by S. Nelson
“Who was that?” I asked, leaning down to accept her kiss, but she pulled away before I got my fill. Her peck made me frown, and when she laughed, my face scrunched in an annoyed expression.
“Braylen. She invited me over for brunch.” She reached for her cup of coffee. “Looks like this will be the only thing I’m having this morning.”
“I hope there’s more.” I moved around her and opened the cupboard, pulling down the largest mug I could find. Exhaustion kept me in bed longer than normal, but when I remembered the reason why I was so tired, I smiled.
She blew on the hot liquid. “Can you drop me off? I told her I’d be there in an hour.”
“Sure. But remember you’re not to leave that house until I come back to pick you up. Understand?”
“I know.”
“I mean it, Zo. Not one foot outside.”
“Not even in the backyard?”
“No.” My back was to her, busy pouring myself a cup, but I didn’t need to look at her to know she was quickly becoming irritated.
“I was joking. Are you being serious? We can’t even go in the backyard and sit on the patio?”
I finally spun around. “No. And if you call Ryder and ask him that same question, he’ll give the same answer I did.” She huffed but didn’t press me, taking several sips of her coffee, her eyes doing a slow sweep over me and darkening as she placed her mug on the island. Zoe switched from mild annoyance to wanton in the matter of seconds. But as she approached, her stare grating into me, I heard the gravel of the driveway kick up beneath tires. Confused as to who would be stopping by, I shot her a look on my way toward the front door.
A black SUV pulled up out front, a vehicle I didn’t recognize, and my first thought wasn’t good. Then as I allowed my brain to work properly, I realized there was no way a Reaper would pull up to my house so casually in broad daylight. Then again, nothing should surprise me anymore.
Lost in conflicting wariness, the back door of the vehicle opened and soon afterward, a woman emerged, flipping her sunglasses over her eyes, and fumbling with an oversized suitcase. Once I realized who it was, I homed in on her sorry excuse for an outfit, her shorts so short the hem of the front pockets were showing, and her tank top looked like it was painted on. The only redeeming piece of clothing was the zip-up sweater she had on. As she sauntered toward the house, I caught sight of the driver ogling her and had I not been so caught up in the surprise of it all, I would’ve rushed out to ask him what he was looking at. Her mahogany strands were pulled back in a high ponytail, bouncing from side to side with each step she took.
What the hell was she doin’ here?
“Fuck,” I mumbled, resting my hand on the handle to the door. Glancing down at myself, noting I was decent in a white T-shirt and black sweatpants, I flung open the door as she walked up my front steps and onto the porch.
“Hi.” She beamed, dropping her bag, and throwing her arms around me and squeezing. “I’ve missed you so much.”
“Bean. What are you doin’ here?” My tone came off curter than I intended, and while I was happy to see her, this wasn’t a good time for her to come and sneak a surprise visit on me. I took in the state of her dress again, my mouth curving downward to which she simply shook her head, reading my mind, or better yet, my expression.
“I thought you’d be happier to see me?” She pouted, and I instantly felt bad for my cool reception. It’d been almost a year since the last time we were together, but like I said, she couldn’t’ve picked a worse time.
Zoe cleared her throat, stepping onto the porch and sidling up next to me. Her hand found mine, and had I not been caught up in the possible repercussions of Bean being here right now, I would’ve laughed at her not so subtle claim on me.
She had no idea the woman in front of me, of us, was my cousin. Scratch that. Technically she was my cousin, but she was more like my little sister. Her mother, my aunt Terry, my mother’s older sibling, had struggled on and off with drugs her entire adult life, and because of her addiction, Bean had come to stay with us more often. Then when she was only twelve, four years my junior, her mother overdosed. She’d been with us ever since.
The two women shared an inquisitive glance. “Who’s this?” my cousin asked, gifting my woman a friendly smile, although if I had to guess, I didn’t think Zoe mirrored the expression.
