He looked down at himself and wondered why he didn’t look the part.
Zack seemed to have done the same because he asked, “Why don’t you think I could be a cop?”
“I never said that you couldn’t be a good cop. I said you don’t look like one.” Her hands trailed up Zack’s arm, circling every tattoo visible. “So what do you do?”
Zack grinned down at Sandy. “Do you like my tattoos?”
She nodded and grinned back at Zack.
“Well, you and Jake are the only ones in the family who do. I own a tattoo shop called Enjoyment Ink. I just bought the only other tattoo shop in town. I’m refurbishing it, and in a month if all goes okay, I will open it again. So my shop is very busy at the moment. Open almost twenty-four hours.”
She turned to Jake. “It was dark the other night, and I got distracted later with my family, so I didn’t get to check if you had any tats.”
Zack laughed, and Jake watched as Zack’s shoulder dropped, and he sagged like he’d had a weight lifted off his shoulders. Jake knew Zack worried that his mate wouldn’t want to be with the black sheep of the family.
Jake had his own worry that maybe he was too old and dominant for Sandy, especially after meeting her father and brothers and knowing how she felt about them being so alpha. He would have trouble reining it in, but when he looked at Sandy, he already knew he would do anything to keep her. If that meant toning down his dominance, he would.
****
Dinner went better than he thought it would, especially after her reluctance that morning. Zack was even happier that Sandy liked his tattoos. That’d been something he’d worried about. His family wasn’t too fond of them, and his mother hated the fact her son owned two shops. She said too many notorious people hang out in tattoo shops, and the Bear family didn’t socialize with them. Zack really didn’t care what his family thought, but the snide comments annoyed him all the same.
After pulling into Sandy’s driveway, he got out of the car and waited for Jake to come with Sandy. She was drunk. They probably should have slowed her down or cut her off, but neither he nor Jake wanted her to think they wanted to control what she drank. She was old enough to know when to stop. Well, they thought she’d know.
He watched as she stumbled against Jake’s arm, muttering, “Crap, I drank too much, and it’s all you guys’ faults.”
Zack went over to help hold up her other side as she’d refused in the car to be carried. “How, Firebird?”
Sandy glared up at him. “Because you two make me nervous. Last night was like a dream, and I got scared of what would happen tonight, and that waitress and women kept looking at you and they were all”—she made an elaborate gesture with her hands to herself—“thinking what’s a chubby no one doing with hunks like you. I know I have lots of competition because you two are so handsome and could have any woman, and one with lots of experience. I was a virgin until you boys came along. I don’t know much, and I don’t want to like you and then have my family chase you away or you figure out I’m not worth the effort, but it’s too late I’ve already fallen in…” She trailed off as she covered her mouth with her hand, pushed away, ran to the flowerbed in front of her house, and vomited everywhere.
Jake took the keys out of her hands and opened the door, while Zack held Sandy’s hair and rubbed her back.
“Oh, go away. This is so embarrassing.” She lamely pushed him away.
Once she’d finished, Zack picked her up over her protests and carried her to the bathroom.
She rinsed out her mouth and groaned. “Please just put me to bed and leave me alone. Maybe if I don’t see you again, I won’t be reminded of what a fool I’ve made of myself. I’m not a drinker.”
“I can tell,” Zack muttered.
She nodded and Zack picked her back up and carried her to the bed before laying her gently down. Jake passed him water and some paracetamol.
“Here, take these,” Zack said as he stroked her hair.
She downed two tablets with the water before curling into a ball and closing her eyes. They slowly started to walk away when she muttered, “Will you both just hold me for a while?”
Zack looked at Jake who was already getting in behind her. Without saying a word, Zack got in the opposite side, kissed her forehead, and watched as her breathing slowed and she snuggled into them.
“I could get used to this.”
Zack barely caught her whisper before he closed his own eyes.
****
Zack awoke to a mobile ringing and Jake’s rough voice growling “What’s up?”
He watched his cousin go from barely awake to jackknifing up and out of bed to gather his stuff.