“Bet you’re happy you came back,” I chirped. “Rethinking this morning’s offer yet?”
Luke shook his head and smiled like he found me amusing.
“This morning?” River growled. “He the reason you’re hungover?”
“Yep. I asked Luke to meet me at Balls for a drink. I got ridiculously drunk and this morning before he left for work he offered to take me to dinner.”
“Shiloh.” Luke’s warning rumbled. “Cool it.”
I felt my eyes get squinty and a twinge of my earlier headache started to throb.
“Cool it? He’s being an ass.”
“No, babe, he’s being your brother and you’re eggin’ him on because you did get ridiculously drunk last night and you’re likely still hungover.” Luke stopped speaking to me and turned to my brother and offered his hand. “Luke Marcou.”
“River Kent.”
I watched as the two men shook hands. Luke was a tad taller than River but River was a tad broader. I didn’t know Luke well but I knew River had an explosive temper and Luke had been right; I was poking the beast because I was tired and stressed and more than a little worried about what I’d said to Luke last night.
“I needed a night to let go,” I admitted. “Luke was there to watch over me and bring me home. And he did spend the night, but not in my bed.” I didn’t know if that was the truth but I was going with it. “He was just looking out for me. So retract your claws, brother.”
“You needed a night to let go?” River gently asked.
This was the side of my brother that made all the annoying shit he did worth it. The times when he didn’t hide how deeply he loved me.
“Seven days on shift. Double, sometimes triple call-outs. Yeah, River, I needed a night to let go and not think about kicking doors in, serving warrants, and saving hostages.”
Actually, it was only the hostages I needed to forget. One in particular who plagued my nights, turning my dreams into nightmares. The plus side of drinking myself stupid was I hadn’t woken up in the middle of the night sweaty and screaming.
“The guys go with you?”
“No, I needed a break from them, too. It’s all good. I’m good. Please don’t make this a thing and just let it drop.”
“Sunny—”
“I’m asking you to give me this, brother.”
River unhappily jerked his chin in my direction and turned to Luke.
“Walk me out?”
“Absolutely.”
“You know your way out,” I snapped.
“Babe.”
That was all Luke said as he walked to the front door. Apparently, he thought I was fluent in badass macho speak. Luckily for him, I was. Unluckily for him, I didn’t like what he said.
“Call you later, kid.”
Gah. I hated when he called me kid. “Are you on call tonight?”
“Yep.”
Damn. Then I couldn’t tell him to screw off.
Instead, I said, “Love you. Be safe.”
“Always.”
River disappeared and I waited for Luke’s return. This took a long time which meant when Luke’s presence hit the room I wasn’t dazzled by his good looks. I wasn’t taken aback by the tingle that started in my toes and intensified as it rushed between my legs. What I was however was stupefied by the concern I saw.
“Are you feeling any better?” he asked and glanced around my living room.
“A little.”
“I’d say a lot better considering you spent your day cleaning.”
“Is that your way of nicely pointing out that I’m a slob, which incidentally isn’t nice to point out at all.”
“Shiloh, I had to search for your couch last night so I could find someplace to sleep.”
Well, there you had it. Luke didn’t sleep in my bed last night.
“It wasn’t that bad.”
Luke gave me a look that denoted my lie.
“I’m not a slob. Not normally,” I defended myself with another semi-lie.
I was kind of a slob. But I eventually cleaned up my mess.
“Are you up for Thai?” he queried and I grimaced. “Right. Pizza?”
“That I can do,” I told him.
Without asking what I wanted, Luke pulled out his phone and called in the order. Though he did get points for watching me as he ordered and before he hung up he asked if there was anything I wanted to add. So, he didn’t ask, but kind of did. He’d ordered enough to feed five people and everything he’d gotten I liked. So I decided not to get my panties in a bunch over that. Besides, I had bigger issues to worry about.
“What’d my brother say to you when you walked him out?”
“He told me if I hurt you, he’d pull my heart out through my ass.”
My mouth dropped open in shock. Not that River would threaten something so stupid but that Luke would openly share.
“I hope you told him to mind his own business.”
“I told him I appreciated where he was coming from. Reassured him that you’re safe with me. And explained I’m not a man who takes kindly to being threatened and he’d used his one free pass. I also told him he should pass that along to your other brothers.”
I opened and closed my mouth several times, unsure what to say.
“Do me a favor, Shiloh. Don’t use me to piss off your brothers, yeah?”
Damn. My heart sank and guilt started to build.
“Yeah,” I quickly agreed. “That was super bitchy. I’m sorry.”
“It wasn’t bitchy and I get why you were doing it. But it puts me in a fucked-up situation that could lead to not good places with your brothers. I’ve heard about Echo. I’ve seen River. And I know all three are cops. Pitting me against them does no one any good. Most especially you.”
“Again, I’m sorry.”
“No need to apologize. I said what I had to say. You listened. Now it’s done and we’re moving on.”
“That easy?”
“Why wouldn’t it be?”
That was a very good question. But in my experience with my brothers, they didn’t let shit go, they fought for hours about stupid stuff. Though not one of them ever admitted they were wrong. And they were brothers, not nonblood-related friends.
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “I guess it should be that easy. So thanks.”
Luke’s lips twitched. He moved across the room and sat on the couch. Not close but not in Siberia either.
“Does you not getting off the couch mean you’re still not feeling well?”
“No. It means I’m tired. As you noted I had a lot to clean up today.”
“Right.”
Boy-oh-boy, Luke was hot when he smiled.
Tempting really.
However, as much as I flirted with him I really had sworn off relationships. Which led me down a new path of contemplation. One that made me feel funny.
“I’m not a tease,” I blurted.
“Come again?”
“Last night,” I started and winced. “I came on strong. I was flirting and teasing…shit…I mean…I don’t know what I’m trying to say.”
Heat crept up my neck and warmed my cheeks.