“No,” she says, eyes wide—a deer in headlights.
At the same time, I say, “It can’t be . . .”
“Someone want to tell me what’s going on here?” I don’t have to turn around to know that my best friend just caught me, hard as steel, between his younger sister’s very naked thighs.
“Fuck,” both Sloane and I let out at the same time, causing me to smile. She rarely, if ever, swears.
“I’m waiting,” we hear Ronan say from behind me. I still haven’t turned around to see his face. I know I won’t like what’s written on it.
“At least let her put her shirt back on,” I hear Cassie say as the shirt I had just thrown over my shoulder lands on the counter beside us.
“Fuck me,” Ronan groans before I hear both sets of footsteps leave the kitchen as they bicker.
I swear I hear Cassie say, “This is what you get for . . .”
“Think we can sneak out the back door?” Sloane asks, her face so red it’s almost purple.
“I don’t think so, sweetheart,” I say, running my hands up and down her now-freezing arms, trying my best to comfort her. Her face is shattered.
“How about you go get dressed, and I’ll go see your brother in the living room. I don’t want you to be there if he starts yelling. If he does just—”
“No,” she cuts me off with an eye roll.
Good. See, all it took was me telling her what to do for her to get back to her usual self.I try to hide my smile at the fact that she craves being told what to do in bed, begs for it even, but outside of our bedroom, it’s a no go. She catches my smile and her eyes narrow at me. My dick goes right back up at her look. Jesus, I feel like a fifteen year old who can’t control his own dick. Her brother is in the other room, having just caught us in the act, and all I can think about is bending her over the counter.
“Liam,” she says. She caught my mind wondering and I can see how unimpressed she is. “Stop it!”
“What?” I feign innocence.
“Don’twhatme!” she whisper-yells. “Get your mind out of the gutter. My brother is in the other room, and . . .”
“And if he wasn’t there, I’d have you bent over this counter,” I tease. “Don’t even try to tell me you don’t agree.” I wink.
“Yes, but . . . No, we need to handle my brother.”
I go to cut her off but she holds out her hand, telling me not to.
“No, you’re not handling it on your own. We’re both going to go put more clothes on, and we’re going to tell him to shove it, together.”
I can see I won’t change her mind, but he better not yell at her. “Fine,” I say, handing her shirt back, before we head into her room so she can get more clothes.
“God, I can’t believe he just walked in here like that! Cassie didn’t even send me a warning text!” she moans, sliding a pair of leggings up her smooth legs. Then, she opens a few drawers, digging through them before finally throwing me a long-sleeved shirt half-mindedly, knowing I don’t like people seeing my scars. And just like that, she has me falling a little bit deeper in love with her.
After throwing her hair in a messy bun, she grabs my hand and says, “All right, let’s go.”
She has a brave face on, but I can feel the slight tremble in her hand. “We’re both adults. We’ll tell him that this is serious—that I’m moving in and that he’ll just have to get used to it, okay?” I try to comfort, holding her hand tighter.
We both stop in our tracks when we see Ronan and Cassie casually sitting on the couch, drinking coffee and chatting as if they didn’t just catch me with Sloane’s hand down the back of my pants.
“Oh, there you two are,” Cassie says in her usual cheery voice, no sign of frustration or surprise. I mean, I guess she knew, but still, her acting like nothing happened has me on edge. “I poured you guys another coffee,” she continues, gesturing to the table in front of her.
I give Sloane a confused look, but she looks just as confused as me.What kind of twilight zone am I in?I can promise you I would not have been thischillif I would have caught a half-naked Ronan with a naked Summer.
Following Sloane’s lead, because I just don’t know what else to do, I grab my coffee and go sit beside her on the couch. Things get even weirder as both Cassie and Ronan just sit there, smiling at us, as if they just walked the set ofPleasantville.
My hands start to sweat to the point I might drop my mug, so I set it on my thigh. This might be worse than if he would have just yelled at me. Hell, a punch to the face would be better than this.
Suddenly, I feel Sloane sit up straight beside me. I look to her, and see she’s zoned in on her smirking brother. “I want my key back,” she says.
