I loved my brother, but he was seriously cramping my style. I was desperate to get some alone time with Austin to actually talk about what had happened last night—and this morning. My body was still buzzing from the way we had burned up the sheets, and I couldn’t help wanting to touch him.

But I could tell that Luke’s arrival had changed things, and my vision of a romantic getaway was going up in smoke. When it came to the X-rated things I wanted to do, three was most definitely a crowd.

“We should head back to the city,” I suggested as soon as we had all finished breakfast. “After all, some of us have normal nine-to-five jobs,” I said, giving both Austin and my brother a pointed look.

It was hard not to be jealous of them sometimes—both Luke and Austin had somehow managed to pursue their dreams and find success in cool, creative fields. And they made it look easy. There were times when I felt like a failure next to them, which was just another reason I needed this article to work out.

If only I could keep my hands—and mouth—off of Austin.

“I’m going to chill here for a bit, recover from the jet lag. And the stewardess.” My brother winked, and I shoved him playfully.

“Some things never change. Call me when you’re in town?” Emphasis on the calling first part.

“Sure thing, kid.”

“You need to stop calling me that,” I sighed. “I’m not a kid anymore!”

“You’ll always be my kid sister,” Luke laughed. “Isn’t that right, Austin?”

Austin coughed. “Sure.”

We grabbed our bags and got on the road, but Austin barely said a word. In fact, as we drove, I realized that he had been pretty much silent since Luke’s arrival. I cast him a sideways glance, trying to figure out what was going on in his head, but once again, his true emotions evaded me.

I stifled a sigh. Hot and cold was becoming a regular routine with him, but I’d honestly thought that after our wild night together, he might have dropped his defenses a little.

“You know, it’s considered rude to ignore the girl you were just fucking,” I said boldly, trying to get a rise out of him.

He swerved. “Fuck,” Austin swore, getting the truck back in the correct lane.

“Sorry,” I said, not sorry at all.

He glared at me.

“This isn’t a fucking game,” he said, his jaw tight, each word coming out through gritted teeth. “What happened last night—”

“And this morning,” I couldn’t help adding with a grin.

A muscle twitched in his jaw. “What happened was a betrayal.”

My heart stopped for a moment. A betrayal? Of what? Of who?

“What are you talking about?” I asked.

“Your brother,” Austin said. “I can’t believe I did this to him.”

I relaxed. For a moment. “Um, I seem to recall you did this to me. Or rather, with me. How is that a betrayal?”

“I broke the code,” Austin told me, still looking ahead.

“The code?” I asked, not sure what the fuck he was talking about.

“The bro code,” Austin confirmed.

If it were humanly possible, my eyes would have rolled right out my head with annoyance.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” I exclaimed. “After all this time, you still just think of me as Luke’s little sister, like I’m his property?”

“No,” Austin said. “But I do think of Luke as the closest thing I have to a brother. And if he ever found out . . .”

“He would deal because he’s an adult,” I snapped. “An adult who knows that his sister is free to sleep with whoever she wants.”

“It’s not you,” Austin argued. “It’s me. I fucked up.”

“Stop it,” I told him, anger rising up inside of me. “You think you’re the only one who’s worried about people finding out about this? How do you think it would look if it came out that I slept with you when I’m supposed to be interviewing you? You have to know what people say about journalists who screw their subjects. Nobody would take me seriously again. This was supposed to restart my career, but it could just as easily end it.”

“If it was such a risk, then why do it?” he asked.

I exhaled. Did he really have to ask me that? I thought my feelings were perfectly clear.

“Because I couldn’t not,” I told him simply.

He said nothing, just pulled up in front of my building and looked at me with that familiar heat in his eyes. My heart pounded. How could he ever think that this was wrong, when just sitting beside him felt more right than any relationship I’d ever had before.

“Do you need help with your bags?” he asked, though it wasn’t the question he was asking with his eyes.

Did I want him to come up to my place with me?

“Yes,” I said immediately.

We got out of the car and went into the building, electricity charged between us. We got into the elevator, both of us facing forward, neither of us touching. As soon as the doors closed, I heard Austin drop my bag on the floor.

Then we were on each other.

He had me pinned up against the wall, his hands in my hair, while mine went straight for his belt. I wanted him so much—wanted him with an intensity that scared and excited me. By the time the elevator arrived on my floor, his belt was undone and my shirt was being inched up towards my bra. We kissed, stumbling towards my door.

