me. “I’m probably going to kill you,” he says it flat like a fact. “Don’t worry. I’ll make it look like an accident. No reason to embarrass either Lex or me in the situation.” A menacing smile flinches on his lips. “The only decision I need to make is whether or not I want to make it quick and painless or slow and agonizing as hell. I vote for thelatter.”
