“Chipped,” I growled again for the hundredth time as we entered Brock’s house.

We had stopped by my apartment on the way and the twins had thankfully hung back as I marched through the house on a mission. I had grabbed our papers and a few other necessities without being observed. They had given each other several looks but hadn’t commented while I gave them both furious glares.

It wasn’t their fault but as immediate blood relations to Brock, they were the only two Flemings that I could take my wrath out on.

After the car incident, he had warned me that all bets were off but I hadn’t even dreamed he would take his threat that far. When I had packed my additional things in a small bag, out of pure irritation I had shoved a box of tampons in Owen’s chest and told him it wouldn’t fit. He had taken it with an embarrassed look. When Noah had chuckled, I had turned my eyes on him and threatened to make him carry my vibrator.

Neither of them spoke to me on the way to Brock’s house.

I came to a full stop once we reached the living room and looked to my left.

The house smelled clean with the faint scent wood polish invading my nose. It was no wonder with all of the dark wood flooring throughout the house. The living room itself was sparse with only a black leather couch, a few chairs and a large grey rug. They faced a giant mounted TV on the wall.

The space was sectioned off by a floor to ceiling glass wall, through which, you could see the kitchen. Black marble countertops, stainless steel appliances and dark grey cabinets.

The other side of the living room was also partitioned off. The azure blue glass bricks didn’t offer a view of what was beyond. It was stunning in its simplicity with the only color coming from the blue glass wall. It also felt very cold. Too clean.

To the right of the kitchen I saw an open room with a dining table.

Noah walked down what looked like a hallway that ran beside the dining room. He was carrying my luggage with him.

“I want to be in the room as far away from your brother’s as possible, Noah!” I yelled after him.

He responded by turning back and smirking.

I turned to Owen. “Please tell me there’s more than one bedroom.”

He chuckled. “You saw the size of the house when we pulled up. There’s definitely more than one bedroom. Five to be exact. There’s a nice deck out back that faces the woods so you don’t get the city lights in the view. There’s also a pool out there, a game room, a huge office with all of Brock’s computer equipment, a study with a bunch of books in it and a sunroom.”

I blinked up at him. The house looked large when we had driven up and it was set in a neighborhood that had houses that were spaced out enough for privacy but I hadn’t realized it was that large.

I set my bag down on the floor near the living room couch and took a seat.

Owen sat opposite of me and started texting on his phone.

“Does he come here much? Seems really clean,” I said as I kept looking around.

He shrugged. “The last time we talked about it, he said he might sell the house. He has a room out at the complex.”

“The complex?”

He glanced up at me. “Where he works. It has some rooms there underground for whatever reason. I guess that was Aiden’s call. Anyway, he has a room there that he stays at a lot.”

“So, basically he never leaves work?”

He set his phone down on the couch. “Yeah, we’ve been trying to tell him he’s headed for a burnout soon. He needs to get away from it and actually spend some time outside of work. He’s getting stressed. Last month he had an anxiety attack. My dad gets them from time to time when he starts stressing out too much. Frankly, he needs to take a vacation and actually do something like sell this house if he doesn’t want it or just chill out and enjoy what he has.”

I frowned and looked away from him. Brock the constant protector needed to take a break. I could see that. He was so busy trying to watch over everyone and make sure they were safe that he wasn’t taking care of himself and stressing out. Badly, by the sound of it.

I recalled the conversation that I had overheard from the cubicle between he and Aiden. He had told him that he was relaxing, not working and that he was going to take a vacation. If Aiden was telling him to do it then he must have been at least marginally concerned as well.

“Why doesn’t he like the house? It’s nice.”

Owen gave me a pointed look. “In my opinion, because he doesn’t have anyone to come home to. See, when we were growing up, my family did everything together. We liked it. We had some other family we spent time with and everything was good. Noah and I see each other on a regular basis and still go visit our parents pretty regularly. Brock, just kind of drifted toward work.”

Sighing, I stood up and walked toward the kitchen. “Sounds like a workaholic to me. No room for family.”

Owen paced in behind me and leaned up against the counter as I went through the cabinets trying to distract myself.

“He’s a family guy through and through, girly. He just hasn’t tried to meet anyone serious. Ava’s disappearance broke his heart. I mean, we all suffered but he’s never really gotten over it and it’s shaped the person he is now, ya know? So now he has met someone apparently.”

Nodding, I was unsure of how to take that statement. He met someone serious, as in me? That couldn’t possibly be true. Not with women like Angela hanging around. Who knew how many of those women he had lined up and ready.

Going with the facts, however, it looked like he was trying to make me a more serious fixture in his life. I tamped down my emotions with an invisible sledgehammer. They were all over the place right now. Jealousy over Angela, wanting to leave, concern about his stress levels, anger, fear, love.

