Page 64 of Dark ’N’ Deadly

Eric shoved his legs into a pair of jeans and yanked a T-shirt over his head. Thankfully, his raging boner had calmed enough for him to zip up his pants without doing any damage.

As he hustled down the stairs, the doorbell pealed again. Tiger’s head hung low, hair on the back of his spine raised. Until his dog knew who was on the other side of the door, he’d assume it was a bad guy.

“I know you’re in there, Eric. Open up.”

Tiger jerked his head up and wagged his tail. During her stay with him, his dog had come to like Maggie. Probably because she fed him peanut butter chip cookies behind Eric’s back.

“Cool your jets,” he shouted, then unlocked the door and opened it. His sister stood on the stoop with her fist raised and ready to pound again. “What’s up, Mags?”

Over Maggie’s shoulder, he noticed a dark SUV brake at the stop sign at the end of his street then continue on. Dark SUVs were a dime a dozen in any state, but this was a residential neighborhood, and he didn’t recognize it as belonging to any of his neighbors.

“Well, good morning to you, too.” Her face brightened, blue eyes so similar to his, twinkling. “Aren’t you going to invite me in?” Without waiting for a response, she squeezed past him then knelt beside Tiger to give the dog a hug and scratch behind his ears.

Tiger’s body wriggled with glee as he landed a barrage of licks on his sister’s face, making happy whining sounds.

Eric closed the door and crossed his arms. “When you’re done with your little lovefest, do you mind telling me what you’re doing pounding on my door at eight thirty in the morning?”

“Eight thirty is late for you.” She gave Tiger one last pat before standing. “I have news I want to share.”

He narrowed his eyes. “You could have called.”

“I suppose I could have, but this is news that should be delivered in person.” Mimicking him, she crossed her arms, daring him the same way she’d done their entire life.

“Fine.” He uncrossed his arms and led the way into the kitchen. “Want coffee?” He pulled the carafe from its base and began filling it with water.

“Please.” She strolled to the table, touching her fingers to the vase full of the flowers Tess had cut from his garden. “Since when do you bring flowers inside the house? All that color must be driving you crazy.”

Ignoring her barb, he scooped coffee into the filter then opened the refrigerator and pulled out a container of milk. When he set the carton in front of Maggie, she watched him, tapping her long fingers on the table.

The tapping stopped. “Who owns the Camry?”

“None of your business.” He retrieved two mugs and set them by the coffeemaker.

She turned to the vase of flowers and her eyes bulged so wide he thought they’d pop out of her head. “It’s a woman! I should have guessed because there’s no way my brother would put flowers on his kitchen table.” She gave him a sly grin. “I’m right, aren’t I?”

Crap. He loved his sister to tears, but gossip was her thing, and she’d always given him shit about what she referred to as his “list of women.” How to answer her questions without letting her get too far into her Gestapo-like interrogation?

The idea of her lumping Tess in with those other women didn’t sit well with him.

“Who is she?” His sister leaned forward, resting her chin in her hand, her eyes glittering with hefty doses of curiosity and amusement.

He shoved a hand through his hair then stared at the flowers. He didn’t know how to answer her question. What exactly was Tess to him? Hell if he knew.

“She’s…” He paused, listening to the gurgle of the coffeemaker as it began dripping into the carafe. “A friend.” His lover, as of last night. For now, labeling her as a friend seemed like the simplest answer. Until he could figure things out.

“A friend,” Maggie repeated, nodding subtly and twisting her lips in a way that told him she wasn’t buying his shit.

His sister got up and went into the living room. A moment later, she giggled. “Candles?” She came back into the kitchen with Tiger. When she sat down again, his dog sat beside her. “I knew I smelled something in the air, and I’m not just talking about flowers and candles. Spill it, bro. How long has this”—she hooked her fingers into quotation marks—“friend been staying here? Looks like she kind of moved in.”

“A few days.” He leaned back against the counter and re-crossed his arms. He had a feeling he was about to regret giving her a straight answer.

Maggie didn’t disappoint. Her eyes went wide again, maybe wider than before. “A few days? Seriously?” When she laughed, a bead of sweat trickled between his shoulder blades. He was beginning to understand what a perp felt like during one of his own interrogations. “You didn’t give her a key to your house, did you?”

The last question was said with a snarky tone, because she knew damn well what the significance of that one little act would mean.

When he took a deep inhale, his sister gasped. Tiger gave a quick bark.

“You did. O. M. G.” She smacked her hands on the side of her face. “This is huge. This is beyond huge. It’s…unbelievable.”