Page 24 of Tice's Kind of Trouble
For a beat she just looks at me as her hand goes to her heart. “Okay, Tice. Okay, you get the door.”
After disarming the alarm, and turning the top-of-the line locks, I swing the door open.
“About fucking time!” Kane bursts into the entryway, snagging his sister off of the ground in a bear hug. “Worried me to death, pip-squeak.”
“Oh, god, Kane. You know I hate that nickname.” But she’s laughing when he puts her down. “Thank you for coming.”
Kane’s girl is standing the doorway, happy tears in her eyes too.
“Course I had to come.” Kane says, “Now hold on, I’ll go get our overnight bags.”
“What?!” I stare at the empty door as he strides toward his truck.
FIFTEEN
Bethany
I honestly didn’t know I could be this happy. Sitting in the dining room, my legs are draped over Tice’s below the table as my brother and his girlfriend eat takeout and we all talk about…
Whatever comes up.
It’s like Christmas, but better. No weird presents to buy. No stuffy meal to fix. This is pure heaven in my book.
Tice’s warm hand slides up and down my leg, him giving me heated side-glances often enough to keep me electrified.
Does my brotherknow?
Heat pulses in my face… and a few other places.
“Ahem, so,” Tice clears his throat. “About time to rack out.”
“What’s that?” I ask confused.
He chuckles and lifts my knuckles to his lips for a kiss. “Military slang for hitting the sack…going to bed.”
“Oh. Okay. Well—” I glance at my brother who is staring a hole right into Tice’s forehead.
“How many guest rooms you got here, Tice?”
Kane’s voice is venomous.
There’s a twitch in Tice’s hand before it stills on my leg. “About a half-dozen. That enough for you, man?”
“Depends. My sister staying in one?”
Kane’s girl jabs his ribs with her elbow, giving me an embarrassed look as she scolds her man. “Honey…that’s not nice.”
“I’m a grown woman,” I remind Kane. “That means, I can sleep where I like.”
There is a static charge in the silence that follows. Kane pushes his chair back causing it to scape loudly on the expensive tile floor, stands up, leaning on his fists on the table. “A word with you outside, Tice?”
“Be back in a minute, sweetheart,” my…lover? says, giving me a swift kiss on the cheek.
We watch the men go, or I should say I stare after them with my eyes wide and my mouth hinged open.
“Wow,” I finally mutter. “This is like some weird movie.”
“This is a fantastic house,” Eagle says as she digs back into her Asian-fusion takeout. “The pool is to die for.”
