Page 64 of Don’t Go Breaking My Heart

“Yeah, now. They’re probably already unloading tools.” I reached for my jeans on the floor. “You should stay put. I’ll go deal with them.”

She snorted. “Stay put? Like I’m going to let them think—” She cut herself off, shaking her head. “No. We are not announcing we hooked up to a bunch of your neanderthal friends. I am not going to be the subject of your locker room talk.”

“I wasn’t⁠—”

“Out,” she said, throwing back the covers and scrambling for her robe. “I need a shower, and you need to get out there before they start asking questions.”

“I think the questions are coming either way,” I teased, grinning as I buttoned my jeans.

Merritt shot me a glare and shoved me toward the bedroom door. “Then you better think of some good answers. Go!”

I barely had time to grab my boots and shirt before she slammed the door behind me. I stood barefoot and shirtless in the hallway for a beat, staring at the closed door and shaking my head. This woman. We weren’t breaking any rules. And I wasn’t sure if she was aware, but people had sex all the time. It wasn’t exactly a unique thing.

“Morning, boss,” came a familiar drawl from the living room.

I turned to find my crew standing just inside the front door. They looked from me to the bedroom door, grins spreading across their faces like wildfire.

“Uh-huh,” Luke said, crossing his arms. “Someone has some explaining to do.”

“If you can’t figure it out, you don’t deserve to know,” Wes said. “I guess this is one way to cut down on your commute time.”

I cursed under my breath, gave Luke and Wes a glare, and hurried to pull on my boots. Despite my attempt to downplay things, Luke didn’t stop grinning like a damn fool. I glanced back down the hallway toward her door, praying that the soundproofing was good and she hadn’t heard that last comment. Or the laughter that followed it. She had predicted the teasing.

“Alright, can we just get to work?” I shot them a warning glance before pulling my shirt on.

“What the hell happened to you?” Luke asked. “Did she do that?”

“What?”

“Dude, you look like you fucked a wolverine last night,” Wes said.

I glanced down and saw the torn shirt and jeans. My hands looked like I’d used them as meat tenderizers.

“It wasn’t her,” I mumbled, flexing my right hand and wincing. “I laid my bike down. Nothing major.”

“Nothing major?” Luke echoed incredulously. “You look like you used sandpaper for soap!”

“Did she nurse you back to health?” Wes asked with a laugh. “Did she kiss all your boo-boos?”

I wasn’t going to admit that was exactly what I asked for. Maybe all men reverted to their childhood selves when they were hurt or sick.

“Y’all need to shut the fuck up before she hears you, okay?” I leveled them with a look that would usually send them scattering.

But not today. Today, they weren’t scared. Not when they had busted me doing the walk of shame, hair all sticking up and still not fully dressed.

“Oh, I’m just getting started,” Luke replied, smirking.

“We’re not going to upset your girlfriend,” Wes said. “We’ll leave that to you.”

“She’s not my girlfriend,” I warned, taking a step closer to him until he raised his hands in surrender.

“Right,” Luke interjected, chuckling to himself. “You were just checking the structural integrity of her bed.”

Wes matched his smirk. “Just knocking the rust off that⁠—”

“Finish that sentence and I’ll knock your teeth out,” I growled.

That got a round of howling laughter, although Wes backed off. It was all in good fun. No one wanted to piss me off for real. It was just how we joked around with each other.