I shook my head and tried to get that last emotion out of my head. Where had that come from?

I reached for an azure blue glass in the cabinet beside the fridge. Tipping it under the faucet I filled it halfway then started drinking it.

“I see that brain working, Andi. He’s a good guy and he likes you. Pretty obvious, I think. Don’t be too hard on him. He goes about things a little off the mark but he means well.”

Noah walked into the room. “Andi, your things are in one bedroom, Drew’s are in another. I think I got it all separated out correctly.”

He turned to Owen. “A lot of news on about the mayhem we just left but nothing conclusive. Doesn’t look like anyone died, just a few injuries. Looks like Mr. Blackwell is bleeding the publicity dry on it. He’s saying that the incident was directed at him in response to the negative publicity about the leaks.”

Owen narrowed his eyes. “Bullshit.”

“Yeah, I know. The fact that no one was hit kind of begs the question as to why.”

I tilted my head and asked, “Why?”

Noah answered. “Well, you saw how many people were in that room. If a shooter really wanted to cause some damage or was after an intended target, you would think that someone would have gotten in the way. Someone would have gotten shot. The shooter sounded close. Sounds like a distraction. Something meant to make a statement maybe.”

“But Owen got hurt,” I said.

Noah turned to his brother. “Jesus, sorry man, completely slipped my mind. We need to take a look at that.”

Owen shook his head. “It’s a graze, not a big deal.”

I set my glass down, put my hands on my hips, and glared at Owen. “Shirt off. Let’s look at it.”

Noah copied my stance and we both waited.

Owen rolled his eyes and started tugging his shirt up. He stopped and looked at me.

“Don’t tell Ian about this. He’ll flip.”

“Huh?” I asked as he started lifting the shirt over his head.

“Nevermind.”

He turned his back to us and Noah and I looked at the graze on his shoulder. He was a good-looking man, tall, broad chest and some defined muscle. He wasn’t like Brock though. I felt it surprising that the only thing I was really interested in with this half naked man in front of me was his actual injury.

Noah nodded. “Yeah, nothing crazy. It’s bled a little bit though. I’ll get you some alcohol and one of Ian’s shirts.”

“Told you, asshole.”

Noah laughed as he walked away.

I opened a couple of drawers beside me and found one with some black dish towels. I ran some water over it and handed it back to Owen.

“Ahh thanks,” he said and started patting at the blood on his shoulder. “Did I get it all?”

I looked and grabbed the towel from him. “Missed a spot.”

Swiping the towel over some dried blood lower on his shoulder I didn’t notice someone entering the kitchen until I heard him.

“What the fuck?” Brock growled.

I looked up and saw Brock’s face rigid with anger and something like hurt.

Owen held up his hands “Whoa brother. Not what it looks like. Andi and Noah wanted to see the graze. She’s just cleaning it up.”

My eyes narrowed at Brock and went back to wiping Owen’s shoulder. “Wouldn’t matter anyway.”

Brock growled and took a step toward his brother.

Owen turned and took the cloth from my hand. “I’m out of here. I don’t do domestic disputes. We’ll be in the office for the next hour. Maybe two.”

Brock took a step toward me as Owen left the kitchen like it was about to catch fire.

“What does that mean?”

I shrugged and turned toward the sink to wash my hands. I knew I was being catty but I didn’t care.

Brock’s hand slid around my hip before he flipped me around to face him. My back was pressed up against the sink and my wet hands went to his chest. I wiped them on another of his expensive dress shirts.

“Thanks,” I said, challenging him to say something.

He didn’t seem fazed at all as his green eyes stared down into mine. “Andi, quit playing around and answer me. What did that mean?”

I shoved at his chest to get him to back up and he looked down at my hands. When his head came back up he arched his brow.

“Baby, don’t tempt me. My previous promises to tie you up still stand and I have a lot more ties, belts and rope here to do it with.”

I gasped. “You wouldn’t.”

“Try me, sweetheart. I’ll have you tied to the bed with a rope for the rest of the night and spank that sweet ass until it’s red. Then I’ll fuck the hell out of you until you start understanding that you’re mine and you’re here to stay.”

“Screw you!” I yelled.

He grinned. “I would love for you to.”

“I’m not offering you jerk. Where’s Drew?”

He frowned down at me. “With Aiden at the compound, it’s safer there with all his security. What the hell is wrong with you? We fuck like bunnies and you’re all sweet this morning. I come back to the hellcat. Thought we tamed that last night.”

My jaw clenched. “You lied! About your brother for one. And I’m fucking CHIPPED?!”

He backed up a few inches and looked at me cautiously. “They told you?”