“Sorry.” I shook my head. “Bean, this is my—”
“Girlfriend,” Zoe blurted, keeping her eyes on our unexpected guest and away from me. It was the first time she claimed the title since I posed it the other day.
I squeezed her hand and pulled her closer. “Zoe, this is Bean. My cousin.”
“Oh,” Zoe finally said, elongating the response, realization dawning that the surprise guest wasn’t stopping by for a booty call. The thought alone made me cringe, and I needed to rid the awful thought and quickly.
“Morgan,” she corrected. “I’ve tried to get him to stop calling me that ridiculous nickname since I hit puberty, but he won’t.” She looked to me. “I’m not a string bean anymore, Matty.” I narrowed my eyes at her. She knew I didn’t like the nickname she had for me either. It made me sound like some kind of surfer douche.
“Why are you here?” I asked again.
“Nice to see you too,” she scoffed, extending her hand to Zoe, her eyes bouncing between the two of us. “I didn’t know you were seeing anyone. About time.” She stepped around me and waltzed inside my house. “Can you grab my bag? It weighs a ton.”
Snatching up her suitcase, popping the handle, and dragging the item over the threshold, I spun it around and shoved it in the corner closest to the door.
“Are you ever gonna answer me?” I walked up behind her and spun her around to face me. “Did something happen?” The tic in my jaw pulsated under the weight of my suspicion. Because of everything goin’ on right now, I was suspicious of everyone and every situation. Morgan showing up on my doorstep out of the blue no exception.
“No, nothing happened. I’m here on business. My boss is opening a new gallery and wanted me to oversee the progress.” Morgan lived in New Jersey but worked in Manhattan. She moved out of the house six years ago when she turned twenty and traveled across the bridge to the city. She landed odd jobs until a waitressing friend of hers told her of a receptionist job at a well-known gallery. Art had always been a passion for Morgan, but before working at the gallery, she’d never pursued a career related to that field. She told me when she started offering her opinions on certain artists, her boss took notice, putting her in charge of scouting out new talent. She moved from answering phones and making appointments to bringing in new artists all within the span of a year.
“Dressed like that?” I scoffed.
“Brick,” Zoe admonished, nudging her shoulder into me.
Morgan ignored my comment because she was used to my reactions by this point. “For your information, I’m not working today, which is why I stopped by in the first place. I thought we could grab something to eat and hang out.”
“No can do. I have to drop Zoe off, then I have to go to the clubhouse.” I chewed on my bottom lip, contemplating what to do with Morgan while I was gone. I didn’t want to leave her here alone, but I didn’t want her flitting around unchaperoned either. She had no idea of the danger lurking behind every corner and if I could help it, I wouldn’t tell her either. Her rebellious side would only come out and I didn’t have the time or patience to entertain those antics.
“I’ll go with you to your club.” I didn’t say anything at first because I didn’t know what to do, but my silence allowed for her to inquire about something I wish she hadn’t.
“Do you have any single friends?” She shook her shoulders and wiggled her brows, and had I not been incensed by the question, I would’ve probably laughed.
“No,” I barked, making her flinch. But then she smirked.
“I think you do.”
I grunted and walked out of the kitchen, snatching Zoe’s hand,
and practically dragging her behind me. “Don’t go anywhere,” I shouted over my shoulder. Once we were in the confines of my bedroom, I closed and locked the door. “I need you.” I pushed her against the wall, my hands disappearing beneath her shirt and gripping her ass.
Instead of her compliance, she pushed down on my wrists. “We don’t have time.”
“Sure we do.” I nuzzled into her neck. “I’ll be quick.”
“For as tempting as that is, I still have to shower and so do you.”
“We’ll do it together.” I had a response for everything she said, but she wouldn’t relent, switching topics altogether.
“I didn’t mean to come off so possessive before. I thought maybe she was someone stopping by to get a fix.”
“A fix?”
“You know.” She grabbed my junk. “This.”
