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I throw open her bedroom door and storm down the hallway. Bracing myself in the doorway to her living room, I feign a casual pose and assess my competition. Big, blond fucker. Well over six feet. My age, maybe older. I can handle him. Or at least get some good hits in trying.
“Lilly, darlin’ I wasn’t done with you yet,” I slip the words out slowly, and watch the guy’s face turn red with rage.
Tough shit, fucker.
Lilly gasps. “Z, dammit.”
Lilly’s cheeks are pink as she ducks her face into her open palms. “Fuck, fuck, fuck,” she mutters over and over.
The dude’s hands are fisted at his sides.
“Who is your friend, Lil?”
She finally tips her head up, glaring at the guy. “Knock it off, Alex. That’s what you get for barging in without calling.”
“I did call you, like a hundred times.”
“Oh, shit. My cell phone’s in my car.”
She’s hesitating. Can’t blame her. As pissed as I am, I recognize this must be real fuckin’ awkward for Lilly.
She glances at me again and shakes her head. “Z, this is my brother, Alex. Alex, this is my friend, Z.”
Friend, huh. Guess it sounds better than “fuck buddy.”
So this is her brother? I always pictured the dude with dark hair, like Lilly. Suddenly I’m feeling pretty fuckin’ stupid standing here half-naked trying to intimidate this guy.
Her brother. Shit.
Trying to smooth over the awkward moment, I step forward and raise my hand. “Hey, Alex.”
Lilly’s wide, pleading eyes are clearly saying “please put some fuckin’ clothes on.”
Alex nods at me, but doesn’t say anything.
“I, uh, I’ll be right back.”
* * *
Lilly
Even though I try to distract Alex by pulling him into the kitchen, his eyes bug out when Z turns around, and Alex gets a good look at the Lost Kings MC tattoo, taking up Z’s entire back. While I find it incredibly sexy, Alex looks like he’s going to have a stroke.
As soon as Z’s out of eyesight, Alex grips my arm.
“Some motorcycle gang thug? Are you out of your fucking mind, Lilly?”
“He’s not a thug. It’s a motorcycle club, big brother.”
“Jesus fuckin’ Christ. He fuckin’ hurts you, I’ll kill him, and I’ll have all his club brothers after me. Great.”
“Knock it off. It’s not like that.”
I busy myself by making coffee. I’m mortified Alex caught me in this position. Not that he labors under any delusions about me, but still, this is awkward. Almost as awkward as when I found him and Sophie screwing each other after our senior prom.
“Like hell it’s not. How long has this been going on? Where did you even meet someone like that?”
Now I’m pissed. He doesn’t even know Z and he’s judging him a little too harshly for my taste. I get the whole overprotective, big brother thing, but this is too much. Besides the awesome orgasms, Z’s always been rather sweet to me. While our relationship is strictly fuck-and-go, Z never makes me feel cheap or used, something I can’t say about a lot of the guys I’ve been with, so my brother’s assumptions about Z’s character based on a fucking tattoo, tick me off.
“Do you really want me to answer those questions? We hook up from time to time, does that make you happy? I met him through a friend. He’s a nice guy. I like him, so stop being rude.”
Alex sighs and runs his hands through his hair. “Fine. Damn, Lilly. I just worry about you. I was worried about you last night after that shit show with Mom and Dad and Aunt Bruna’s stupid mouth.” He points to the box of cinnamon buns on the counter. “I brought these over to cheer you up before we have to go back and do it all over again. I didn’t expect you to have company.”
That’s our Christmas ritual—cinnamon buns and coffee before family time. Shit, if my brain wasn’t in my vagina, I would have remembered.
“Sorry, he stopped by unexpectedly to bring me a present and—”
Alex quirks an eyebrow at the word present, but we’re interrupted by Z returning to the room.
Zero
Brother or not, hearing this dude hassling Lilly for being with me, makes me want to beat the shit out of him. I get it, I do. If I had a sister and found some shady dude like me in her house, I’d probably react the same way.
But she’s thirty-something years old, if she wants to have a fuck buddy over, that’s her business and I don’t appreciate her brother trying to make her feel bad about it. Then Lilly sticks up for me. Holy shit. I can’t even say what I’m feeling hearing those fuckin’ words comin’ outta her mouth.
He’s a nice guy. I like him—
If only she knew how not a nice guy I really am.
Now I’m hard as a rock, and probably shouldn’t go back out there until I calm down.
When I finally make it back into the living room, I plan to head straight for the front door. “Hey, Lilly, I’m gonna—”
She glances at me with wide eyes. Fuck. “Stay. Have some cinnamon buns and coffee before you go?”
