“If that were true, he’d be in the hospital right now, because you’d have convinced him to go.”
She bristled, and her glare froze a little of the blood in my veins, but it also sent a thrill straight to my dick. What was it with this woman? If we were kids, I’d be pulling her pigtails. Instead, she was turning me into a goddamn caveman ready to throw her over my shoulder and spank her ass as I carried her to my bed. Now, that image had definite potential.
“You know nothing about us,” she said through gritted teeth.
She was wrong. I’d gleaned quite a bit during my stroll through her apartment, and I was willing to bet she’d do anything for Ben. “Your brother appears to be okay, but that could change at any time. If you’re not gonna take him to the hospital, I need to be here in case his situation worsens.”
That took the wind out of her sails. Huffing out a breath, she dropped her shoulders. “Are you sure? You’re here to spend time with your mom, not to watch after my baby brother.”
I’d never admit it aloud, but I wasn’t there for Ben. He’d made his bed and was dragging his sister into the consequences, which didn’t exactly fill me with respect for the guy. Was I judging a situation I knew nothing about? Abso-fuckin’-lutely. But I wasn’t stupid, and neither was Mercy, which was why she currently resembled a caged animal.
Her phone buzzed on the counter where she’d left it.
She scooped it up, glanced down at it, and said, “Shit.”
“What’s wrong?” I asked, joining her at the counter.
“I was supposed to meet up with Ben’s boss for a drink tonight.”
“Is that… normal?” I asked.
“No. Ben’s been missing. I was planning to pump Luke for information about his whereabouts.” Her attention dropped back down to her phone, and her chest expanded, breasts rising in a distracting way before her shoulders dropped with a sigh. “He’s there now. I could probably get him to wait for me. Maybe I should still go so I can find out what he knows about this.”
She looked dead on her feet and clearly didn’t want to meet up with this guy. After all she’d been through tonight, the last thing she needed was to be out there poking her nose into whatever shit her brother had gotten into.
“Are you fucking crazy?” I asked.
She blinked, but before she could argue or get offended, I plunged ahead.
“You have no idea who did this to him.”
“Yeah, but I know Luke. He can be manipulative and controlling, but he’s no evil genius. And he’s not violent.”
A surge of something dark and possessive made me want to question how well she knew this asshole, but I clamped my mouth shut. It wasn’t any of my business. “Okay. But you know how fast word gets around this neighborhood. The fewer people who know where Ben is, the safer he’ll be. Does this Luke guy know where you live?”
“No. I don’t bring men to my apartment.”
My eyebrows rose at that.
“You’re Beth’s son. And you’ll be leaving soon. Besides, that whole superhero complex you’ve got going on wouldn’t allow you to be a psycho killer. Can I count on you to keep an eye on Ben while I go find out what Luke knows?”
I was shaking my head before she finished the question. “Hell no. Because you’re not going. You’re smarter than that.”
She lowered her phone to her side and gave me her full attention. “Look. I’ve known you for a whole five minutes, so I don’t know what delusions of grandeur make you believe you have any say whatsoever in what I do, but let me assure you, you don’t.”
Arguing was getting me nowhere, and the woman was driving me fuckin’ crazy on every level, so I stood from my seat at her dining table and changed tactics. Moving in with two long strides, I snatched the phone from her hand as my lips claimed Mercy’s.
She was out of her mind with worry and needed a distraction before she did something stupid and put herself in even more danger than she was already in. I half expected her to punch me or bite my lip, so it was a pleasant surprise when her lips molded against mine and she kissed me back. My hands immediately dipped under her shirt and roamed up her back, unhooking her bra.
“You’re an asshole,” she muttered against my mouth.
“More like a dick you’re itchin’ to ride.” My hands slid under her bra, wrapping around to her front to free her breasts. The warmth and weight of her felt so good in my palms. I pressed her against the kitchen counter as I ground my hardening cock against her, showing her how she was affecting me. “Think I haven’t noticed the cute little outfits you’ve been wearing under that trench coat? You’re begging for my attention.” My lips trailed down to nip at her neck while her hands fumbled with the top button of my jeans.
“Literally haven’t changed my wardrobe, you egotistical asshat. That’s what I always wear.”
“You dress a little too sexy for a preschool administrator, don’t you think?”
“What about your jeans?” She fired back. She’d undone my fly and now tugged on my shirt as she backed us toward her bedroom door. “They should be illegal. It’s indecent exposure.”