“Gross.” I pressed into her palm, wishing like hell she’d breach the barrier of my waistband and stroke me instead of teasing me. “And I liked you stakin’ your claim on me. You’re my woman, you have every right.”
“I do?”
“Yeah.” I looked at her like she had two heads.
“Good to know.” She removed her hand and placed it on my chest in an attempt to push me back.
“I have to get in the shower. I don’t want to keep Braylen waiting.”
After several more frustrated breaths, I finally relented. “Fine. But as soon as we get back here, you’re all mine.”
“Deal.”
26
“Don’t you have anything else you can change into?”
“Why?” Morgan looked down at herself. “It’s only nine thirty and it’s blazing out already.” I continued to stare at her. “Don’t be ridiculous.”
“You don’t be ridiculous.” We started in on our usual routine of her being a pain in the ass and me being overbearing.
She removed her sweater right before we walked out the door. “Better?”
Her sarcastic response was rhetorical because the absence of her sweater put her more on display.
“Don’t get so worked up,” Zoe said beside me. “There’s nothing wrong with what she’s wearing.”
“You have to say that.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re a woman. You all stick together. Let me catch you wearin’ something like that,” I grumbled, pulling open the door and stepping out onto the porch, trying to keep my caveman tendencies on a simmer. It was bad enough Zoe looked amazing in everything she wore. Guys already leered at her even with me beside her, so I couldn’t imagine her in tiny-ass shorts and a shirt that was molded to her. I’d lose my goddamn mind for sure.
Morgan strode past me and toward my truck, but when I tried to close the door, assuming we were all outside, Zoe was still in the entryway, motionless, and glaring at me.
“What’s wrong?” She didn’t answer. “Zo?”
She retreated in silence and disappeared around the corner. Maybe she forgot something. Maybe I mistook her glare for contemplation.
“Where’d she go?” Morgan asked, pulling on the handle to the passenger door, sliding to the middle of the seat once I let her in. She rose and tugged on the bottom of her shorts.
“I think she had to grab somethin’. I’ll be right back.”
Jogging toward the house, I had just stepped onto the porch when she strode toward me and what I saw nearly knocked me over.
My mouth dropped open, and my heart nearly seized.
What the fuck was she playing at?
Zoe strode by me in the shortest fucking yellow sundress I think I’d ever seen. Granted she had long legs, making the dress look smaller, but still. Where the hell did she even get that from? I hadn’t seen it when she unpacked her suitcase. Her shoulders were bare, and her tits were practically popping out, her hair pulled up and showcasing her sexy neck. I snatched her wrist when she tried to brush pass me, the purse hanging in the crook of her arm swinging back and forth from the jolt.
“What are you doin’?”
“What do you mean?” Her expression gave nothing away as to whether she’d been upset with me or simply decided to change her clothes at the last goddamn second.
I took in the sight of her once again, as if I could take my eyes off her in the first place. “What was wrong with what you had on before?” The jeans she’d changed out of were molded to her figure and her cream blouse, while plunged slightly at the neckline, was loose, more importantly… not tight. She looked sexy all while being covered up. But this dress….
“Morgan’s right. It’s hot out already. I’d be uncomfortable in jeans.” She batted her eyelashes at me, the flash of cockiness telling me everything I needed to know.
I pulled her into me. “Why?”
“Why what?”
“You know damn well why what. You put this on to rile me, didn’t you?”
“You did say ‘let me catch you wearing something like that.’ I guess I was curious as to what your reaction would actually be.”
“Now you know. Please go and change.” I wanted to bark at her, demand she put back on the clothes she had before, but I restrained myself, saying please in hopes she’d comply. I should’ve known better by the wave of stubbornness that riddled her posture that she wasn’t gonna change.
“I’m good.” She pursed her lips and pulled her arm back. “Come on. Braylen’s waiting.” I could do nothing but stare after her, picking through random thoughts and tossing away those that had me causing a scene and exerting myself, no doubt causing a heated argument to ensue between us. Zoe slammed the door to the truck, situating herself next to Morgan.
