Chapter Twenty-Two
"My phone?" I stared at my brother, all six-foot-one of him, slightly cowed by the stern expression on his face. Pale gold eyes bored into me, demanding answers. I ratcheted my spine straight, squared my shoulders, and met his gaze head-on. "I've been busy."
Since Aidan and I had been on daily day trips out into the wilds of Upper Michigan, we'd likely gone out of cell range a lot of the time. Plus, I'd been a little distracted by my new companion. That body. Those hands. Those lips. I lost track of everything else whenever he took my body, whispering Gaelic phrases in my ear while he drove me to the heights of ecstasy.
Oh lord, Aidan. I glanced at the hallway, down which the sizzling Scot had disappeared a little while ago, heading for the bathroom. I couldn't hear the shower running. And more than anything in the entire universe, I did not want to explain Aidan to my brother.
Gavin squinted at me with stoic disapproval, the way only an ex-military man could. "Are you going to tell me or do I have to tell you?"
"Tell you what?"
He angled toward me a smidgen, still squinting. "I talked to Tara."
Cold rushed through me, but I fought to camouflage my discomfort. I hadn't asked Tara not to tell Gavin about my house guest, hadn't occurred to me I should. Feigning innocence, I asked, "What'd she say?"
Lips compressed, he hissed a breath out his nostrils. "You're living with a foreign guy."
"I'm not living with him." My fingers ached, probably because I was gripping the door knob like the whole house might float away without me holding it in place. "His motel room was damaged by a burst pipe and he couldn't find anywhere else to stay."
"You've got a strange man in your house, not a stray puppy."
My mouth fell open, but no words emerged. My brain couldn't piece together a coherent syllable, much less a whole sentence.
Gavin took hold of my shoulders and turned me sideways, then strode into the house.
Mandy and Misty came tearing through the dog door, made a beeline for Gavin, and leaped up on him with such glee that he staggered backward a step. As the puppies slopped their tongues on any exposed skin they could reach, he tried to calm them with a hand on each of their heads. After a moment, they returned their front paws to the floor, content to have their heads scratched.
Kneeling to pet the furry girls, Gavin leveled his gaze on me again. "I don't like this one bit, C."
I let Gavin get away with calling me C because he was my big brother and big brothers got special dispensation. I would've hated it if anyone else called me that.
Shutting the door, I folded my arms over my chest. "I'm a grown woman, Gav. I can do whatever I want, without your permission."
"Without any sense either."
The puppies jerked their heads up, ears pricked, and took off for the hallway.
I would've preferred to believe they got a sudden urge to bounce around on my bed and ball up the quilt so they could pounce all over it. Unfortunately, I'd heard the faint click of the bathroom door opening. The puppies had taken off to lavish their attentions on Aidan.
Panic iced through me. Overbearing, ex-Marine brother meets hot Highlander who's ravishing his little sister on a regular basis. Nothing good could come of this.
I snagged Gavin's arm and tried to pull him toward the door but he wouldn't budge, solid and immovable as a two-ton granite statue.
"Please," I said, "let's go outside and talk. It's a beautiful day."
His eyes narrowed again. "What don't you want me to see?"
And of course, that's when Aidan sauntered out of the hallway half-naked and damp, a towel in one hand.
I clamped my lips between my teeth, wincing.
Gavin turned around, coming face to face with my house guest. His eyes seemed to go flinty, narrowed to the merest slits and zeroed in on the Scotsman. My brother didn't fist his hands, but his fingers tensed and curled toward his palms just enough to convey his desire to throttle someone. Probably me. Maybe Aidan too.
"Hello," Aidan said, his smile friendly and wide.
My brother clenched his jaw. His gaze darted from Aidan to me.
Aidan had donned his low-slung jeans but he wore no shirt. His bare chest glistened with lingering dampness from his shower. His wet hair was wild, and when he lifted the towel to scrub his head with it, his hair got even wilder. The trail of hair down the middle of his chest tapered into a line that dived beneath the hip-hugging waistband of his jeans, like an arrow pointing straight to his privates.
He couldn't have looked more like a sex god if he'd tried.
My brother lodged his hands on his hips. "Who the hell are you?"
