Page 15 of Save Me
And I’ll be doing it with a sizeable pile of rooster shit on my hood.
Again.
Connor’sbare ass is the first thing I see when I step into the kitchen. “Come on, at least put some briefs on. Your sister is here.” Not that Ryan hasn’t had the misfortune of seeing her half brother’s junk once or twice.
He finishes chugging orange juice from the carton and then wipes his mouth with the back of his hand. “She’s not getting up for another hour or two.” He eyeballs my golf shirt and dress pants. “Why areyouready for work?”
I grab a coffee pod and travel mug and set the machine to brew. I wish I had time to stop at Sea Witch for a real coffee and a chance to see Sloane. Better yet, I’d rather just wake up next to her. “Golf pro session starts in twenty minutes.” Archie wasn’t kidding when he said he’d drag the guy out of bed if he had to. The sun just crested a few minutes ago. Official tee-off times aren’t until 7:00 a.m.
Connor’s grin is iconic. “Wow, you really want to impress Wolf, huh?”
“More like I’m trying to not embarrass myself.” I survey the kitchen. “Did the cleaners come?” A perk that comes with the house that we only discovered one morning when we rolled out of our beds to find strangers inside. They come once a week but never this early. When I crashed last night, there were dishes in the sink and tequila spilled on the counter.
“You’re kidding, right?”
“Right, I forgot.” Ryan’s eyelids are incapable of shutting until the kitchen is spotless. “You coming in later?”
“Yeah, I think so.” He bends his injured knee. “The icing helped.”
So did a day having his dick polished by Katie and Rachel, I’ll bet. “Dorian will be pleased. He was seconds from weeping yesterday.”
“Are you surprised I’m his favorite?”
“Nope.” And I don’t know how Connor does it because he is always the most annoying person in the room.
But there’s something more important we need to discuss. “Look, Britt and her friend are staying here this weekend, so don’t be inviting anyone else, okay?”
“Shut the fuck up.” Connor slams the fridge door and turns around to give me a full-frontal view. “I’m going to meet Little Lyle?”
“Not likethat, you aren’t.” I jut my chin at his flaccid penis. “And she’s off-limits, so don’t even think about it.”
“Dude.” His laughter is way too raucous for this time of day. “You, of all people, don’t get to lecture me about staying away from sisters?—”
“You didn’t even know Ryan until a few years ago.” It’s a weak excuse, I know, but I’ll use everything in my arsenal where Britt’s concerned. “I swear, you lay so much as a hairy little pinkie toe on her and our friendship is fucking over.” I deliver that with my index finger in the air and the hardest look I can muster at this hour. “She’s my baby sister, and unless you can commit to never looking at, talking to, or so much as breathing in any other woman’s direction for the rest of your goddamn life?—”
“Okay, okay, I got it.” Connor’s hands are in the air in surrender. “Is her friend hot?”
“Yeah, and also off-limits.” Dani’s been Britt’s best friend since they were five years old. I taughtthat kid how to ride a bike and picked her sobbing little body up when she fell off said bike. She’s as close to a sister to me as anyone can be without being Britt. The last thing I want is for either of them to end up with a guy like Connor. Or one like me, for that matter.
Connor’s face twists with displeasure. “Fuck, man, you’re killing the weekend party vibe, and it’s only Tuesday.”
“There is no vibe here this weekend. No parties, no strip Marco Polo, and no walking around naked.” Shit, I almost forgot. “Tash might be staying here too.”
That earns a raised eyebrow. “The ex is coming to Mermaid Beach?”
“Yeah.” I give the thirty-second rundown about the Golden tickets and Belinda’s instructions.
By the time I’m done, Connor is shaking his head and laughing. “And she rides at dawn, you sucker.”
“Not happening. Not on me, anyway. I’ll barely be here. My schedule is jam-packed. I don’t have time to think, let alone anything else.” I fell asleep reading about the Axis Core CEO’s rare mineral collection.
“Really …” A pensive frown touches Connor’s face, so contrary to the comical cowlick sticking straight up in the air. “So you don’t mind if I show her around.”
“Around town or your dick?”
He shrugs noncommittally.
I think on that for a solid five seconds. Does the idea of Connor and Tasha hooking up elicit any sort of reaction—a tight chest, a burn of jealousy, the urge to punch him in the face, like I felt yesterday when Sloane wasasking questions about our sordid past and I thought she might be interested in hooking up with us both?
