Page 15 of Sinful Seduction
“Criminal Carl!” She waves her arms in his direction. “Left his shoes on the counter. His shoes, Archer! On the counter. That’s gross.”
“So I admit, leaving shoes on the counter is a tad rude.” He raises his hands in surrender. “That was my bad. But just so we’re all on the same page, they’re brand new, and I was fixing the laces how I like ‘em. I walked away to take a piss for thirty seconds, and in that time, the Feral Doctor over here woke up and went ballistic on me.” He slides his eyes back her way, pleading. “I’m just a man, Mayet, wanting to enjoy an Ellen rerun while I re-lace my Jordans. I’m sweating like a whore in church, because this godforsaken building is hotter than Hades, which means I’m drinking more water, which means I gotta pee more. In fact,youshould drink more water, too. Coffee is bad for you.”
“COFFEE IS NOT BAD FOR ME!” She tosses the second shoe and makes a run for him.
I dart in her way and catch her on the fly, lifting her feet clear off the floor and absolutelynotlaughing at her road-runner legs still scissoring in the air.
“Let me go!” She swings her arms, fighting for freedom. “He said coffee is bad!”
“He didn’t mean it, babe.” I bear hug and crush her to my chest, swallowing the mirth bubbling in my throat. “Sometimes, in the heat of an argument, people say things they don’t mean. He misspoke. He got caught up in his temper and spoke poorly of the caffeine gods. But he didn’t mean it.”
“Blasphemy! Uneducated, uncultured swine!”
I shoot a heated glare toward my brother. “Say you’re sorry.”
“For speaking ill of coffee?” He guffaws. “You’re cracked, too. You’re?—”
I peel my lips back, pulling him up short and wiping the humor from his face.
So, he clears his throat and stares down at the floor. “Yep, okay. I’m sorry, Chief Mayet. I humbly and sincerely apologize for besmirching the good coffee name. I meant no harm when I suggested you should consume more water. I merely intended to express my concern for your general wellbeing, and water is, as we know, fundamental to a human being’s healthy function.” He brings his eyes up again and flashes a wide smile. “Good?”
Minka explodes anew, combative and wild. “He didn’t even mean it! You’re mocking me because you know it’s hot and I’m frustrated, and I didn’t sleep last night. You knew I’d wake up and want coffee, but youstillused it up and didn’t replace it.”
“Let’s go.” I pick her up again, clinging to her the way I’ve clung to a tantruming two-year-old Mia in the past. “Time to cool off.”
“He’s mocking me!”
“I didn’t use the last of the coffee, babes.” Cato follows us, taunting at the mouth of the hallway. “I haven’t had a drop in days, because it’s already too fuckin’ hot out here and I don’t need help dehydrating myself. But go off.” He claps his hands. “Go. Off.”
“In here.” I walk her straight through the bathroom door, kicking it shut until the frame rattles and the wall hums, then deposit her inside the shower and flip the cold tap on. “Time to cool off.”
Water sluices over her head and into her eyes, down to darken her gray shirt and onto her bare legs. But she doesn’t scream. She doesn’t yelp at the icy cold. Because fuck, the water ain’t icy cold. The city is sweltering, so the water runs warm in the pipes.
“I admit…” Panting, her chest and shoulders lift and fall in a slow, rhythmic pattern. “I may have overreacted.”
“Ya think?” Chuckling, I simply lean into her, crushing her to the wall and letting the water slide over my back. “That was what we in the homicide industry consider the last big event before murder. You lost your ability to regulate and function, which allows you an insanity plea.”
“Are you suggesting I shouldoffhim and claim mental incompetence?”
“No.” I slip my hands beneath her shirt and along smooth skin, over her hips and down to her perfect thighs. She’s my art, and my hands, the creators. “I’m saying you’re a little on the unhinged side, and mixing no sleep, no coffee, and filthy heat is, evidently, where your limit lies. Now we know.”
Amused, she drops her head back,thunkingit against the tile wall. But she looks up at me with a beautiful gleam in her eyes. “I wouldn’t have actually killed him.”
“Maimed him, maybe?”
She hums in the back of her throat, pleasure rippling in time with my massaging fingers. “Maiming him is my right as a woman. As his unwilling housemate. As his sister-in-law.” She nibbles on her plump bottom lip, her dimples popping against her cheeks. “And your other brother lit the fuse that began my bad mood, by the way. This is a Malone epidemic. It’s a problem I choose not to shoulder.”
“My other brother?” I free her lip from her teeth, only to take it between mine.It’s my right, as a man. As her husband. “I have four, so you’re gonna need to be more specific.”
“Felix.” She drapes her arms over my shoulders and plays with the hair at the back of my neck. Scratching and drawing patterns against the sensitive skin. “He has called me no less than twelve times today. Twelve.” From lax and languid, to hard and harsh, her eyes flicker with fire. “Twelve. I don’t even wantyouto call me twelve times a day. In fact, I don’t want you to call me twelve times a week.”
“You’re saying hurtful things because you’re mad.”
She snorts, softening again. “When a woman is dragged out of bed in the middle of the night and forced to see to the dead, then she has a right to sleep a few hours during the day. Undisturbed, unbothered, and unannoyed.”
“And yet…” I crinkle my nose. “Felix?”
“Felix! Zora is crying. Zora’s poop is green. Zora’s face turns red when she cries. Zora isn’t sleeping enough. Zora’s sleepingtoomuch.” She exhales a huffing breath. “Debbie is tired. Debbie is asking for juice too often. Debbie’s sugars are perfectly stable, but I’ve been watching her drink juice, which means theyshouldspike, right? Debbie’s breastfeedingalot. Is Zora supposed to drink that much? Is it safe to take the baby in the shower with us? What about cream? Is that allowed on her skin? What if her diaper leaks? That’s too much pee, right? Should we test for diabetes?”
