"YOUR SISTER?" I shrieked. I slid away from Lucky, making some thinking room between us. My mind reeled as I backtracked through past events trying to understand how I had missed putting the clues together to reach that obvious conclusion.
"That's what I brought you back here to tell you." He ran a hand through his hair while watching me closely.
"You brought me back here to seduce me."
"Well, there is that, too." He grinned unrepentantly.
"Bastard."
"Not technically." He rolled his tattooed shoulder. "Our mum was married to our dad legit, but she took off shortly after I was born. Sky was five. It bothers her more, since she remembers more."
"Wait a minute." I held up a finger. "Are you saying that sweet, innocent girl out there is five years older than you?"
He nodded.
"How old are you?"
"Twenty-six. How old are you?"
"Twenty-two, almost twenty-three."
"That’s about what I guessed. But you seem older."
"Yeah, it’s clearly the mileage not years. And you know what they say about assumptions." I arched a meaningful brow. "Like with you and your sister. You are not at all what I assumed, not at all what you seem." I squinted at him. "Are you?"
"I'm not sure about all that, but if you’d give me a chance, I'd like to try to explain. But first I need to put an end to World War Three before it begins. There’s only one working tellie on board." He looked sheepish. Cute. He glanced at me from beneath bangs that were rapidly air drying into their usual tousled disarray. I saw definite contrition in those gorgeous blue eyes of his.
The main barrier between us had been removed.
He was no longer off limits.
And I had never been more frightened in my life.
"Sure." I nodded numbly, my stomach somersaulting. He immediately threw open the door. My knees weakening along with my resolve to resist the brewing chemistry between Lucky and me, I sagged into the couch.
"Am I cleared to come in?" Marsha knocked on the door frame while I tugged on the hem to cover my thighs and tried to regain my equilibrium.
"Sure, why wouldn’t you be?"
"Y'all were pretty loud." Her baby blues twinkled. "Didn’t sound like you were nearly through...talking when Alec interrupted."
"Through for now," I clarified. Also, through with going any further than we already had physically if I was wise.
Which I wasn’t.
Obviously.
"So you were listening." I lifted a brow.
She nodded. "When I could. When Rocky wasn’t running his mouth."
"What did you hear?"
"Besides the part about you being more beautiful than any woman he’s ever seen?" She fanned her face with her hand. "Not a whole lot. Just a lot of significant silences." She waggled her brows. "But he told you about Sky, didn’t he?"
"Yeah." I sighed and gave her a look. "Who told you?"
"She did. While you were in the shower with her brother."
"Oh."
"I’m guessing that's a favorable development."
"I haven't decided yet.
"Ah." She came and sat down beside me. "I can see that. He's a lot to take in."
I didn’t say anything. She was right and not just because of his good looks, confident attitude and the emotional risk he represented. There was also that cock of his. Just thinking about the size of it gave me an anticipatory shiver.
"And since you're not mad anymore, does that mean you're ok with us tagging along with them to the Boston concert?"
"Um, no. I mean -what?"
"Shit."
"Well, I thought since we're shutting down the RFC..."
"I don’t remember agreeing to that."
"But you will." Her eyes glittered fiercely as she turned more fully into me. "Because you might be reckless at times. You might sometimes be so sad that you don’t know how you can possibly get up and crawl out of bed, but you do. I...you…we manage it because no matter what happens, no matter how dark things get, you have me and I have you, right?" She took my hand and closed her fingers tightly around mine, so tight I could feel the circulation cutting off. "You don’t really have a death wish, do you? You wouldn’t really leave me alone in this world without him...and without you?"
"No," I whispered. My eyes burned as brightly as hers. "I wouldn’t. I’m sorry."
"You already apologized." Her tone lightened.
"No, I’m sorry about the other. That I forget sometimes. I know that you miss him. That you loved Hawk, too."
"Who's Hawk?" Lucky filled the doorframe with his form, the back lounge with his presence and my senses with a yearning curiosity.
"Raven's brother. One of the best guys there ever was. That there ever will be." She squeezed my hands, released it and stood. "I'm going to the front to play a couple of rounds of NHL '15 with the others. I'll let Lucky fill you in on the logistics and such." She waved off my protest. "It’s just a couple of days. Our paths lie in the same direction. Mostly. I need something lighter. You need it, too." Her eyes dipped to Lucky in a way that was meant to be obvious. My best friend, but sometimes...I tried to convey that in the death glare I gave her. She ignored me.
“Night, Raven." She leaned in and kissed the top of my head. "Lucky." She stopped in the doorway on the way out and turned back to get one last zinger in. "We’re in the same middle bunk as the last time. But I won’t worry if you decide to…sleep somewhere else.
"Don't get any ideas," I said to Lucky immediately at the same time Marsha slid the pocket door closed. "That's her talking not me. Don’t think you have carte blanche access inside my knickers tonight."