Sin With Me

54

“You’re a terrible actor,” I tell him. “It’s a good thing you went into music.”

He rolls atop me again and commences with more tickle torture. Luckily it doesn’t last long, because the sound of an old-fashioned car horn pulls us apart.

I ask, “Is that coming from your butt?”

“Yep. Incoming text.” From his back pocket he pulls out his cell phone. He looks at the screen, and then at me. “The cavalry’s here. It’s Nico and Kat.”

I sigh. “So the first meeting of the Mutual Admiration Society comes to an end. Bummer.”

Brody rolls off me, pops up from the bed, takes my hands, and pulls me up. He squeezes my hands and grins at me. “Yeah, but we’re gonna have meetings every day for the next month, so don’t sweat it, Slick.”

Following behind him, I let him lead me by the hand from the room. “And then we’re going to have daily meetings of the Horizontal Mambo Society.”

I feel his husky chuckle all the way to my toes. “Daily? If I know you at all, it’s gonna be hourly.”

My smile is wide and happy. “Damn straight. Better get your beauty rest this month, because at the end of next month you’re going to be chapped, dehydrated, and totally exhausted.”

Looking at me over his shoulder, he laughs. “I can hardly wait.”

I say drily, “That makes two of us.”

The first thing Kat does when she sees me is throws her arms around me and bursts into tears, complete with hysterical sobbing.

Nico, Barney, and Brody stand in the foyer of the main house, watching us. Not even three seconds have passed since we let them in the front door, and I’ve got Ms. Drama Queen 2016 having a breakdown all over my Neil Diamond T-shirt.

I haven’t yet told Brody I’m claiming it for my own, but I’ve literally had some of the happiest hours in recent memory in this stupid old shirt, and there’s no way I’m parting with it now.

Over Kat’s shoulder I look at Nico with my brows raised.

He shrugs. “She’s worried about you.”

Barney says, “We all are. You doing okay, Angelface?”

Beside him, Brody stiffens.

Barney has about fifty pounds on Brody, is trained in martial arts, used to be in the military before he worked as a bodyguard, and is armed with a handgun, yet I have no doubt Brody would go toe-to-toe with Barney if the man so much as looks at me sideways again.

In the name of radical honesty, we’ll have a talk about that later. Jealousy is a deal breaker for me.

“I’m good, Barney, thank you.” I smile at Brody. “I’m being very well taken care of.”

As if a faucet has been turned off, Kat stops crying. She pulls away and looks at me, then at Brody—who’s no longer bristling but grinning—then back at me. “You’re good?”

I nod.

She wipes her face with her fingers. “Are you sure?”

I give her hand a squeeze. “Honestly, Kat, I’m really lucky I wasn’t home. All that stuff that blew up is just that—stuff. It can be replaced.”

She groans. “But your beautiful clothes . . . all your jewelry!”

A spike of pain pierces my heart. I don’t really care about the clothes, and the insurance will pay for the jewelry, but there were a few things that can never be replaced.

Like the engagement ring my grandfather gave to my grandmother.

Like the small gold locket my mother used to wear around her neck that had a picture of me as a baby inside.

Like my parents’ wedding rings—returned to me in a little plastic bag from the morgue.

My smile fades as my stomach sours. “Well, what doesn’t kill you . . .”

“Makes you stronger.” Brody steps up beside me. He clasps an arm around my shoulder, pulls me against him, and kisses me on the temple. He gazes into my eyes. “And you’re a tough cookie, Slick,” he murmurs, looking at me as if there’s no one else in the room. “You’re gonna make it through this just fine.” His lips curve upward. “Plus, you’ve got the octuplets to focus on now, so there’s really no time for feeling bad.”

Kat barks, “What? Octuplets? What did you just say?”

Brody grins at her. “Oh, Grace didn’t tell you yet? She’s pregnant with—”

I elbow him in the side.

“Ow!”

Judging by the look of distress on Kat’s face, I should have elbowed him harder. I have a feeling her emotional outburst when she came in has more to do with her than me.

“He’s joking, Kat,” I reassure her. “Nobody’s pregnant.” I shoot Brody a sharp sideways glare. “Nobody’s getting pregnant, either.”

Brody mock pouts. “Is this your subtle way of telling me you don’t want kids? Because my mother just told me today that she’s ready to be a grandma again, and I was thinking after our thirty days are up we could—”

“One more word,” I interrupt him calmly, “and you won’t be able to get anyone pregnant because you’ll be missing the proper equipment.”

All this talk of pregnancy is making Kat ghostly pale. I’m not the only one who notices.

Nico takes her by the arm, pulls her toward him so her back is against his chest, wraps his arms around her, ducks his head, and whispers something into her ear.

Eyes closed, lips pressed together, she nods.

Shit.

Barney drawls, “Thirty days? What’s that all about?”

He and Brody lock eyes.

Double s**t.