Somehow, I managed to get the key in the lock, and we nearly fell right into my apartment. I pulled at his shirt, and he pulled at mine, clothes beginning to fly across the room. But before we could get completely naked, I heard a soft, awkward cough coming from behind us.

We broke apart, breathing heavily, to find Grace standing in the doorway of her room.

“Hi,” she said, her face completely red. “I was just . . . I thought I heard . . . I can go back into my room now.”

But Austin was already pulling his shirt back on.

“Sorry about that,” he said, giving Grace an apologetic and charming smile. “Guess we got a little carried away.”

“Uh huh,” Grace said, her eyes round.

I couldn’t tell if she was blushing because she had almost caught us in flagrante, or because she had gotten a good eyeful of Austin’s naked torso. Not that I blamed her for her reaction in either case.

“I should go,” Austin said once his shirt was on and his pants zipped.

I hadn’t realized how handsy I had gotten in the elevator. I quickly pulled my own shirt on and straightened my own clothes.

“I’ll see you soon.” Austin gave me a kiss on the cheek.

Despite everything that we had done that weekend, for some reason, that soft, chaste peck on the cheek felt more intimate than all the time we’d spent naked in bed together.

“See you soon,” I echoed, unable to think of anything else to say.

Grace managed a little wave in Austin’s direction—he gave her his best rock star smile—and then he was gone. My roommate barely waited for the door to close before she turned on me, cheeks flushed and eyes wide.

“Oh. My. God,” she screeched, grabbing my arms.

I winced at the high pitch of her voice but couldn’t help grinning as she began jumping up and down, still pulling on my hands.

“Did you? Did he?” Grace didn’t seem to be able to put together full sentences, but it didn’t matter—both of us knew exactly what she was trying to ask.

“We did,” I confirmed.

Grace let out another shriek and then collapsed onto the couch, pulling me down with her.

“Wow,” she breathed. “Was it amazing?”

I wanted to play it cool, but I couldn’t. And thankfully, with Grace, I didn’t have to.

“It was incredible,” I breathed, letting myself relax into the couch. “Multi-orgasmic amazing.”

“I want all the details!” Grace demanded, facing me.

We usually shared the—often disappointing—details of our dates, but for whatever reason, I clammed up. I didn’t want to share the experience I’d had with Austin. Apparently, my expression said as much because Grace immediately backed off.

“Or you can just let my imagination run wild,” she said with a wink.

I hugged her, grateful that I had a roommate as great as she was. We both sat there for a moment, allowing the excitement of my hallway make-out session with Austin to fade. When it did, I was reminded of everything else that had happened that morning, and I felt the smile slip from my face.

“What is it?” Grace asked. “Did something happen?”

“My brother happened,” I told her, and then gave her a quick rundown of everything that had happened after Luke’s arrival.

In the midst of all the sexy making out, I realized that neither of us had really solved any of the problems that surrounded our relationship. Not that what we had was a relationship. Was it? I didn’t even know. “And I have no idea what to do now,” I groaned, leaning my head back against the couch.

“I’m guessing keeping your hands off each other isn’t really an option anymore,” Grace said with a grin.

I shook my head. “Apparently I have no willpower when it comes to Austin,” I said glumly.

“How could you?” Grace teased. “He’s gorgeous.” But at my expression, she quickly sobered. “Right—alternative solutions.” She thought for a moment. “You should just come clean,” she finally said. “Be transparent about everything. Because the longer it goes on, and the longer you’re lying to people—whether it’s work or your brother—the worse it’s going to be when the truth comes out.”

I considered the suggestion, chewing at my lip.

“But what if this isn’t anything?” I asked, voicing the fear I hadn’t wanted to admit. “What if Austin flips the switch again, and it turns out this was just for the weekend?”

“It didn’t seem like either of you were done,” Grace observed.

“True,” I said, trying to hide my blush. “But what if it isn’t anything more than casual sex? Is it worth it to make a big deal out of it—tell everyone—if it’s all going to fade out in a few days?”

“You think it’s going to fade out?” Grace asked, her disbelief obvious.

I didn’t have an answer for that. Because I didn’t believe it for a second. Whatever was happening between me and Austin was intense and powerful. It scared me a little. But it also excited me. I knew I wouldn’t be able to keep away from him, especially now that the floodgates had been opened. But how much was I willing to risk?

Luckily, I didn’t have to answer myself, as my phone buzzed and I checked it to find that I had a new email from Richard. There was no subject, but when I opened it, the body of the email simply said:

“Tomorrow morning—my office. First thing.”

Shit.