I jabbed my finger in his chest. “You can’t just chip people. Oh, and that’s another thing, IAN. You sat there and pressed me for answers over and over again. I tell you—”

“Grudgingly,” he muttered and crossed his hands over his chest.

“I tell you stuff, and you didn’t tell me anything really.”

I started ticking the list off on my fingers. “Your name, your brother, the chip, where you were today. Fucking ANGELA of the extremely huge boob tribe!”

He grinned. “Ahh, well there’s an answer. You’re jealous.”

“I’m not jealous. What is there to be jealous about?” Rolling my eyes, I threw up my hands and started to walk away. “We’re not dating, we’re not even close. I know very little about you except that you like fruity desserts.”

I didn’t look behind me but I knew he was following. I started down the long hallway that Noah had disappeared down earlier with my bags and searched for my room.

“In fact, what I do actually know about you isn’t good. You flirt, you sleep around.”

“Not true. Lately. Like I said.”

I growled and turned around to face him. “Are you trying to make me mad?!”

He shrugged and gave me his panty-dropper Fleming smile. “You’re really cute when you’re mad. I think I like the hellcat. It’s growing on me.”

I bent and yanked my sneaker off, then threw it at his head. He deflected it and it bounced off the wall.

“Ass!” I yelled and turned back to the hallway.

“I’ll take you on a date,” I heard him say. I turned around and bumped into his solid chest.

“What?” I asked, as I backed up from him.

He took a step forward and I was back against his chest again. One of his hands snaked around my waist and that familiar tingle of excitement shot through me.

Traitorous body!

His other hand slid along my jaw and his fingers slipped into my hair. His eyes dipped to my mouth then back up. “A date. Dress up, dinner, hold hands. We can tell each other stuff, then we can go dancing if you want, a movie. A normal date. You’ve had dates. I’m asking if you would like to go on one with me.”

I looked at him confused. “But we’ve already, done stuff, you know.”

“And?” He shrugged. “I plan on stuffing you here in a minute too.”

“But isn’t that the whole purpose of dating?”

He tilted his head and gave me a grin. “Well, I guess but it’s also to get to know each other. You said you wanted to know more about me other than my fruit obsession. I want to know more about you too.”

I let out a long sigh. “You’re deflecting. I don’t understand you, I really don’t. You always want truth from me, right?”

He nodded and continued to play with my hair. “Always.”

“I don’t know if I can stay here, Brock. I really feel like Drew and I would be better off leaving. And the thing is, it’s partially because of you. I don’t know whether to trust you or not. You’re confusing me.”

His jaw clenched. “You’re staying here Andi. It won’t be confusing anymore when I get some stuff at work off my plate. Why would you leave?”

My eyes dropped from his and I put a hand on his chest. “Would you believe I don’t particularly like you?”

“No. We’re going on a date tomorrow night. You’re just scared. I’m not going to let anything happen to you, I promise.”

He sighed when I stepped back from him.

“I just don’t see the point. You’ll go back to your other women when you’re done with me. Why not just stop now?”

“Andi, like I’ve told you several times, I stopped dating or seeing anyone the night I met you.”

I turned around and started opening random doors because the only one I saw open was at the end of the hallway and that one was clearly the master bedroom from the look of it. No way was I going in there. I opened one of the doors and found a bedroom but no luggage. The next door was the same result.

“What about Angela? Did you have time for her on the trip?” I bit out without looking at him.

I heard him sigh. Suddenly I was in the air and over his shoulder.

Squealing I started “What is it with you and being a complete barbarian? Let me down!”

He walked toward the master bedroom and slammed the door as soon as we were through it. He took a few more steps and flung me on the bed.

“I’m not answering anymore questions about Angela,” he said, as he started unbuttoning the cuffs of his shirt.

“In fact,” he paused, sitting to take his shoes and socks off, “we’re never talking about Angela again. I’m going to fire her tomorrow.”

I sat up and watched his movements. “What?”

He finished unbuttoning his shirt and stood up to take it off. “Yeah, she’s out. Because I’m not going to have you question my loyalty again. I haven’t and never will sleep with that woman. She’s very nice if you get to know her but she’s out of a job tomorrow.”

I sighed and felt a little guilty. But she really was trying to boob smoosh him every time I saw her so the guilt wasn’t exactly long lived.

I chewed on my lip. Gawd, what was wrong with me?

“No, don’t fire her,” I mumbled.

He was looking down at me when I finally looked up. He had a very serious expression on his face as his eyes roamed over me.

“Clothes off, Andromeda.”

I jutted my jaw out at him. “No.”

“Don’t defy me. I’ll take a pair of scissors to them.”

My eyes narrowed at him. His narrowed at me.