My brother fights a grin and looks at Sitka. “Nice to see you again,” he tells her. “Wow, you two just waking up?”
I hear the soft groan of embarrassment Sitka gives and wrap my arm around her, pulling her in against my side. Luka watches and raises a brow at me.
“What are you doing here?” I ask him.
“Making sure my little brother doesn’t get his ass killed is what I’m doing.”
I tighten my grip on Sitka and say, “No one is going to kill me.” I look over at Ev and Max. “Which one of you two called him?”
“Huh?” Max asks, while Ev says, “Called who?”
“Fuckers,” I mutter while walking into the kitchen so I can get us something to eat. They follow us, of course, and soon everyone is standing around the island while I make a couple of sandwiches and Sitka cuts up some fruit.
“He was worried about you,” Max says.
Luka points a finger at me. “You said you’d keep me in the loop.”
“I sent you a message,” I remind him.
Smartass that he is, he holds up his phone and hits play on the recording I’d sent. My voice fills the kitchen while I slather some mayonnaise on the slices of bread.
“Hey, Luka. We’re at Max’s. Talk soon.”
A small laugh escapes when I see the look he’s giving me. I grab the lettuce and say, “What? I updated you.”
He gives me and Sitka a pointed look. “Evidently, you left some key details out. I got worried and called Max last night. When he was kind enough to fill me in, I jumped on the plane and got here this morning. You can thank Ev for stopping me from barging in your room at the crack of dawn.”
I cringe at the thought because my bare ass would’ve probably been the first thing to greet him.
“Yeah,” Luka says in agreement, knowing exactly what I’m thinking. He looks to Sitka. “I had no idea you were in there.”
“Thanks, Ev,” I tell him.
“Happy to help.” He reaches out and grabs one of the apple slices Sitka just put out. “It also helped that the noise cancelling headphones weren’t working quite as well as I needed them to, so I ended up sleeping on the couch and heard Luka come in.”
“Oh wow,” Sitka groans. “I’m so sorry, Ev.”
He gives a good-natured laugh, and when I look down at her, I can’t help but grin because her cheeks are the same exact shade as her beautiful ass had been last night. When I reach out and graze my knuckle along her skin, my brother and cousins groan.
“Jesus,” Luka says while looking at our cousins. “How long’s he been like this?”
“Pretty much since the second we got here,” Ev says while Max nods his agreement.
Luka looks back at me. “How are you still breathing?”
I shrug. “We’ve been hiding it. We’re going to tell her family soon.”
“Tomorrow,” Sitka says, surprising me. “I’m going to tell them tomorrow. My dad will be working tonight, but he’ll be home in the morning. I’ll tell him with my mom, and then we can break the news to my brothers.”
“Are you sure?” I ask her.
She nods up at me. “I’m sure. Your family’s right. We’re going to get caught, and it’ll be a thousand times worse if that happens.”
“Okay, then,” I say, giving her a wink. “Tomorrow it is.” I hand her a sandwich and take a bite of my own. I burnt a lot of calories last night and I’m starving. When I grin down at her, I hear my brother take a quick photo.
“Seriously?” I ask him.
He just laughs, already sending it off. “Lara will love that,” he says. “She’s really happy for you. She wanted to come, but it was such short notice and she’s still nursing Mira so that makes things a little harder.”
