Samantha froze, mouth agape. Her expression was enough to tell him that he’d messed up. Big time.
Her eyes blazed, burning him where he stood. She threw the spoon in the sink, the loud clatter ringing in his ears.
“Alec was only trying to get a rise out of you. We played video games all afternoon. Tennis, boxing, golf. I kicked his ass, by the way. If you’d waited half a second before passing judgment on me, I would have explained it. But, thank you for reminding me of how you feel about my character.” She spun on her heel, and headed toward her bedroom. “Dinner is in the oven. I thought it would be a nice gesture after giving you a hard time earlier. It’ll be ready in ten minutes, so be sure to pull it out so it doesn’t burn. It took me a while to make.”
“Samantha.”
She hesitated, but didn’t look back. “I hope you fucking choke on it.”
Chapter 8
Alec was dog-ass tired. He wasn’t kidding when he’d told Caleb that Samantha had worn him out. That woman was a machine when she had anger to burn. And holy shit, were his muscles screaming because of it.
He’d deserved to get his ass kicked. The verbal assault Samantha launched into the second Caleb took off had left his ears burning. Alec knew exactly what he’d been doing with his little innuendos. All part of his master plan to force Caleb to get his head out of his ass. Of course, with Samantha, Alec had played innocent, flashing the dimples she couldn’t resist.
This wasn’t his first rodeo with the pissed-off redhead.
Speaking of redheads, Alec doubted a hot shower would be enough to relieve his aches and pains in time for his date tonight. It was a shame, really. The woman he’d made plans with was a firestorm in the sack. Even better, she had a habit of leaving when they were finished. She didn’t want any more from him than he wanted from her. A drink, a little foreplay to get the blood pumping, sex.
Standard operating procedure for his “love” life.
Alec turned the corner and cursed at the familiar vehicles hogging his driveway. Apparently, Brandon and Joe didn’t care if he had to park his truck on the street. Couldn’t the motherfuckers at least leave him room to get into his own garage? He considered blocking the driveway, but that meant they couldn’t leave so he vetoed the idea right quick.
With any ideas he’d had for the evening shot to hell, Alec shoved the truck into park and grabbed his cell phone. He typed a quick apology and shot off the text to his date. Saturday night and he was canceling the hottest piece of ass he’d had in, well, days. It almost made him feel old.
In truth, he was relieved he wouldn’t have to worry about performing tonight, but that didn’t mean his hand wouldn’t pick up the slack. The release would help him relax and get some much-needed rest. All he had to do was clear out his unexpected company.
Alec threw open the front door. “What’s with the testosterone overload in my living room?” Pizza boxes littered his coffee table, along with a few beer bottles and three sets of booted feet. “Jesus, y’all comfy?”
Joe and Brandon took up his couch, the two of them making the damn thing look no bigger than a loveseat. Jake was sprawled in Alec’s favorite leather chair. All eyes swung to him as he considered the odds of successfully kicking them out.
“I could use another beer.” Brandon raised a brow as if to indicate he was waiting for delivery. Alec really needed to consider changing his locks.
“Me too,” Jake chimed in, his gaze glued to the baseball game they were watching.
Joe shook his head and stood, stretching his back as if he’d been camped out a while. “Sorry for the mess, man. There’s pizza if you’re hungry.” He indicated the stack of boxes. “I’ll get the beer.”
“Don’t take this the wrong way, but what the hell are y’all doing here? Who’s at the bar?”
“Mandy’s running things tonight,” Joe informed him, clapping him on the shoulder as he passed.
“Wait, you’re letting Amanda run the bar? On a Saturday night?” There was no way. “By herself?”
Jake snorted. “I pity any man who gets out of line. She might be small, but that chick packs a wallop. She’ll be fine.”
Right. Alec didn’t buy it. He crossed his arms over his chest, eyeing Joe closely. “Who’d you get to watch out for her?”
Joe grinned. “Cooper. Although he acted a little put out. I believe there was another bar he wanted to hang around in tonight.” He passed fresh bottles around and resumed his seat. He picked up the remote and muted the game. “How’d it go with Sam today?”