“She… She’s not the type of woman I generally go for,” he admitted. “She’s kind of a mess. She’s ditzy, unorganized, undisciplined. Like if she stuck around, we’d be pulling lint off her all the time, as well as putting out fires behind her that she wasn’t aware she’d set.”
“Yet you were still attracted and still kicked things up a notch,” Spencer put in.
“It was a mistake,” Trask grumped. “She challenged me, and?—”
“And you couldn’t stand it, because you always have to be in charge,” Spencer finished for him. “Dude. Can’t you give it a rest? We, your brothers, aren’t twelve anymore, so we don’t need a keeper. And you’re no longer in the military, so you’re not really anyone’s superior. You have to learn to lighten up.”
Trask felt himself deflate. “Yeah. I walked right into that one. And you’re correct. The problems started when she basically told me she was going to kiss me, and I told her no, that I’d be the one doing the kissing. Things escalated from there.”
“That doesn’t sound like it was a bad thing,” Tabitha speculated. “Was it?”
“No. It was good,” Trask confessed. “Very, very good. So much so that we did it a few more times.”
“So where’s the problem?” Spence asked, his patience clearly growing thin. “You guys were into each other… Then what?”
“I took her home to Mom and Dad’s. We got her dogs settled.”
“Tinker and Langly, if I remember correctly,” Spencer put in. “I met them the few times I went to see Randal. Good boys.”
“That’s them,” Trask said before continuing. “We had a nice meal. Jett and Mom got along really well.”
“Of course they did. Because Mom’s not an asshole,” Spencer grumbled.
“Just hear me out, okay?” Trask snapped.
“Fine.” Spencer’s jaw tightened, but he managed not to say anything else.
How much did Trask really want to tell this censuring audience? He couldn’t exactly give details of his most private encounter with Jett. Maybe they wouldn’t push if he gave them a vague outline of events.
“After supper, we went upstairs. I showed her the room she’d be using, I pointed out mine, and I told her to use the shared bathroom, first.”
Why had things escalated so quickly from there?
Oh. Right.
“She did her thing, then when she was finished, I went in and did mine, only to find her sitting on my bed when I came out. And she was only wearing this…this…thin t-shirt.”
Withher amazing nipples poking through.
“Mmm. A woman who knows what she wants.” Tabitha clearly approved, but Spencer knew where Trask’s head must have gone.
“Whichweboth appreciate, Tabbi, but if you think Trask did, then you haven’t been paying strict attention to my brother for the last couple of months,” he chastened. “Remember how he likes to be in total control? I’ll guarantee that Jett being in hisroom rubbed every nerve in Trask’s body the wrong way. Or… Maybe noteverynerve. I’m guessing some were still working perfectly well.” The asshole smirked.
Oh, hell no.Spencer had not just glanced at his junk?
“Shut it, baby brother,” Trask growled, then somehow managed to get himself back on track. “You aren’t wrong, though. And that’s where I screwed up. I kind of went for it when I clearly shouldn’t have, and part way through our…encounter, I got spooked. So I stopped.”
“You stopped,” Tabitha repeated, shaking her head.
“Yeah,” Trask answered, trying to gauge her reaction.
“Which was a dick thing to do,” Tabitha speculated, “but I’m thinking it madeher doubt herself.”
“I guess,” Trask admitted. “I was pretty confused by it all, myself.”
“Then what?” Spence asked again.
“Then I told her to go back to her room, get some sleep; that we’d meet up in the morning and take care of business here at the office.”
