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“Don’t come in here,” I call over the sound of running water. “I’m getting undressed, so this is your formal warning. If you see me naked, you indemnify me from a sexual harassment claim, seeing as I’m your boss and all.”
“It’s all good.” She stops in the doorway, clutching a sexy black dress to her chest. “I’ve seen boobs a million times, so I promise not to go to HR about my sexually aggressive boss. I like this dress, by the way. No cleavage, but sexy shoulders and perfect length. The skirt is kinda loose—which we know Archer will like—and the zipper at the back means you won’t get out of it again unless someone does it for you.”
She flashes a perverted grin and lets out a snicker. “Archer will like that too.”
“Fine. Awesome.”
And while she heads back into my room to hang it, I quickly strip off my underwear and jump into my shower to yank the curtain around to cover me.
“Have you decided yet what you’ll do tonight?” I turn my back to the water and allow the spray to fall across shoulders. “You can stay here if you really don’t wanna go home. Chances are, I’ll end up at Archer’s place.”
“Maybe.” Her voice seems far away. Disengaged, while she fusses in my room. “Let me think on it for a bit. What do you think will happen if I go to Tim’s for an hour or two?”
“Probably another crack in your already broken heart.” I pump shampoo into my palm and massage it through my hair. “At best, you’ll see him with his girlfriend, and you’ll cry a little bit. He’ll feed you, since we know he’s a sucker for that. He’ll try to be gentle and say nice things to you, but at the end of it all, he’ll still go back to that other chick—who, by the way, we don’t even know.”
“Well—”
“And that’s thebest-case scenario,” I continue. “Worst-case, you end up arrested because you tear that woman’s hair out, or you set loose a dozen pigeons inside his bar, purely for the sake of creating chaos. He won’t want you to go to the clink, but that place is full of cops; he won’t even have to call any. Next thing you know, you’re breaking up my date, calling me to bail you out. Andstill,” I begin rinsing the soap from my hair, “no matter your efforts, he’ll end the night with his girlfriend.”
“You’re mean.” Storming back into the bathroom, Aubree stops on the threshold and burns with anger as I slide the curtain aside and peek out. “And it’s not like he’s in love with her. He doesn’t even know her!”
“Maybe that’s the point.” I whip the shower curtain back into place and go to work slathering conditioner into my hair. “He’s not looking for love. Maybe he’s just looking for casual, and you…”
“Know that he deserves better,” she cuts in. “Knows he’s a good person. He’s areallygood person, Minka. But he acts like a playboy.”
He’s a killer, I think to myself.
As young boys, Tim and Archer and their brothers were raised to be just like their daddy. Tim Sr. discarded women left and right, so none of the sons share a mother—but they do share their father’s dirty habit—and when they were old enough to cause damage in other, more permanent ways, they were given guns and training and told who and what to hit.
Archer admits to all this. And perhaps Tim hasn’t given me the details, but it doesn’t take a genius to know that he, being the oldest and the third-generation Timothy Malone, has more experience, and thus has dropped more bodies, and incurred a longer hypothetical rap sheet than the others.
Hypothetical, because he was never caught.
“He’s not ready for commitment.” I tip my head back and rinse the silky-smooth conditioner from my hair. “It is what it is, Aubree, and believe it or not, he’s entitled to his feelings. It sucks for you, because I think he’d rock your world and you guys would be an amazing couple. But that doesn’t change the fact Tim gets a choice, too.”
“But he’s not choosing me.” Her voice grows softer. More pained. “He’s choosing anyone elseexceptme. And that hurts.”
“I know it does.”
My murmur is lost to the rushing of the water, but the anguish in her voice damn near breaks my heart. Because she’s so innocent and sweet, and the man she loves, actually loves her back. His distance, his kissing other women, and spending time with anyone thatisn’tAubree, is his way of protecting her.
Whether his protection is misdirected is a discussion for another day. But for right now, his intentions are clear.
“Stay here,” I tell her. “Order in, watch my TV and chill out. But don’t go to the bar.”
Snagging my razor, I quickly lather a little soap under my armpits and make sure not a single spike escapes my inspection, then I look down my body and nod at the landscaping I already did last night.
“I think it’s best if you give Tim space; absence makes the heart grow fonder, and all that nonsense. Let him do whatever he’s going to do—he’ll do it anyway, but this way, you don’t have to watch. If he misses you, he’ll come looking. And if he doesn’t, then you know.”
“Says the woman showering for a different Malone brother right now.”
“Heh.” I snicker in the back of my throat and set my razor aside. “There are three more of them. Maybe you should see if any of the others catch your eye.”
“Wait.”
Shit!
Aubree crosses the bathroom on stealthy feet, then snags the curtain in her hand and yanks it aside only far enough to look into my eyes. “There are more?”