“She’s only going to Braylen’s. That’s it. No one will see what she has on other than her stepmother. You can handle this,” I continued to mumble to myself, locking the door and setting the alarm from the remote on my keychain.
Every muscle in my body tightened as I approached the truck. I reminded myself not to say anything more to her right now or else we’d end up fighting in front of Morgan. I was typically a calm and laid-back guy, but every now and again, my buttons got pushed, and right now was one such time.
Five minutes into the ride, Morgan was the one to disrupt the quiet. “Everything okay?”
“Yep.” One word from me and the silence thickened the small space the three of us shared. But she didn’t take the hint, instead razzing me about my choice of vehicles.
“You’d think with all the money you have, you’d buy a newer truck.” She clucked her tongue. “Then again, you’ve always been cheap.”
“I’m not cheap. I’m conservative.”
“Cheap, conservative… it’s the same thing.” She turned to look at Zoe. “Our uncle left him a ton of money. I think you need to convince him to step it up a little.”
“First off, Uncle Martin didn’t leave me a ton of money, as you put it. It was a small inheritance, one which I invested wisely. I bet all yours is gone, isn’t it?”
Morgan didn’t get as much as I did, but it was a nice sum.
“I have some left. Living in New York City isn’t cheap, especially when I was only waitressing. The money helped to supplement my income, but now that my salary is higher, I don’t have to dip into it nearly as much.”
For the rest of the ride, the two of them chitchatted about art and fashion, Zoe divulging where she worked, which impressed Morgan immensely, and when she offered to extend her discount to my cousin, I thought for sure Morgan was gonna bust with excitement.
When I finally pulled up to the house, I threw the gear into Park and hopped out, quickly making my way to Zoe’s side, but she didn’t wait for me to open her door. In fact, as soon as her feet were planted on the ground, she briskly walked toward the house, ignoring me when I called her name. She didn’t even give me so much as a kiss goodbye.
I caught up to her in a few long strides. “You still upset?”
“Yep.” She gave me the same answer I gave Morgan earlier.
“Don’t be like that. Come
on.” I reached for her, but she moved away before I could touch her. “I’m sorry, okay. You just shocked me when you changed into that.” I pointed at her dress. “But since you’re only gonna be here, it’s fine.”
Zoe whirled around and almost knocked into me, the incredulous pull of her expression making me instantly regret my words. Well, almost. I spoke the truth, and she couldn’t fault me for being honest.
“If you think for one second just because we’re officially together that I will tolerate you trying to assert any sort of control over me, including what I choose to wear, you’re out of your mind. I understand the whole safety thing going on right now, and I’ll listen to you where that is concerned because all the other women have been told the same thing. But that does not extend to my wardrobe.” Her cheeks flushed and her nostrils flared as she attempted to compose herself. “Understood?”
Fuck, she was sexy when she was upset, although I should probably keep that thought to myself right now.
“I got it,” I finally responded when she looked like she was gonna pound on my chest.
“Good.” Her face softened, as did her tone. “I’ll call you when we’re done.” In a surprise move, especially considering she was pissed at me two seconds ago, she stepped into me and flung her arms around my waist, leaning up on her tiptoes. “Be nice to your cousin.” She pecked my lips and stepped back before I could properly claim her mouth.
“I will.” I swatted her ass before she could enter the house, Braylen appearing in the doorway, smiling when she saw Zoe squeal and jolt forward.
“Hey, Bray.”
“Hi, Brick. You stayin’ out of trouble?” Her eyes flitted from me to her stepdaughter and back again.
I was sure my grin was mischievous. “I don’t know what you mean,” I shouted behind me as I jogged back toward my truck. I heard them both laugh before closing the door and securing themselves inside.
Once I tucked myself behind the wheel again, Morgan started right in on me. “What was all that about? What did you say to piss her off?” The truck had been running and the air-conditioning was on full blast, not to mention the windows were rolled up, so how she heard any of our conversation was beyond me?