"Aidan MacTaggart." The Scot held out a hand to my brother. "And you are?"
Gavin glanced at Aidan's hand, his lip curling an eensy bit. "I'm the Marine who's about to kick your ass from here to Mexico."
That did it. I stomped between the two men and rounded on my brother. "Stop acting like a caveman. Aidan is not the enemy and I can take care of myself, thank you very much." I leaned toward him and whispered, "Remember who took care of you after Mom and Dad died."
At the mention of our parents, the anger evacuated his body. He pinched his forehead between his thumb and forefinger, sighing as if the weight of the world resided on his shoulders alone. It had been a low blow, I knew, but all I could think of to defuse the situation.
"Should I leave?" Aidan asked, running hand through his hair to comb it out. "Seems like the two of you have things to discuss."
"You don't have to leave," I said, casting him an over-the-shoulder glance. "This is my brother, Gavin."
Aidan smiled again, his curious gaze aimed at Gavin. "Your brother? That does explain it."
"Explain what?" Gavin asked.
"Why you're concerned about her welfare. I have three sisters and I wouldn't like to find a man I'd never met staying in any of their homes. Especially not my younger sister."
Gavin's face blanked. He didn't move or speak for a minute, maybe more. Then, as one side of his mouth ticked up, he said to Aidan, "Maybe I should go move in with your little sister."
"You could try," Aidan said, "but Jamie lives with my older brother Rory at the moment. He's not as friendly as I am."
Grasping the back of his neck, Gavin frowned. "I still don't like this, but… Calli's an adult. She can do what she wants."
I wanted this conversation to end, but that seemed unlikely. At least my brother was conceding I had the right to make my own decisions. Of course, that didn't mean he'd relinquish his right to critique my choices.
Gavin took a step toward Aidan, bypassing me, and offered his hand. "Might as well make peace, huh?"
"Aye." Aidan shook his hand.
"Just so you know," Gavin said, "I was in the Marines and I served in Afghanistan. Not only could I kill you with my bare hands, but my buddies from the Corps would help me dispose of your body so no one will ever find it."
"I don't doubt it." Aidan slung the towel over one bare shoulder. "I would never hurt Calli or let anyone else hurt her."
"Damn straight. If she gets hurt, I'll hunt you down and take you out."
"You could try."
Gavin stared at Aidan for a long moment, then slapped his shoulder. Hard. "I think we understand each other, don't we?"
Okay, this was all the bravado and male bonding I could handle. I waved my arms, to remind them I was there. "Your bromance has begun, congratulations. Should I leave you two alone?"
Gavin's mouth twisted into an exasperated expression. "Real funny, C. But you and me still need to have a serious conversation."
"There's nothing to say. Aidan's staying here, you don't like it, I don't care, end of discussion."
Aidan started for the hall, tiptoeing away.
"Where are you going?" I asked.
My brother snorted. "I hope he's going to put on a shirt."
I covered my face with my hands. This was going to be a long day. Very long.
As the Scot disappeared into the guest room, I turned back to my brother. "How long are you planning to hang around and scowl?"
"Depends." He crossed his brawny arms over his chest, fixing me with his military-man glare. "How long is your new friend sticking around?"
I hated to think about Aidan leaving, it made me sick to think about it, but I could hardly tell my brother that. Instead I asked, "Where are you staying?"
"Here."
My stomach dropped through the floor, straight into the earth's core. "You can't. Aidan's in the guest room."
"You mentioned once there's a hunting shack on the property."
I blinked rapidly. "You want to stay in the shack that has no electricity and no bed? You'll need to buy a sleeping bag or something and — "
"Stop. I'm staying and that's that." He lowered his arms but gritted his teeth. "No way am I leaving till I figure out what's going on with you. Besides, I can handle roughing it."
"But — "
Gavin marched out the door, calling over his shoulder, "Going to get my stuff. Back in a tick."
As the door clicked shut behind him, I let my shoulders slump. Oh, wonderful. My bossy big brother planned on sleeping in the shack about two hundred feet from the house in which Aidan and I were having sex on a daily basis. Gavin intended to figure me out. Aidan intended to convince me to marry him.
If ever someone invented a recipe for thermonuclear disaster, this was it.