My eyes skip to her brother, but he’s got his back to me, busy arranging something on a plate. Probably shoving rat poison in my cinnamon bun.
“Sure, if I’m not interrupt—”
A big fuckin’ smile lights up her face and I’m so done for. “You’re not.” She turns and bumps her brother out of the way and grabs the plate of pastries.
Setting them down on the table, she gestures for me to take a seat. It’s awkward, but I snag a chair and plop myself into it, while she runs back to the kitchen. Her brother sits across from me and meets my stare head on. Brave fucker. Maybe I should ask him to prospect for us.
Inside, I’m laughing at the thought, but it must show on my face.
“Something amuse you?” Alex asks.
“Yeah, I was thinking you got big balls, throwing that attitude at a thug like me.”
He doesn’t react. Or at least he doesn’t react the way I expect him to. He laughs. “I could say the same thing, you know.”
“Can you guys do your whole pissing match thing some other time?” Lilly asks sweetly as she sets out three coffee mugs and one of those insulated coffee pots on the table.
Alex pats her hand and thanks her for the coffee. At least the dude is polite to his sister.
Lilly takes her place at the head of the table and shines a beautiful smile at both of us before slipping, warm, sticky rolls on each of our plates.
“Merry Christmas, guys.”
3
Perfect Blend
Brand new and previously unpublished.
For my regular readers of the series, in the LOKI timeline this story takes place during
Strength From Loyalty.
LILLY
“I can’t believe she’s really getting married again,” Sophie says.
I tap my pen against the legal pad I’d been scribbling on before she called. “Why? If anyone deserves happiness, it’s Hope.”
“I know. I didn’t mean otherwise.” Her tone is less than convincing.
Sophie’s been my best friend for as long as I can remember. My partner in crime throughout our rebellious teenage years. We put some distance between us while I worked toward my Master’s and she was in law school. But that was survival instinct and not a comment on our friendship.
She and Hope have been friends since law school and I’ve grown closer to Hope since then. Jealousy seems to color most of Sophie’s comments about Hope lately, and I can’t quite figure out why. The woman’s endured more heartache than most over the last few years. I meant what I said; she deserves to be happy.
“Didn’t you orchestrate the two of them getting together in the first place?” I remind her.
“Well, yeah. But I didn’t think he’d try to marry her. I don’t want to see her get hurt again.”
What to say here? Hope’s an adult? Mind your own damn business? I’m not sure. “The man seems to worship the ground she walks on, Sophie. I think she’ll be fine.”
“Well, I’ll have to meet you guys at Hamilton’s. I can’t leave here until six.”
“That’s fine. Mara’s meeting me here.”
Sophie’s silent and I can almost picture her pouting. I’m not sure why she ever introduced me to her friends if she was going to be jealous every time I met up with them without her. “What are you wearing?” she asks.
I glance down at the teal blouse a
nd mid-length, A-line, charcoal tweed skirt I picked out this morning. Normally on Thursdays and Fridays, we could wear whatever we wanted to the office. Sometimes I chose jeans. Usually, I tried to still dress somewhat professional.
Since it’s near the end of the legislative session and a budget still hasn’t been passed—nothing new there—there is always a chance I’d have to meet with one of the legislators I worked for, so I’d chosen my outfit carefully.
“The same thing I wore to work. Blouse and a skirt.”
She sighs. “Aren’t you hoping to run into Z again?”
Hoping or dreading. I’m not quite sure. The sexy biker stirred up all sorts of crazy emotions every time I saw him. “I doubt he’ll show up.”
Besides, I plan to trade my gray sweater cardigan for a black leather jacket and my plain black pumps for a pair of teal, suede T-strap heels. That should dial down the nerdy professional look to something more bar-appropriate. Not that it matters. Even if Z shows up for some reason, he’s always more interested in getting me out of my clothes than admiring them.
“I don’t know about that,” Sophie says.
“What about you? Is Jonny home this weekend?”
“I don’t want to talk about him.”
“Shit, I’m sorry.”
“It’s nothing. We can talk about it another time. I don’t want to be a downer. We’re supposed to be celebrating tonight.”
Well, that’s an improvement over how petty she was being earlier. “All right.”
“Knock, knock,” Mara sing-songs from outside my office door. I wave her in.
“Mara just got here. I’ll see you in a bit?”
“Sure, sure. Go have fun without me.”
I roll my eyes. “We’ll see you soon.”
Shaking my head, I hang up and smile at Mara. “Am I running late?”
