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Dylan set his cards facedown on the table and pointed at Carson. “You’ve got at least three of a kind.” He shifted his aim to Jackson. “Easily a full house.” Glancing at Cooper, he said, “You’ve got a baby on the way, so my guess isthat’swhat you’re thinking about and you’ve got shit for a hand.” Cooper and his wife, Cici, had a little girl, and she was pregnant with their second child. “And Brett?” Dylan laced his fingers behind his head and leaned back in his chair with a grin. “He’s either thinking about going down on Sophie, which will never happen, beating the shit out of some asshole who’s stalking one of his clients, or he’s wondering when in the hell the pizza’s going to get here. But he’s got shit for a hand, just like me. I fold.”
Brett laughed. “Now that my mind is full of dirty images of Sophie—”
“When isn’t it?” Carson quipped.
Brett leaned across the table, his eyes full of challenge. “When I’m thinking about Poppy Kiss.” Poppy Kiss owned the bar where Mick and Amanda had been married, and Carson had shamelessly flirted with her all night long. But as far as Dylan knew, that had never gone anywhere.
As his brothers swappedI’m thinking aboutjeers, Dylan’s mind traveled back to last night. He hadn’t intended to have phone sex with Tiffany, but man was he glad they did. Not only was it hot, but it forced them to communicate and think about their intimacy on a physical and emotional level. He could tell from Tiffany’s unexpectedly shy moments that she had been thinking those things, too. It was a totally different experience from sharing the same bed, and it made him feel closer to her.
A knock on the door pulled him from his thoughts.
“About damn time. I’ve got it.” Brett pushed to his feet, pulling his wallet from his pocket as he went to answer the door.
TIFFANY’S HEART WAS beating so fast she feared she’d faint before Dylan opened the door.I can’t do this. Yes, I can. He puts himself out there all the time for me. It’s my turn.
Gulping air into her lungs, she heard steps approaching on the other side of the door and closed her eyes. If she didn’t see him, it would be easier. With one hand on the red ribbon she’d looped around the waist of her new thigh-length jacket, she plastered a smile on her face, and when she heard the door open, she pulled the ribbon, allowing her jacket to spring open.
“Surprise!” She threw the ribbon into the air and opened her eyes, seeing a man she didn’t know ogling her naked body.
“Ohmygod!” She frantically tried to close her jacket and lost her balance on her stilettos, falling breasts first into the tall and dark stranger’s arms.
“Well, hello, beautiful.”
She scrambled away, her mind spinning in a hundred directions. Did she have the wrong apartment? She was naked!Naked!Oh God!She turned to run and fell flat on her face, bare ass up, her jacket puddled around her middle. Tears sprang to her eyes as Dylan’s angry voice boomed through the apartment.
“Summers?”
She pushed to her knees, unable to concentrate on the litany of curses Dylan was spewing toward the man she’d fallen into, and catching sight of three other guys sitting around a table. Holy shit. She knew two of them. Cooper and Jackson Wild. She used them for her clients’ promotional photos. She’d barged in on Dylan’s guys’ night!Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck. She took in the playing cards on the table, the open beer bottles. All of this whipped through her mind at breakneck speed as the stranger reached for her hand and Dylan pushed him out of the way, helping her up on wobbly legs.
Dylan turned her roughly by the shoulders, away from the others, holding her jacket closed with a clenched fist. She had no doubt that the only reason he didn’t rip that other man apart was because he wanted to ensure her fucking jacket remained closed. Tears of anger and embarrassment streamed down her cheeks, andthatpissed her off.
He scowled over her shoulder. “Brett! Sit. Fucking. Down.”
“Oh, right. Sorry, man. Hey, for what it’s worth, that was the hottest thing I’ve seen in a long time.”
“Brett! I’ll fucking rip you apart. Sit down and shut the fuck up.Now,” Dylan growled as he guided Tiffany toward the door, his arm circling her so tightly she was sure he’d slit his skin open and sew her up inside it if he were able. “Ignore my fucking brother.”
Brother?She could barely think past hoping the building might spontaneously explode so she didn’t have to face Dylan ever again. In the hall, he pulled the door shut behind them. She wrenched from his grip and hurried toward the elevator, holding on to the wall so she didn’t fall ass over teakettle again.
“Summers!” he said angrily. He caught up to her quickly and reclaimed her with a strong arm around her waist.
“Go away.” She pushed the elevator button repeatedly, fighting off tears.
“You didn’t come up here for me to go away.” He moved in front of her, his face a mask of anger and lust—and hell if that didn’t turn her on, which only pissed her off even more.
“Your body is for my eyes only,” he said through clenched teeth. “Got it?”
In her effort to keep her tears from falling, she made a humiliatingly weak choking sound.
His eyes closed for a beat, his jaw muscles flexing. His grip on her tightened painfully, but when he opened his eyes, his gaze was slightly softer, his anger simmering just beneath the surface.
“Hey, summer girl.” The restraint in his voice was palpable. “You came to see me with a sexy surprise. I love that.”
She swallowed the lump clogging her throat as the elevator arrived, and she pushed past him, waving her hand. “I can’t…”
Inside the elevator she pressed the button for her floor over and over, knowing it wouldn’t do a damn bit of good. The stupid elevators were slow as molasses.
“Please go home, Dylan. Can’t you see that I’m mortified?”
