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“Why are you doing this? So I can be with Allie?”
“Ha!” Her brows drew down disdainfully. “Do I look like Pollyanna?”
“Uh, no, that’s why I’m asking.”
“It’s a chick thing,” she said primly.
Jonas made a growling sound. “Meaning I wouldn’t understand because I have male equipment.”
“Exactly.”
“Which means whatever it is, it makes no sense.”
“Not to you, no.”
“Okay, okay, have your private babe club. I still have to talk to Erik, though.” He brightened. “Hey, if he gives up on Allie willingly, you won’t have to torment him on my account.”
“Yes, I will.” She stretched her soft arms above her head and let them drop. “But you wouldn’t understand that, either.”
“I’m sure I wouldn’t.” He rolled his eyes, wondering if on some weird level, Sandra actually liked his brother. Was that possible? He didn’t see why not. Guys a lot more horrible than Erik had been happily paired off. Erik just needed grounding. And to grow up a little. Maybe Sandra could make that happen. Jonas wouldn’t put anything past her.
He spent another half hour enjoying the sun until he heard Erik’s car returning from town where he’d taken Allie to buy groceries. If Allie disappeared back up into the attic, Jonas would get the chance to talk to Erik alone.
Allie’s laugh floated down from the parking area. His heart beating faster, Jonas got up and walked toward them, pulling his shirt back on. “Need help?”
“Nah, we’re fine.” His brother wasn’t overtly hostile, but Jonas could sense his annoyance. You grew up with someone, you got pretty good at reading him.
“If you want to get back to the attic, Allie, I can help Erik unload.”
“Oh, I don’t mind helping.” She glanced uncertainly at Erik, looking as girlish in her crazy peacock shorts as she had looked womanly in the lingerie upstairs.
“Go on.” Jonas went to take the groceries from her, gave her a quick nod and tipped his head pointedly toward Erik, hoping she’d understand.
She gave a quick nod back and released the bag. “If you’re sure, I’d love to get back up there. I have a mystery to solve.”
“Really.” He had to make himself move toward the house or he would have stood there gazing at her like a fool. “What kind of mystery?”
“In one of your great-grandmother’s trunks some of the clothes have tags with numbers on them.”
Erik looked disappointed. “That’s your mystery?”
“I was hoping for a treasure map,” Jonas said.
“Men.” Allie laughed and held the door open for him and Erik, then left them to unload the groceries in the kitchen and hurried upstairs.
“So, Erik.” Jonas pulled out a bag of sweet-corn ears and laid it on the counter. “Looks like we have a complicated situation here.”
“Yeah?” Erik put away a couple of fabulous-looking steaks, not meeting his brother’s eye, his jaw set.
Jonas gritted his teeth. He wasn’t going to make this easy. “With you and me, Sandra and Allie.”
“How so?”
“Cut the crap. We need to talk about this.”
“I don’t have anything I need to talk about. If you have a problem, feel free to tell me what it is.”
Jonas took out a couple of bottles of sparkling water and barely resisted throwing them at his brother’s head. “Okay, Erik. Here’s my problem. There’s something happening between Allie and me, and I don’t feel I can do anything about it unless you and I talk it out.”
“What about Sandra?”
“She’s fine with it.”
His face twisted into skepticism. “She’s fine with it?”
Jonas sighed, calling on his patience. He was really getting tired of his brother’s drama. “I talked to her just now. She’s fine with it.”
Erik shrugged and unloaded a bag of mixed lettuces, but he seemed less cranky all of a sudden. “Good for her.”
“She gets that this is nothing I planned or expected, it’s just how things worked out.”
“Well, ain’t she a saint.”
“I prefer the term goddess.” Sandra sauntered into the room, looking incredibly hot in her bikini, bringing with her the scent of cocoa butter and woman. Erik froze holding a bag of chips in midair, his mouth half-open, eyes slightly bulging. Jonas suppressed a grin. He’d bet that was exactly how he’d looked faced with Allie in the barely-there nightie.
“Hey, goddess,” he said.
“Having fun?” She shot Jonas a look of sympathy and grabbed a diet soda from the refrigerator. “You being a good boy, Erik?”
