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My brothers groan.
“Truth or dare?”
“No,” Leo says.
“Tell me about the bargain.” Frankie tugs a lock of my hair.
“Tell me about your last orgasm.” I tug a lock of hers.
She scowls.
“Red flag.” I grin. “Let’s play that.”
“I don’t know that one.” She shifts, finding my gaze.
“Of course, you don’t. I made it up. The rules are easy. The prettiest one goes first.” I hold her stare. “What’s your red flag?”
“I don’t know how to answer that.”
“Okay, let’s say you’re on a date. What’s one thing about you that would cause your date to run the other way? Nobody’s perfect. What’s your red flag?”
She doesn’t hesitate. “I love people.”
I sigh. “Come on, ladybug. That’s not a red flag.”
“It is because I can’t be alone.”
“Never?”
“Never. I’ve always had someone. Boyfriends. Friends with benefits. A husband…” She swallows. “I can’t remember the last time I slept alone.”
Leo’s expression turns volcanic.
The possessive bastard doesn’t like that? Now he knows how I feel.
“Tell me about these friends with benefits.” I hope he can hear the fuck you in my voice.
“Wolf,” she scolds.
“Hear me out. If you have male friends, and you fuck said male friends, what’s the downside to being in your friend zone?”
“Don’t answer that,” Leo says, his tone as hard as packed ice.
“It’s okay.” She stares up at me. “That was then. High school. College. I never had close friends. I had schoolmates and colleagues.”
“Fuck buddies.” I grind my teeth.
She nods. “Then I met Monty.”
“And you had a private island.”
“A private island and a possessive husband.” Her face scrunches as if realizing something.
“He didn’t want you to have friends?”
“I…I don’t think I can put the blame solely on him.” Her eyes lose focus. “But I think, maybe, I’ve always been alone.”
As beautiful and as perfect as she is, it’s no wonder she feels that way. Her female friends would always be jealous of her. Her guy friends would always want to fuck her, and her husband had a revolving door of sidepieces.
In a room full of people, she was always alone.
“You don’t have to be alone anymore,” I say, but she’s not looking at me.
Her eyes narrow on Leo. “What’s your red flag?”
“It has death’s head on it.”
“What does that mean?” she asks.
“It’s at the bottom of the sea.” He tosses her a flirty grin. “On a sunken pirate ship. When my flag was hoisted, the enemy ship refused to surrender, so I gave no quarter.”
“Captain Lame-o has jokes,” I grumble. “Too bad they’re as dull as his sunken sword. What about you, Kody?”
“Not playing.”
“Doesn’t play games.” I nod. “Definitely a red flag.”
“Your turn.” Frankie blinks drowsy pink eyes at me.
“My red flag is I can tell you my red flag with a blank face.”
She blinks again. “But you didn’t.”
“Didn’t what?”
“You didn’t tell us your red flag.”
“I literally just did. With a blank face.”
“Party’s over.” Leo slaps some tape on Kody’s fresh bandage and shoves him away. “You take the first watch.”
“First watch?” Frankie twists to look at him.
“From now on, we sleep in the same room.” He crawls onto Kody’s bed and face-plants on the pillow.
I like this plan. Especially if she’s sleeping in my arms.
“Why is this necessary?” She pushes against me, albeit feebly. “We’re not sleeping together.”
“We’re either on the same team, or we’re not.” I clasp her chin and force her eyes to me. “Which is it?”
She pulls in a long breath and releases it. “Together.”
“Good girl.”
Kody lowers to the floor in front of the door, and some minutes later, a snore comes from Leo’s prone form.
I’m pure arousal. Like I swallowed oysters, wild oats, and crystal molly. She must already be asleep, given how her soft, slack body is plastered to my hard, stiff cock. If I rock my hips just right, I can rub one out against her. It would be that easy.
And creepy as fuck.
I’m not that desperate.
Or maybe I am.
Sliding a hand beneath the blankets, I touch her back. With her shirt in the way, I slowly gather the material, inching it higher, higher, baring her ass and—
“Don’t even think about it.” Kody stands over me, snuffing out my plans like an arctic storm. “Hands above the covers.”
“Give me a break, man.”
“Touch her again, and I’ll give you an eternal break in a shallow grave.”
“Is that a threat?”
He cuffs my throat and squeezes, cutting my air. Glittering black coal for eyes watch me without a ghost of compassion as I wait him out, testing how far he’ll take this.
Pressure builds.
My lungs catch fire.
After sixty seconds, I have my answer.
He’ll kill me.
I blink once for yes.
Yes, I surrender.
He releases me.
My breaths fall as I inhale through a stinging nose and a bruised throat.
The thing is, I can’t even be mad at him. He didn’t choke me to protect her. Well, maybe that’s part of it. I’m not exactly sure where he stands with her.
