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Crista’s lips twitched. “She’s an excellent cook. The weeks she stayed with us, I swear I gained ten pounds. ”
Alex scratched his jaw. “She doesn’t cook for me. ”
“You probably pissed her off,” she teased him. “What did you do to her?”
Alex stared back at her. “Don’t fish, Crista. Get it off your chest. ”
Crista nibbled at her lip. “Are you sleeping with her?”
“Would she cook for me if I were?”
She rolled her expressive eyes. “Probably. Dawg’s convinced you’re sleeping with her. ”
“It’s none of Dawg’s business. ”
“Janey’s vulnerable, Alex. ”
“Crista, are you here to warn me out of Janey’s bed?” He frowned back at her. “Because if you are, then I think I’d rather visit with Dawg. I can hit him if he pisses me off. ”
“Which is why I’m in here instead of Dawg,” Crista pointed out.
“And it’s the reason why you can trot your little butt right back out there with him,” he told her. “For Christ’s sake. I wouldn’t tell you if I was sleeping with her. It’s none of your business. Do I question you about your sex life?”
It was bad enough that he knew she had one. And even worse that she had one with one of the wildest men in the county.
“Well, she’s not cooking for you, so obviously you’re not exactly in her good graces. ” Crista laughed back at him. “So I don’t have to worry about Natches castrating you and ending the Jansen line forever.
Right?”
Alex stared back at her broodingly.
“You’re not going to sleep with her, right, Alex?”
Sleeping wasn’t exactly what he had on his mind. “I wasn’t making any hard and fast plans in that direction,” he finally said, sliding past the question. “Stop interrogating me before I call Cranston and let him know how damned good you are at it. ”
She was still watching him worriedly. “I talked to Janey this morning. ”
His brow arched. “Oh yeah?” Exactly how close were Janey and Crista?
“She hedged, too. ”
Alex ignored her and walked back to the coffeepot, where he refilled his cup before turning back to stare at her.
If there was one person in this world that Alex allowed himself to love, then it was this woman. His baby sister. She was everything that was good and right in his world. Damn if he wanted to hurt her, but she was poking her nose in too deep here.
“I don’t want you and Natches to fight,” Crista told him firmly. “I wouldn’t be happy, Alex. ”
He set the coffee cup on the counter and tightened his lips. “Fine. I’ll castrate Dawg. Since sisters are all off-limits here, I think I’m about due my pound of flesh. ” He nodded to the bulge of her stomach. “A lot of years overdue, Crista. Dawg didn’t exactly do you any favors when you were eighteen, but I let him live. ”
A shadow of pain crossed her face. The night she had spent with Dawg when she was eighteen had resulted in another pregnancy. A child she had lost. It had nearly destroyed her, and caused her to leave home for almost eight years.
The fact that Dawg had been too damned drunk to even realize what the hell he had done hadn’t mattered. The son of a bitch should have kept his head enough to leave her alone. But Crista had been an adult. Alex had raised her to be an adult. And as angry as he had been over it, in some ways, Alex had known the other man cared more for her than he had let on.
“You’re fourteen years older than she is,” Crista finally said hesitantly. “Janey hasn’t had a chance to live yet, Alex. ”
“Enough. ”
“Alex, I know you,” she said softly. “I can see it in your face. Something’s going on, and I’m afraid it could end up hurting all of us. ”
