What does one say to her best friend’s brother after screwing his brains out?
“You hungry? Bacon is almost done.”
“Sammie!” Alec jumped up from his seat to sweep her into his arms.
She laughed and wrapped her arms around Alec’s neck, squeezing him tight. “I should’ve known you’d be here. Come to make your apologies?”
Alec put her back on her feet and grinned. “Aw, come on now, Sammie. You don’t look any worse for the wear. In fact, you have a sort of … glow about you this morning.” He laughed and looked at Caleb. “Doesn’t she, Cay?”
Caleb narrowed his eyes on Alec. “Food’s ready.” He moved around the bar and placed plates filled with bacon and scrambled eggs in front of them. “Dig in.”
Samantha snagged a piece of bacon as she noticed several pieces of her luggage sitting next to the couch. She pinned Caleb with a stare. “I thought I told you that wouldn’t be necessary.”
Alec laughed around his bacon. “I have to say, Sammie, you’ve got some interesting stuff in your drawers.”
“Damn it, Alec. What did you do? Please tell me you didn’t…” Samantha couldn’t bring herself to finish that sentence. This was what she’d been afraid of. She and Alec had been friends for a long time, but some things were private. Or were private, if his shit eating grin was any indication.
“Oh, I did. I filled those cases with everything a girl needs while on the run.”
“I’m not on the run, idiot.” She looked around the kitchen, desperate for the caffeine her body needed to deal with Alec. “Please tell me there’s coffee in this place.”
Caleb put a mug in front of her as she climbed onto a barstool. “You take cream or sugar?”
She latched onto the mug like a lifeline. “No, thank you. This is perfect. And thank you for the food. What time is it anyway?”
“Just after noon.”
“It’s still Saturday, right?”
That earned her a slight smile. “Still Saturday.”
Ignoring Alec as he shoveled food into his mouth, Samantha gave Caleb her attention. “Did you sleep?”
Caleb shrugged and glanced at his brother, his discomfort with her question obvious in his expression. “Some.”
“Aren’t you eating?”
“What’s with all the questions?” he snapped, busying himself with shoving dishes into the dishwasher.
Surprised and hurt by his gruff tone, Samantha turned to Alec. “I need a ride back to my car. Since you’re the one who stranded me last night, you owe me.”
Alec gave her a sidelong glance. “Brandon and I already got your car. We parked it out at the compound.”
“You did what? What the hell, Alec? How did you get my car?”
“Settle down. It’s not like we damaged it or anything.”
“No, you just … what? Broke into it, hot wired it, and drove it out to the training site … over an hour away from here? In what universe did you think I’d be okay with that?”
“First of all,” Alec started, “we didn’t break into anything. I got the spare key from your apartment when I went to get you some clothes. Caleb thought it best to take your car out of town in case you were being watched.” He shrugged a shoulder and went back to eating his eggs as if they were talking about nothing more than the weather.
“Caleb thought.” She closed her eyes and counted to ten. “Did it ever occur to you to ask me—the owner of the vehicle—about what I wanted to do?”
“Nope.”
“Jerk.” Samantha glared at Alec then turned to Caleb. “You have no right to make decisions for me. I have a job. An apartment. You can’t honestly expect me to stay here.”
Anger flared in Caleb’s eyes. “I have every right to make decisions as to your safety. We made a deal.”
So, that was what last night had been about. If he thought he could seal their little deal with multiple orgasms, he was gravely mistaken.
“Oh really? And at what point did you instruct your fellow horsemen to get my car? Before or after we … struck our deal?”
The answer was written all over his face.
“Oh, we got your car just after sun up.”
“Shut up, Alec.” Caleb warned. “Samantha, I told you, you’re not going back to your place. Not yet. For now, you’ll stay here.”
His nonchalance about telling her what to do grated her nerves. She couldn’t do this. After last night, she had no idea what to expect. She was confused and things were moving way too fast for her liking. Would he demand she share his bed? Would she be able to resist him if he did?