“If you need anything, you know where to find me,” Titus tells Ellen as he heads back toward me.
“I’ll be fine. Just do me a favor and keep the noise to a minimum. You know what a light sleeper I am.” Her tone is teasing, but my cheeks instantly pinken.
“Ignore her,” Titus mouths, entangling his fingers with mine before pulling me back toward the bedroom.
I wait until we’re inside with the door shut before speaking.
“So your sister, she seems nice,” I observe, stripping out of my jean shorts before replacing them with a pair of comfy plaid ones.
“She’s a pain in the ass.” He laughs. “But yeah, she’s good people. A hell of a lot better than anyone else in my family, that’s for sure.”
“I’m sure she was shocked to show up here and find out that you have someone living with you.” With my back to Titus, I toss my shirt over my head and unclasp my bra, slipping into an old tee.
“Considering I’ve never even introduced her to someone before, yeah, I’d say she was probably pretty surprised.”
“I bet she thinks it’s weird... Me living here. I mean, we’ve only known each other for a few days.”
“I honestly don’t really care what she thinks.” I relax into Titus’ chest when his arms wrap around me from behind. “Right now the only thing I care about is getting you out of these clothes,” he murmurs against my neck seconds before his lips press against my pounding pulse.
“I just put them on. You could have saved me the trouble and stopped me as I was changing.”
“Nah, I like watching you get dressed. Especially when I know that I get to take them right back off of you.” His hands slide down my arms as his tongue darts out, tracing the sensitive spot below my ear.
I hum, feeling the effects of his touch in all the right places.
“Your sister is just a few feet away,” I halfheartedly object.
“And?” he rumbles against my ear. “I can be quiet if you can.” He grabs my hips and twists me into his arms. As soon as my eyes land on his face, another wave of desire runs through me. I swear, I’ll never get over how good looking this man is. I reach up, pushing a chunk of hair out of his eyes.
“I promise I’ll try.” I bite my bottom lip to contain my smile.
“Works for me.” He grins, his mouth closing down over mine seconds later.
——
“Ididn’t realize howmuch I needed this until this very moment,” I tell Ellen, relaxing further in my seat as the petite woman in front of me works lotion over my foot and up my calf muscle.
When Ellen suggested mani/pedis I must admit, I was hesitant. Not because I don’t love a good mani/pedi, but because the thought of spending time alone with Ellen made me extremely nervous. Maybe because, like her brother, she’s kind of intimidating. Or maybe it’s because I really want her to like me and I’m terrified she won’t. I also don’t want to take away from Titus’ time with her. They went to dinner yesterday, just the two of them, while Link and I hung out at the cabin, but other than that they haven’t had any real time alone since she arrived here three days ago.
However, she insisted and Titus seemed excited by the idea, so in reality, I didn’t have much of a choice.
I will say though, the drive to Harrisburg was easier than I expected. We talked non-stop the entire drive to the salon as we bonded over similar tastes in music and movies.
“Right,” Ellen agrees with me, her head falling in my direction.
“I feel like it’s been ages since I’ve done this.”
“Oh not me. I had one like a week ago.” She grins. “I just like being pampered.”
“Nothing wrong with that.” I sip my Mimosa, still shocked that they served me without asking for a lick of identification.
Ellen mirrors my action, lifting the long-stemmed glass to her lips before taking a small sip.
“So, you and my brother.” She sets her drink back down, her gaze never leaving mine. “I take it’s pretty serious. After all, you’re living with him.”
“Yeah, I guess you could say it’s serious. Though we haven’t really known each other very long. It honestly feels like we went from zero to sixty in the matter of a couple of days.”
“That doesn’t surprise me. That’s my brother for you.”