Page 15

“I’ll handle it,” Rex said, and he would. Rex was as dependable as the ocean tide.

I dragged my gaze back to his, and I realized that that part of him was maybe, sort of, kind of (purely academically speaking)... a little attractive.

A lot attractive. And not because I had a head wound or anything.

He flashed a smile at me, then slid his hand against my neck and leaned in to kiss my cheek. Chaste, casual, and quick. Not quick enough. Rough stubble scraped my skin, and the scent of him flooded my senses. I wobbled.

“I knew I could count on you, Abigail,” he said, standing closer to me now, close enough that I could see specks of amber in his dark brown eyes. His smile was soft, and I realized just how much taller and broader he was than me.

God, he smelled good.

My gaze dropped to his lips, then I spun around so fast I had to catch myself against the wall. “Okay, well, good. I’ll see you around,” I said, and tore the door open.

Bright lipstick on a smiling face drew my gaze down the hall. Minnie’s eyebrows wiggled, and then she disappeared around the corner.

I groaned, then reached behind me to haul Rex out of my guest room—and my home. My palm met hard muscle as I shoved his shoulder, and I got another hit of the smell of him as I hurried him down the hall toward the front door.

He hovered on the other side of the threshold, hands leaning against the frame. The night sky spread out behind him, the big oak tree in my front yard waving in a soft breeze. “Thank you, Abigail,” he said.

“Yeah, yeah,” I grumbled. “Watch your fingers.”

He peeled his hands off the frame and held my gaze for a few long moments, then arched a brow as my phone rang. Gabe.

Heart pounding, I swiped to answer. “Hi.”

“Is Rex still with you? I just tried calling, and he didn’t answer his phone.”

Rex, obviously hearing Gabe through the earpiece on my phone, did not do as he was told and leave my property.

“Um, no,” I lied, then balanced it out with a truth: “I’m at home.”

“Why were you calling me? Is everything okay?”

Rex watched me. I could see in his eyes that he doubted what I was going to say. We’d come to an agreement…sort of. I could blow it up right now by telling Gabe what had happened.

Instead, what came out of my mouth was, “It’s just my bathroom sink.”

“Clogged again? I told you, Abigail, you’ve got to stop rinsing your clumps of hair down the drain.”

Suddenly, Ireallydidn’t want to admit any wrongdoingto Gabe. He was always there for me, but he had a way of always expecting the worst. Would it be so hard for him to actually think that I could function properly, for once?

“I’ll just get a plumber to figure it out,” I said. “Gotta go.”

I hung up the phone and met Rex’s gaze.

“You didn’t tell him about me bailing you out of jail,” he noted.

I shrugged, not wanting him to see just how much my brother’s casual dismissal of me affected my emotions. “I don’t back out when I give my word. We have a deal.”

His smile was blinding, and it did funny things to my stomach. “We sure do,” he said, then dipped his chin and turned to leave.

I closed the door and leaned my forehead against it. A long, tortured groan slipped through my lips.

I was attracted to Rex Montgomery. Painfully, desperately attracted to him, like I was a sixteen-year-old ninny again, except worse, because now I knew what sex felt like.

There was no way I could have sex with Rex. Never in a million years. Gabe would murder us both. Besides, Rex wouldn’t want that with me.

Except he’d just invited himself into my house…and my bed.