Amber snorted. “I haven’t missed your ridiculous nicknames. They’re lame.”
I grinned, easing into the familiarity of arguing with my sister. “Nate was the one who came up with ‘flasher.’”
“Hey, don’t bring me into this. I’m here, all grown-up and sensible-like, driving us to a bar so you can see your little sister pissed for the first time.” Humor laced his words.
I groaned. “Ugh. Don’t remind me.” I glanced back at a grinning Amber. She was so excited to be going out tonight that I couldn’t even be annoyed with her that I had to keep my hands to myself. “You behave. No accepting drinks from anyone but us. No leaving your drinks unattended.”
“It’s not the first time I’ve been out drinking,” she sassed.
“It’s the first time legally,” I shot back.
Nate snorted. “Your sister has been known to stumble home after drinking a few ciders with her friends. She’s even more mouthy when she’s tipsy.”
I groaned again, something I expected to be doing a fair bit of tonight. “Just don’t drink too much.”
Amber snorted. “Yes,Dad. I imagine I’ll have one cider and that’ll be enough. Between pregnancy and breastfeeding, I’ll be a serious lightweight.”
“Hmm... in that case, make sure if you go to the toilet, you let us know.” From the corner of my eye, I saw Nate’s shoulders shaking.
“Right...,” Amber dragged out. “Maybe I’m wrong here, but I can’t imagine too many straight men being there tonight, certainly none on the prowl for women. If any at all. That means I’m only likely to pull women, right, who’ll all be using the same bathroom as me, so….”
My sigh was loud and heavy, and both the assholes in the car laughed. “Just—”
“Ryan.” Nate stopped me short. “She’ll be fine. She’s not a kid, and we’re both there. Plus it’s a nice place. Safe. You saw that for yourself last weekend.”
A glance in his direction reassured me that despite the teasing, he was being serious. “Okay. You’re right.” When his hand twitched on the wheel, my heart rate kicked up, convinced he wanted to reach out to me as much as I wanted to touch him. I subtly sat back on my hands.
It didn’t take long before we reached the motel. Once checked in, I regulated my breathing, trying to be as casual as possible about Nate and me sharing a room. Amber didn’t even blink when we saw her to her room first. We agreed to meet in an hour, and I had a sneaky suspicion she planned to spend forty-five minutes of that napping.
Every night when Ivy woke, I’d not only heard her loud and clear, but tucked up in Nate’s room, I’d held my breath. The situation was far from ideal, but being the selfish git I was, no chance was I prepared to give up my nights with Nate.
Once in our room and with the door locked, I pounced on Nate. I needed his mouth and his touch. “Shower with me?” I asked breathily. We only had an hour, and every minute counted. Nate nodded, his mouth brushing over mine as we stumbled to the bathroom. With our clothes discarded on the way, we were naked by the time our bare feet touched the tiled floor.
“You’re not getting farther than a meter from me in the next hour,” I muttered, only half serious.
I felt his smile against my mouth before making good on getting my Nate fix. Hopefully it would be enough to get me through the night.
* * *
A few hours later,I couldn’t remember laughing so hard. My cheeks ached from the first half of the show. Nate had not been exaggerating how epic Lady Bra Ga’s performance was.
It was more than that, though.
Amber and I snickered and joked in a way that took me by surprise. With our big age gap, I’d never had the opportunity to consider her more than a slightly annoying kid. Sure, I loved her and had tried to look out for her, even in my absence. But tonight, seeing her in a new light, blew my mind.
“I so did not break your weird CD thingie.”
I quirked my brow at Amber. “Uhm, hello, you drawing Dorothy the Dinosaur or whatever all over my DVDs, in biro no less, kinda destroyed them.”
The grin on her face reached megawatt level, and she nudged me with her elbow. “Thanks for letting me come hang tonight. I didn’t want to rain on your parade or anything and get between you and your mate time.”
Since I’d had four beers, rather than tensing, I redirected the conversation. “You’re not. I’m surprised you wanted your first night out to be with your old-fart brother, though.”
“Your farts do still smell like something crept up your butt and died.” She scrunched her face, and I laughed hard.
“Me, fart? I’m too much of a gentleman to do such things.”
“Yeah, right. Hell, I lost count of the farting competitions you and Nate had. Thanks for that, by the way.” The stink-eye she shot me lost its impact with the twitching of her lips. “One of my earliest memories is of you two idiots running into my room, farting, then not letting me out.”
