Page 11 of Bad Girls Don't Marry Marines (Rock Canyon, Idaho 3)

“Fuck that,” Grant said firmly, meeting Justin’s gaze. “Can you do it? I can’t leave the place like this.”

Justin nodded, and Ellie caught sight of him. With a stumble, she threw herself against him and giggled, “My hero.”

Ah, hell. He caught the flash of a cell phone out of the corner of his eye and grimaced. The last thing he wanted was people taking pictures of her hanging all over him, and everyone thinking he’d taken her home with him.

And by everyone, you mean Valerie.

Hefting the sloppy girl up into his arms, he ignored the Coulter brothers’ glares as he carried her out the door toward his truck.

“Am I taking you home to your daddy’s house?” Justin asked her as he unlocked the door and put her inside.

Her eyes were closed, and he was afraid she’d passed out. He really didn’t want to face Edward Willis in the middle of the night with his unconscious youngest daughter.

“Val. Staying with Val,” Ellie slurred.

Fuck. Why did that seem like a worse scenario?

It’s not your fault the girl drank herself stupid.

Justin’s heart pounded. The question was, would Val see it that way?

VALERIE COULDN’T SLEEP. She kept checking her cell phone for a message from Ellie, but there was nothing. She was half an hour away from getting in her car and going in search of her sister.

She’d known this was going to happen, though. Ellie was spiraling. Val had no idea what had set her sister off, but she needed to stop taking chances with her safety. What if she crashed her car or went home with some psycho?

All these thoughts are just making you crazy. Stop it.

Getting up out of bed, she headed for the kitchen to make some hot chocolate, trying not to panic as scenarios raced through her mind. The most graphic was her sister in a chair, playing out the first scene of Saw.

She’d just set the pan of milk on the stove to boil when there was a knock at the door.

Frowning, she walked over and pulled back the curtain over the front-door window, gasping in surprised horror. Throwing the door open, she faced Justin carrying a half-conscious Ellie.

“What happened?” she asked, reaching out toward her sister to check for injuries, only to have Ellie belch loudly. Anger flashed white hot th

rough her as she realized her sister wasn’t hurt; she was stupid drunk.

Her gaze shot up to the man holding her, and he must have seen the fury in her expression because he said, “I had nothing to do with her being this sloppy. Your sister was having a little too much fun at Buck’s, and I thought I should get her out of there. I would have taken her to your dad’s house, but she said she was staying with you.”

“I’m not mad at you, I’m mad at her,” she said, brushing the hair off her sister’s face. “I asked her to let me know what she was doing and she never even texted. I was so worried, I was about to go looking for her.”

But beneath her anger, Val had to wonder how he knew where she lived, unless Ellie had told him before drifting into a drunken slumber.

As if reading her mind, he explained, “I called Hope Weathers to get your address.”

Why in the world he had her old friend’s number, she didn’t bother asking.

“It’s pretty cold out here . . .” he said, his smile so adorable, with his dimple and the boyishness of it, that she almost smiled back, until she realized she was blocking the door.

“Sorry.” Stepping back to let him in, she thought he looked like a hero on the cover of one of those romance novels, with his chiseled good looks, carrying a woman off to make sweet love to her. Only in her mind, it wasn’t her sister in his arms but her.

You need to get a grip on your hormones, tie them up, and lock them in a basement closet.

As he passed by her, their gazes met, and she felt a blush creep over her cheeks at the direction of her thoughts.

“It’s the second door on the left,” she said, trying not to breathe in too deeply. The spicy aroma of his cologne mixed with the smell of cold air made her want to get closer to him.

Well, as close as she could get with her sister between them.

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