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I unbuckle my seatbelt and shift in my seat to face her. “We’re both lying to everyone in this town, remember?”
She sighs, looking torn. “You’re sure he won’t come home?”
“I’m one hundred percent certain,” I say. “We’ve got at least two hours before he comes home.”
She chews her bottom lip and I see her glance up and down the street as if my brother is going to jump out from behind a bush and catch us sneaking into his house. Well, it’s technically my house too. But that’s only because I moved in here a few years ago and I pay half the expenses. Not that Linc has ever asked me to. But I wanted to be close to my niece and it was clear Linc needed the help after he split with Ella’s mom. Between the two of us, we’ve done a great job raising that little girl, I think. But it does mean that bringing a girl back to my place hasn’t happened in years. This might be the first time I’ve ever had a girl at this house.
I’ve been keeping an eye on Ella for the past few days while Linc has been working at Harlow’s shop in the evenings. But tonight, I wanted to see Layna. It’s been more than a week since I’ve had her naked, and the need is strong. I know she feels the same way because when I’d texted her dirty messages earlier, she hadn’t chastised me like she usually does. She’d responded with a winky face emoji and something that might be a bomb exploding. I’m not totally sure what she meant, but I took it as a positive sign. I’d texted her to go for a jog and I’d pick her up out by the water tower and bring her back to my place. She hadn’t balked at meeting me, but now she’s hesitating when it comes to going inside my empty house.
“Tick tock,” I say, nodding toward the clock on the radio.
She sighs. “Fine,” she says. “But if we get caught, I’m kicking your ass.”
I grin. “If we get caught, I’ll let you bend me over your knee and spank me.”
Rolling her eyes, she says, “You’d probably like it too much.”
I consider that as we climb out of my truck and head for the front door. “I can’t say I’ve ever been spanked. I’ve definitely smacked a few asses over the years though.”
She points a finger at me. “Don’t even think about it.”
“Who knows,” I say with a smile. “You might like it.”
She just laughs.
“That’s not a no,” I tease.
I unlock the door and motion for Layna to enter first, then follow behind her. Then I turn and lock the door behind me. Even though Linc isn’t supposed to be home for 2 more hours, I figure the locked front door will slow him down just a little. On the off chance something happens, and he comes home before I can sneak Layna out, that is. I watch her as she looks around the house, remembering that this is the first time she’s ever been here. I wonder what she thinks. Is it what she expected of two bachelors? I like to think Linc and I have decent tastes when it comes to interior design, but I’d be lying if I said this place couldn’t use a woman’s touch in certain areas.
I watch Layna as she studies the framed pictures on the walls. She stops walking in front of one of them, smiling as she turns to look at me.
“Is this you and Linc?”
I walk over to look at the picture she’s talking about, even though I know which one it is. It’s a photo of me and Linc when we were kids. We were both gangly boys, all knees and elbows and grass-stained jeans. We’d gone fishing that day and when we came back, we begged our mom to take a photo of our catch. We’d both been so proud.
“Yeah,” I say. “That’s us.”
“How old were you?”
“About 10, I think,” I say, trying to remember back to that day.
Linc hadn’t hit his growth spurt yet, so I was nearly his height, despite our age difference.
“That’s a big fish,” Layna says.
I smile at the memory. “Yeah. But I didn’t catch it. Linc let me take the credit though.”
“Why?”
I sigh. “Because I sucked at fishing. And I’d spent all morning bragging about how I was going to catch the biggest fish in the pond. Only I didn’t catch shit. I kept losing my bait. Then I got tangled up on a log and lost my hook. That’s when I decided I was finished with fishing for good. I was so mad. But then Linc got a hit on his line. He knew it was a big one. He could feel it. He was so excited, too. But he called me over and let me pull it in. I still don’t know why he did it. He wouldn’t tell me.”
Layna’s quiet for several seconds, her gaze locked on the photo.
“I think I know why,” she says softly.
“Why?”
Her lips turn up in a hint of a sad smile. “He’s your big brother. He’s responsible for you.”
