Page 62 of Black Heart

“Ye don’t have to thank me, lad,” Shayne said, grinning hugely. “I was happy to help.”

For a moment, Tristan could only stare at him, sure that he’d misheard him. “You call that help?” he demanded in a harsh whisper.

Shayne nodded firmly, still grinning as he released a satisfied sigh. “Ye finally got the lass right where ye want her.”

“And you really think that you had something to do with that?” Tristan asked in a low whisper as he kept an eye on the door.

“Of course I did, lad,” Shayne said, gesturing to the rumpled sheets. “Ye really didn’t think that ye managed to get her in yer bed with yer skills, now, did ye?”

When Tristan only glared, Shayne gave Tristan a pitying look. “That really is sad, lad. Just sad.”

“Say goodbye to your porn, you betraying bastard,” Tristan hissed, unable to help but smile when Shayne’s jaw dropped.

“But it entertains me!”

Tristan merely shrugged as he adjusted his tie.

“It’s educational!” Shayne protested.

Tristan chuckled as he grabbed his weapon off the bureau and attached it to his belt, wincing when a muscle in his arm protested, but he ignored it. He had too much shit to do and he wasn’t about to let Hank put him back on full medical.

“Consider it gone,” Tristan said as he checked his hair in the mirror.

Shayne let out a heartfelt sigh. “I didn’t want to have to tell ye this, lad, but ye’ve left me with no choice. I’m afraid that I need to watch porn at least eight hours a day or I’ll die.”

“Uh-huh,” Tristan said absently as he attached a holster to his ankle.

“It’s true, lad. I have a medical condition. I didn’t tell ye because I didn’t want to worry ye, lad,” Shayne said with a nod as though he truly thought this bullshit was believable.

“Do you know what you left me with yesterday when you pulled your disappearing act?” Tristan asked, nervously glancing around the room when he suddenly remembered the bimbo twins.

“I already took care of the lasses, lad,” Shayne said, reading his mind. After all these years together, it wasn’t difficult to figure out what the other one was thinking.

“Not soon enough,” Tristan said, glancing at his watch. They needed to move their asses now if Marty was going to have a chance to go home and change into some clean clothes.

“Well, ye were being a bit of an ass yesterday, lad. So really, ye can’t blame me for leaving,” Shayne explained sheepishly.

“And I bet you were so upset that you just had to rush home and get a dose of porn to help settle your nerves,” Tristan drawled as he turned around and leaned back, resting his hip against the bureau while he waited for Marty.

“That’s it exactly, lad,” Shayne readily agreed.

Tristan couldn’t help but chuckle. “You’re pathetic.”

“I really am and if ye get rid of my porn, I’ll be too weak to help keep the lifeless lasses away from ye,” Shayne rushed to explain when they both knew that Tristan would never get rid of his best friend’s porn.

“Just make sure to keep that shit off the television when Marty’s around,” Tristan said when the bathroom door suddenly opened.

Marty paused in the doorway as she wrapped a large, baby blue towel around herself. “Who are you talking to?” she asked, frowning as she looked around the room.

“No one,” Tristan said quickly, inwardly groaning when she cocked a disbelieving brow in his direction.

“Real smooth, lad,” Shayne drawled as he rolled his eyes.

He barely stopped himself from flipping Shayne off as he walked over to Marty, who he might add, looked incredibly sexy wrapped in one of his towels.

“Good morning,” Tristan said softly as he leaned down and brushed his lips against hers, hoping she’d forget that she’d heard him talking to himself. If this was going to work, and he was going to damn well make sure that it did, he was going to have to be a hell of a lot more careful when he was around her.

Thankfully, she took pity on him and dropped it. “I have to go home and change,” Marty said, moving to grab her discarded clothes from the night before, but not before she gave him a proper good morning kiss that left him hard and more than ready to continue what they started last night.

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