Shy’s head came up and he growled, “Fuckin’, fuck me.”
I grinned up at him. He scowled down at me then kissed the underside of my jaw before he rolled over me and off the bed.
I pulled the sheet up to my neck and rolled to my side, watching the show that was Shy tugging on a pair of jeans.
He looked out the peephole and I watched, captivated by what I saw at the same time bracing as I watched every inch of his body go still.
Then he moved quickly. Unlocking the door, he threw it open and let out a man howl that shook the windows.
This shocked me so much, I sat up in bed. Holding the sheet to my front, I watched Shy lunge at whoever was outside. He then backed inside, his body now arched way back because he was carrying a grown man wearing fatigues with his stuffed-full Army drab duffel at a slant on his back.
Shy bounced the guy a few times as the guy slapped Shy’s bare back in a way it appeared he hadn’t noticed Shy’s back was bare. Then Shy dropped him on his feet, they jumped apart and looked at each other grinning hugely. They jumped back together and there was more man hugging and back pounds.
I took a wild mental stab and decided this was Landon Cage, Shy’s brother, home from deployment.
I was thrilled for Shy, and he was clearly thrilled to have his brother back.
What I was not was comfortable being naked in a bed in the same room as a family reunion.
“Fuck, good to see you man, shit, you surprised me,” I heard Shy say as I started sliding toward the edge of the bed, yanking the sheet with me.
“A fuckin’ peephole,” Landon replied, pulling away, they kept hands on shoulders and hands clasped between them as they looked at each other and Landon finished, “Was gonna get the drop on you finally. Kick your ass.”
“How many times I gotta prove that shit to you? It’s not gonna happen,” Shy returned.
I made it to the edge of the bed and saw none of the clothes, Shy or mine, were within reaching distance.
Crap.
I looked back at the brothers, noting vaguely they didn’t look a lot alike. Shy’s hair was two shades down from black. Landon’s hair was about three shades up from light brown and, obviously, cut in a military cut, not long and curling around his neck like Shy’s. Shy had amazing, green eyes. Landon’s eyes were a warm, dark brown. They were the same height, but whereas Shy’s frame was tall with lean, defined muscle, it looked like Landon had maybe thirty pounds on him, all of it muscle, but I couldn’t tell for certain under those fatigues.
I took this all in as I considered my dilemma and wondered if I could make an escape to the bathroom with an armful of clothes without being noticed.
Both men’s eyes came to me.
Wonderful.
Well, escape was out.
Shy smiled big, sauntered my way and, in typical Shy fashion, didn’t hesitate one moment in putting me where he wanted me to be.
In this instance, he hauled me out of bed, tucked my front to his side and shuffled me his brother’s way, saying, “Fuckin’ thrilled I get to do this. Tab, meet my brother, Landon. And Lan, meet my girl, Tabitha Allen.”
Lan was smiling down at me. I was smiling tentatively up at him at the same time frantically tucking the sheet around me.
The problem was, the instant Shy said my name, something passed through Lan’s eyes and the clearly genuine smile he had on his mouth turned straight-out fake.
Uh-oh.
Shy had been talking about me, and it didn’t appear that whatever he’d said was good.
Putting a courteous face on, he stuck his hand out and muttered, “Cool to meet you, Tabitha.”
“Tab, Tabby, uh… whatever you wanna call me. People call me both,” I stammered, taking his hand and concentrating on giving it a warm squeeze.
He gave me a squeeze back and quickly let me go.
“This is good. Now I get to take my girl and my brother out for coffee,” Shy announced and my body froze solid as his eyes hit Lan. “Tex will wanna see you’re back, brother.”
“Is he still a whackjob?” Lan asked.
“Tex is Tex, not sure there’s another way he can be,” Shy answered, still grinning, still badass biker elated and relieved his brother was home in one piece.
“Uh… how about I go home and give you guys some one-on-one reunion time,” I suggested, and Lan’s eyes cut to me, which was what I saw.
What I felt was Shy’s eyes come to me. I felt them so much, I turned my head to look up at him.
Uh-oh again.
“You’re comin’ with us,” he declared, his eyes intense, his demeanor stating his declaration brooked no argument.
Unfortunately, I needed to argue. I needed to give Shy time with his brother because Shy should have time with his brother. Selfishly, I also needed to give Shy time with his brother to explain how things were now, not however they were when he last spoke to him about me.
“Shy, darlin’, you haven’t seen Lan in a year. Maybe you two can have coffee, I’ll go out, get some stuff, and make you guys lunch,” I suggested.
Shy’s eyes cleared and his lips twitched. “He just survived Afghanistan, sugar, don’t think he needs to come home and have you kill him with your cooking.”
I forgot Lan’s reaction to me and the small fact I was wearing nothing but a sheet and only could think of Shy embarrassing me by announcing to his brother, of all people, the only real family he had outside of the Chaos family we shared, that I couldn’t cook.
“My lunch won’t kill him,” I snapped.
“Baby, I don’t know if garlic poisons anyone but vampires but the way you use it, I figure this is a possibility,” he returned.
“I’ll make sandwiches,” I told him. “You can’t screw up sandwiches.”
“That’s what you said about hamburgers before you screwed them up,” he told me.
“Well—” I started to huff but he kept going.
“And tuna casserole before you screwed that up too.”
“Shy!” I clipped.
“And those steaks, that roast chicken, and that soupy chocolate pie,” he went on.
“Shy—” I rolled up on my toes and got close—“shut up.”
He grinned.
I looked to Lan and announced, “You really need to take him for coffee so I have plenty of time to plot his murder. You can’t plot a murder distracted by hot guys, and now I have two of you on my hands.”
Lan was looking at me like the Tabby he met just minutes ago evaporated, a new Tabby took her place, and he’d never seen me before.
Then his eyes went to his brother, his face softened, they came back to me, he grinned a gentle, sweet grin and he informed me, “Honey, you do know you’re wearin’ nothin’ but a sheet.”
“I can’t think of that now,” I returned. “My biker boss hot guy just told his brother, the brother I just met, that I can’t cook. I have to focus on plotting murder, or at the very least revenge, and not on how I’m embarrassed I’m in a sheet which, might I add—” I turned angry eyes up to Shy “—is not my choice either. Just so you know, darlin’, I was headed to the bathroom when you plucked me out of bed, and it would have been nice to get there and put on at least a pair of panties before you hauled me across the room.”