In the same moment, her front door handle jiggles, like whoever the fuck is visiting thinks they get to walk straight in.
“Anna?” A dude’s deep voice echoes from outside. “Hey. You in there?”
“Ah… yup!” She slings horrified eyes my way, then back to the door. To me. Then to the door again. Finally, she points a single, dangerous finger in my face. “Don’t say a word!”
“Anna?”
“Yeah! I’m coming.” She crosses her living room and whips her front door open, but when the guy on the other side—a fuckin’ plainclothes cop with a shiny silver badge on his hip and a shinier gun perched right beside it—attempts to stride in without an invitation, she steps in his way and leans against the door.
Using a tone she’s yet to use on me, she becomes a wolf in a sex kitten’s clothing. “Hi, Carter. What’s up?”
“What’s…” He’s taller than her by an easy foot, which makes it entirely too simple for him to look over her head and meet my eyes. His narrow, jealousy and fiery possessiveness pointed directly, and dangerously, at me. “Ah… You have company?”
“Oh, him?” She waves me off so fucking easily. So aloof. Never mind the factI’mthevictim in this messy clusterfuck. “Yeah. I do. W-what are you doing here, Carter?” She closes the door half an inch, one hand on the knob and the other on the frame. “I don’t believe we’ve made any plans for tonight.”
“Thought I’d drop by and see if you wanted to hang out.” He can’t help himself; his eyes jump back to mine. “Who’s your friend, Anna?”
How does one introduce a bruised and battered stranger to the cops without admitting they ran them down with their sexy fuckin’ Road Runner?
“Dean.” Aching from top to toe, I push off the couch with a deep, chest-clenching groan, but as I turn,like introducing myself to this prick might somehow help our current situation,I’m forced to stop and pray my dizziness won’t send me sprawling. “Shit.”
Gasping, Anna shoves away from the door and sprints across the room, slipping under my arm and plastering her body against mine. “You’re not supposed to get up, dummy.”
Carter glides through the unguarded door and comes to a stop just four feet from where we stand. This possessive, arrogant motherfucker meets my eyes and strokes the handle of his gun, clearly unimpressed by the fact I’m draped over the woman he considershis. “Dean?” He offers his hand and leaves it hanging in the space between us. “Dean who?”
“Warner,” Anna throws in. “He’s my big brother.”
Your brother?
Surprised, I meet her gaze.
Really?
“I’ve told you about him before, right?” Nervously, Anna doubles down on her lies. “Same dad, different moms. He’s visiting for the weekend.”
“Your brother?” Skeptical as fuck, Detective Dickface looks me up and down. “Why do you have different surnames if you have the same dad?”
“Because I have our dad’s last name,” she explains. “He hashis mom’s. We’re actually in the middle of something, so if you could?—”
“What happened to you?” Carter’s jet-black stare leaves an odd tingle in the base of my spine. It’s familiarity. A kinship of sorts, but the kind constructed in Hades. “You look beat to shit, Dean Warner.”
“Uh…” Desperate, Anna searches for her next lie. “He… uh…”
“I’m a professional athlete.” I drag my good arm from around her shoulders and take Detective Deplorable’s hand. Shaking. Squeezing. “Fighter. Just finished up my most recent tournament, actually. Now I have time off for the holidays. Figured I’d spend that time with my baby sister.” I drop his hand and fist Anna’s braid instead. Tugging her head back, I force her to stay still long enough for me to drop a kiss on her temple. “I hate going so long between visits, so the instant my last fight ended, I hightailed it to her couch. Exactly where I intend to stay for the next little while.” I flash a dangerous, wolfish grin at the narrow-eyed prick. “It’s funny though, cos Anna and I talk abouteverything, but I don’t remember ever hearing about you.”
Anna’s breath catches in a squeaking gasp.
“Are you trying to ask my sweet baby sister out on a date or something, Officer…?”
“Detective,” he grunts, his nostrils twitching. “Carter James.”
“Detective James.”Fuck you, Big Dog. She doesn’t want you, bro. “I understand she’s the prettiest peach in this entire state, but I’m here now, and I intend to dedicate the next week exclusively to brother-sister bonding time.” I tug her in and pin her against my side. “I get so little of it, ya know?” Taking a step forward, I force Anna to movewithme, and him tomove the fuckback. “Call her in January. She might be available then.”
“But…” From angry possession to a sad little whipped puppy, Carter’s eyes jump to Anna’s. “Mel’s wedding is coming up, and I thought we could?—”
Anna slips out from beneath my arm, scooping his up instead and leading the poor schmuck toward the door. “I already told you, Carter, I don’t need a date for that. As the maid-of-honor, I’ll be busy for the whole event. Bringing a date would be rude.”
“I don’t mi?—”
