There’s a thumping on the stairs, which doesn’t sound like Kat at all. Ah, shit. It’s not my sister.
Gage appears at the door of the living room, and Grace goes rigid. He sweeps a calculating glance over her, which for some reason gets my back up.
“You need something?” There’s no way I’m releasing her while my brother’s in the room.
“Just passing. You going to the club?”
Grace’s car is outside, which means there’s only one reason he’s here, and that’s to check her out. Even though he’s looking at me, he sure as hell can see more than enough of Grace, with her tits all but spilling out of the sexy corset and her red hair tumbling over her shoulders.
“Later.” I don’t know why I’m so pissed with him. It’s not the first time he’s walked in when I’ve been with a chick, but that’s when we’ve been at the club, and who gives a shit there. This is different, and I’d never take Grace to the club in any case.
I look into her blue eyes, and something twists deep inside my chest. She doesn’t say anything, but it’s obvious she wants to sink through the floor. Most of the girls I go with would be giving Gage flirty glances, and it’s not unheard of for us to share women. If he thinks for one second he’s got a chance with Grace, I’ll break his fucking neck.
Before I can stop myself I throw him a challenging look.
“Princess, this is my brother, Gage.”
“Pleased to meet you.” She sounds cool and collected as though she isn’t wound up so tight I can feel her bones vibrating. The same strange warmth surges through me like it did when she got her tat.
“You, too.” There’s an odd note in his voice, one I’ve never heard before, and I narrow my eyes at him. He doesn’t notice, since he’s staring at Grace, but not as though he wants to nail her. More like he’s trying to work out what’s she doing here, as it’s obvious she stayed the night and who wants a chick hanging around all morning?
I ignore that thought, as I want to spend a few more hours alone with Grace before she leaves. “You know where the door is.”
“Don’t leave on my account.” Grace tries to stand up, but I’m not having that and tighten my hold on her. I don’t care what she wears on the beach, she’s not giving my brother an eyeful of her gorgeous body poured into that corset. He can see enough as it is.
“See you around.” The expression on his face doesn’t give anything away, and not until the front door bangs behind him does Grace sag against me.
“Ugh. That was so embarrassing.”
I stroke her back, hiding my grin, because she’s so cute when she gets flustered. “No, it wasn’t.”
She pulls upright. “How can you say that? It wasexcruciating.”
“I’ll put a Do Not Disturb sign on the front door next time you’re here. How’s that?”
“Very subtle.”
“I’ll fix an inside bolt on the door. Then when we get down and dirty we’ll know for sure we won’t be interrupted.” I leer at her, and she groans. I’m only half kidding about the deadbolt. It’s never bothered me before the way Gage wanders in and out of the apartment as though he still lives here, but that was before Grace.
It takes a couple of seconds before that thought fully penetrates.Before Grace?This is just a casual thing. Why am I planning ahead?
I don’t know. It doesn’t matter. She’s here now, and that’s all I need.
Chapter Eleven
Zach
It’s early Thursday evening, and I’m standing on the forecourt with Cade when Kat strolls home. I break off from checking out his bike. “Hey, Kat.”
She gives us a bored glance. “What?”
“Grace’s coming over. Can you sort something out to eat?”
She frowns. “Why’s she coming over tonight? You only ever hook up on weekends.”
Can’t deny that. For the last three weekends she’s stayed over either one or two nights, but she called earlier and asked if it was okay to get together tonight. Why would I say no to that kind of offer?
“You got a problem with it?” They seem to get on all right, and my sister’s even stopped making cracks about how she can never get to sleep when Grace is here.
