Page 44 of Spurred On

“I know. But you usually don’t slip out early. What’s going on?”

He could never keep anything from Cade. Still, he didn’t know how to explain all this. It was too . . . humiliating.

“I noticed Tibby slipped out early too. Anything you want to tell me?”

“Yeah.” He forced a wry smile. “I want to tell you I wasn’t with Tibby last night.”

“That’s a relief. Who were you with?”

“None of your beeswax.”

Cade tipped his head to the side and smiled icily. “It is my beeswax if you’re slipping away and leaving me with all the extra work.”

“We have staff for that.”

“Was it Sidney?”

Why the sound of her name made him wince again was a mystery. And a dead giveaway.

“Yeah, I thought so—”

“Did you?” Damn Cade and his incessant . . . thinking.

“Since the last time I saw you, you were smooching with her in the wings.”

“Hardly smooching.”

“It looked like smooching.”

“It wasn’t smooching.”

“Okay.” Cade shrugged. “Dry humping.”

Cody’s brain fizzled. His lips worked. His words came out in a howl. “Why were you watching?”

“I wasn’t watching so much as seeing. It’s not like it was intentional. But the facts are clear. You were with her last night, and here you are this morning, mooning in the kitchen—”

“I’m not mooning—”

“Which leads to the question, what happened?”

“What makes you think anything happened?”

In response, Cade shot him that annoying omniscient look, something calm and cool that insinuated he did, indeed, know everything. Or that he wasn’t buying anyone’s bullshit. It was an expression Cody was very familiar with. Too familiar with to bother with any prevarication.

“I thought we had something. She insists we don’t.”

To his credit, his brother didn’t laugh, but his lips did quirk a little. “That’s tough.”

“It is. I . . . really like her.”

“You like lots of women.”

“I like all women.” There was no doubt about that. “But Sidney is different.”

“Because she doesn’t throw herself at you?”

There was that. As much as it irritated him, he liked having to work a little harder. “It’s more than just that.” He sucked in a deep breath. “I’ve always had a thing for her.”