Page 12 of Her Shifter Pack

LEXI

I covered my mouth with my hand and stared down at the man mountain who’d just crumpled before my very eyes. “Oh my God, Markus! What happened?”

Ollie was laughing like a loon, barely standing on his feet himself, so I whacked him in the chest with my fist, trying to make him stop. “Hey! He could be hurt.”

“Oh, he’s not hurt,” Ollie said, still chuckling. “Well, his pride might have taken a bit of a hit, but that’s about it.”

Markus was shaking himself and slowly getting to his feet.

I rushed forward. “Let me help you.”

He practically cartwheeled away from me. “No! I’m fine. I’m fine.”

He wasn’t, but it was obvious he didn’t want any help from me. It was as if he hated my touch. “Oh... yes... okay.”

Ollie threw his arm around my shoulders in a brotherly-type move. Only, the embrace felt far from brotherly. I swallowed at the sudden flutter in my belly, trying to tamp down the feeling. “Come on, Lexi. Leave the baby to his sulking. I’ll show you where you can sleep tonight.”

I didn’t want to leave Markus just standing there, shaking his head and staring down at the floor he’d just dragged himself up from, but Ollie steered me toward the stairs. “Come on. The bedrooms are on the top floor.”

“Yours as well?” I asked, gulping as the reality of this situation suddenly hit me. What had I done? I’d accepted a ride from a stranger, and was now in their house, without anyone knowing where I was.

I knew better than this. I was probably safer in a booth at a diner, or alone in the cold, dark movie theater than I was in a house with two men I didn’t know.

What if they’d drugged the hot chocolate? If they attacked me, or worse... what was I going to do? Or say? That I went home with them, climbed into one of their beds, but didn’t want them? No one would believe me.

And, to be honest, my body was still fluttering with strange feelings that I couldn’t understand. The electricity when I touched both of them freaked me out a little. But it had woken up my long-dormant sexy bits, and I didn’t know what to do about that.

It was so inappropriate to be attracted to these two amazing men. Not one, but both of them, seemed to set off my inner “yes please” goddess in a way I couldn’t remember ever happening before.

“Are you sure about this?” I asked as we walked slowly up the stairs. “You know I didn’t come home with your brother to get into bed with either of you?”

Ollie laughed and removed his arm from my shoulders. “You don’t have to worry, Lexi. We were taught to behave better than that. Our mother would quite literally skin us alive if we ever raised a hand to hurt a woman.”

After years of living with liars and manipulators, I could spot bullshit a mile away. Ollie wasn’t lying, and Markus hadn’t been either when he’d offered me a safe place to stay. That sense of “rightness” was the reason I was here now.

“This is it,” Ollie said, stopping and indicating a dark room.

He reached inside and flicked on the light. “It’s a bit girly. Kaity decorated it when she was like... sixteen.”

I stuck my head inside and smiled. The room’s décor was mostly pink, with white and gold as contrasting colors. Definitely a teen vibe, rather than a grown woman. “It’s really pretty.”

“Sheets are clean,” he said, as I slowly made my way into the room. “Bathroom is down the hall. I’ll grab you a towel and leave it in there for you. I promise that no one will disturb you tonight. You’re safe here.”

He put his hand on his heart as though he was declaring a solemn oath.

I couldn’t explain why, but I believed him. And his brother. I nodded and walked into the pretty pink room, then set my handbag down on the bed. “I won’t be long. I’ll just freshen up, and then go to bed.”

Ollie frowned. “Do you need a shirt or something to sleep in?”

I glanced down at my soiled waitress uniform and grimaced. “Ah, yeah. I guess I do. I didn’t pack my pajamas to go to work.”

A slow, sexy smile spread across Ollie’s face. “You weren’t expecting a sleepover tonight?”

I snorted, trying to hide the lurch of my heart at that look on his face. I couldn’t decide which of the brothers was sexier. They both seemed different, but it didn’t matter to my lady bits.

“Hardly,” I managed, after a pause. “I was supposed to be doing the six a.m. ‘til six p.m. shift, but someone called in sick so I stayed on to help. I have a spare change of clothes in my bag only because I thought I might need to change to get home.”

It was only a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, but at least they were clean, and I could wear them tomorrow.

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