Page 33 of Never Kiss the Bad Boy

But then he cocks his head, one brow lifted and suggests, “Maybe-friends can hold other things against each other, though, like their bodies.” He says it lightly, with zero heat, but a jolt of desire shoots through me, anyway.

But my moment of weakness has passed and I laugh. “Is that all you think about? Guys are such horndogs.”

He ducks his chin, feigning shyness even though he’s nothing of the sort. Through his lashes, he looks up at me and drawls out, “Usually, I’m not. I think about all kinds of things—work, my dog, my crew, my family. Lately? You’re front and center in my mind—what you’re doing, who you’re doing it with, if you’re mad at me, if you even noticed whether I’m next door. And yeah, I think about that kiss, how you tasted, and wonder how sweet you are in other places. I think about turning the fire inside you into an inferno and wonder if you fuck as good as you fight.” He leans forward, getting his cheek as close to mine as he can across the space I now regret adding, and whispers, “’Cuz I do, Dani.”

My breath hitches, and I swear my pussy starts celebrating, hopeful to finally get some dick that’s worth a damn.

When he stands up tall again, his grin is full of wicked promises.

I should probably be offended, or at least act like I am, but I can’t fight the answering smile that steals across my face. “Let’s start with you not owing me Joshua’s daily rate and see from there.”

“Deal,” he replies.

I walk him to the door, and this time when he pulls away from the curb out front, I don’t flip him off or curse him in my head. I wave goodbye.

CHAPTER 12

KYLE

Fuck. Fuck.

I slam my palm to the steering wheel of my truck, the one I had to rush home to get because as awesome as Peanut Butter is, he can’t ride on my motorcycle. That detour has put me arriving even later at my brother and sister-in-law’s place in the suburbs. And I was already going to be late.

Cole used to have a place downtown, with an office below and a fancy as shit apartment upstairs. Well, he technically still has that building and uses it as his homebase for his work as a high-level private investigator, but when he fell in love with Janey, he somehow morphed from a quiet lone wolf sort who would drift in and out of town and our lives at will into a suburban, picket fence around a mowed yard type. I mean, he’s still weird as fuck and the little house I’m pulling up to is quietly wired for surveillance like it houses national defense secrets, but that’s because Cole would do anything to protect Janey, especially when he’s traveling, like he is now.

I’m guessing that’s why there are three extra vehicles already parked in the driveway, forcing me to line up at the curb out front. At least here, that’s not a problem. The women inside? Huge problems.

By the cars, I know Janey’s home, as she should be since she’s had Peanut Butter all day, plus my sister, Kayla, and other sisters-in-law, Samantha and Luna, are here. And that’s what has me cursing. Four against one. I’m dead before I even put it in park.

My only hope for survival? I pick up the soda I grabbed from a drive-thru on my way here as an apology-slash-appreciation for Janey. But I’ve got nothing for the other women. It won’t matter to them that I didn’t know they’d be here. They’ll think I should’ve divined that information from the fucking atmosphere or some shit and brought goodies for them too.

Oh, actually… on second thought… I reach into my console and come out with a box of mini Slim Jims for snack emergencies. There’s four left. Perfect. I slip them in my back pocket, planning to save them for the right moment, a.k.a. when they give me shit, as they have a habit of doing.

I step up on the porch and a disembodied voice comes from the doorbell. It’s not a Ring. Nothing that mass-marketed would do for Cole, but it’s the Pentagon-level version of the same thing. “Where the hell have you been?” the voice says.

“Good to see you too, Cole.” I get right up close to the camera, peering into it with one eye from mere inches away. I hope Cole can see the zero fucks I’m giving on his end of the video feed. When I move back, I’m grinning like I’ve amused myself and go as far as giving the doorbell a little tap. “You in there?”

“You’re late,” Cole informs me, as if I don’t know what time it is. I might not write it in surveillance reports like he does, ‘person of interest has stripper on his lap 23:14’, but I know I stayed at Dani’s later than I intended to. I’m not the least bit sorry for it, especially given how things ended, but I know it’s well after my usual six-ish o’clock pickup time.

“Aww, did wu miss me? I miss wu too, big bro.” If he can be brusque and get a pass, I can be sarcastic and expect the same. Or at least that’s my theory. I pat my chest, right over my heart, and screw my face up like tears are imminent in less than three seconds. “Come home soon so I can hug your neck, m’kay?”

“God, you’re annoying as fuck. I can’t deal with you today.” I hear his sigh, can virtually feel his annoyance in the sound.

I lean back down to the camera and ask more seriously, “How much longer are you gone?”

“Three days. It’s my last assignment, and I almost bailed on it because I couldn’t bear to leave her, but she forced me to go.”

I bite the insides of my cheeks… hard. Janey is my sweetest sister-in-law, and she basically wakes up smiling about the new day, lives under an awning of happy rainbows, and goes to bed feeling at peace. She’s like golden glitter confetti in person form. So the idea of her forcing my brother to do anything is hilarious. Fucking. Hilarious.

“I’ll make sure Janey’s okay.”

Cole doesn’t get a chance to answer back because the door opens as I’m reassuring him. “Well, you’ve already fucked up that job, haven’t you?”

Yep, that’d be my sister, Kayla. Blonde, blue-eyed, ball-busting, bitch—which is a label she wears with pride, claiming if a man resorts to calling her that, it’s because she’s already proven her balls are bigger than his and he’s pouting about his own inadequacy. To be clear, she’s definitely got bigger cojones than me and I’m under no disillusionment about that.

“Good to see you too, Sis,” I tell her, pushing my way inside.

In the living room, I find Janey, Samantha, and Luna sitting on various pieces of furniture. It looks like Kayla just vacated a chair because there’s a blanket swirled up on the seat like she’s been nesting there.

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