Please, God, don’t let her see it. Please, please—
“Just like my boys when they were your age,” Maude said absently as she neatly folded Reese’s jeans and hung them over the back of the desk chair. “Couldn’t get ’em to be tidy no matter how hard I tried. They’d go out and play, come back all sweaty, and leave their clothes wherever they landed.”
How old did she think they were?
“Now, come on. Up and at ’em. It’s almost seven and I held off as long as I could. Breakfast’ll be ready soon, and Mother’s looking forward to sitting down with the two of you.”
Reese waited for Brantley to speak up, to urge her to leave, but he remained completely silent. So silent, Reese heard only the rush of blood in his ears, felt the heat as it consumed his face.
Praying Brantley would saysomething, Reese peered over only to realize Brantley was pretending to be asleep.
Son of a—
“He’s a late sleeper, huh?” Maude asked, glancing over at Brantley and shaking her head. “Well, wake him up and you two can join us in the parlor for coffee before breakfast is served.”
Reese wanted to decline her offer, but his voice had vanished, embarrassment flooding him from the roots of his hair down to his toenails.
“Five minutes,” Maude said as she stepped out into the hall. “I expect you both by then.”
When the door closed behind her, Reese released the breath he’d been holding, overwhelmed with a relief so potent he was glad he was lying down.
The next thing he knew, Brantley was joining him, jerking the quilt back as he settled on top of him, the heat of his naked body covering him completely as Brantley stared down into his face.
“Now where were we?” Brantley leaned in for a kiss.
Reese glared up at him, still in shock because …seriously?
Rather than succumb to the kiss, he shoved Brantley off him and shot out of the bed. He didn’t even care that Brantley’s hard thump on the floor where his ass met the hardwood might possibly bring Maude back in.
“While you’re down there, get the lube,” Reese snapped.
“Oh, come on,” Brantley grumbled, grabbing the tube and getting to his feet. “You’re seriously not gonna choose breakfast over sex, are you?”
Reese yanked his jeans from the chair, jammed one leg in, then the other. “You pretended to be asleep.”
“Well, yeah.” Brantley laughed. “What else was I supposed to do?”
“Something,” Reese bit out, angrily buttoning and zipping. “Anythingwould’ve been nice.”
“It’s notmyfault she doesn’t put locks on her doors.”
A fact that had completely slipped Reese’s mind, although he wasn’t sure how. For the two days they’d been here, Maude had proven she cared not for their privacy, walking in uninvited whenever she felt the need.
“Come back to bed,” Brantley urged. “Finish what you started.”
Reese glared at him as he tugged his shirt over his head, then stabbed his arms into the sleeves. “Not a chance.”
“Fine. What about on the plane?” Brantley asked, strolling toward the adjoining bathroom.
Reese shot him aget reallook. “It’s gonna take me some time to get over that.”
Brantley stopped in the doorway, frowned. “Like what? A few minutes? Hours?”
Reese dropped into the chair to pull on his socks and boots. “Trydays, Walker.”
“Days?” Brantley’s expression reflected his incredulity, as though Reese couldn’t possibly hold out on him for a lengthy period of time.
Reese sat up straight, met Brantley’s gaze. “Maybe weeks.”
