That was a good opening for Tabitha. “So,Shrinker… How, exactlydidyou get that moniker?” This time she did let her perusal drop below his black mesh belt and satin-silver buckle.
“None of your business,” Shrinker growled, looking at Buck to see if he was going to let his tongue loose, but Buck did a lock and key gesture in front of his lips, then zeroed in on Tabitha, looking much more intent on a new course of discussion.
Indeed, Tabitha wasn’t surprised when he grinned gleefully, his face looking more like a five-year-old’s than a seasoned Coastie’s.
“So tell me, Tabitha. How much of what you said to my brother is actually going to happen?”
CHAPTER 11
Spencer roareduntil he thought his sides might split.
He couldn’t help it. A lot of his borderline hysteria probably had to do with relief that the fraught rescue was over. But not all of it. Tabitha had just regaled him with everything that had gone on in the mess hall with the Commander earlier, and it was truly hilarious.
His brother’s behavior, however…
Yeah. He was going to have words with Buck; maybe adding a bunch of hard-ass noogies once he was free of this chamber. The Sothard-audacity-gene had made an unwarranted appearance as the arrogant asshole he was related to had tried to pump Tabitha regarding her intentions.
Damn.Spencer had only been in the vague presence of his sibling for a few hours, and look how that was going already?Yup.It was par for the course that any one of his brothers would butt into his business.
“So, you’re not even curious about what I told him?” Tabitha asked over the microphone that gave her a direct connection to him without any outside monitoring, thank God.
Spencer vacillated between groaning and crowing. “Should I be?” he prevaricated.
She laughed, an airy, light noise that wound its way into his chest. He wanted nothing more than to be able to touch her. Hold her
He still, however, had several hours left on his decompression time. Spencer had always been long on patience, but this situation would surely be a test of his resolve.
Tabitha continued as if he’d answered in the affirmative. “I told him to mind his own freaking business and that if he was so interested in the goings on between a man and a woman, he should stop being such a fricking loser and get a girlfriend of his own.”
Spencer didn’t know whether to laugh, or beat his chest. Finally, someone who could stand up to one of his overbearing sibs.
The words that had just come out of her mouth, however…
Spencer cleared his throat. “Does that mean…? Are you’re saying that… Is it possible you’re considering beingmygirlfriend?” he had to ask, almost holding his breath.
“Well,” she pondered, tapping her lip with her index finger. “I guess itispretty presumptuous of me to make that statement, considering that we pretty much just met. But in the short amount of time wehaveknown each other, we’ve not only gone through a life-or-death situation together, we’ve also…” Did she just purr? “…shared tanks.” She waggled her brows provocatively.
Once again, Spencer cracked up.
Tabitha was fast on the innuendos, and oh, he could just imagine Buck’s face as his brother had questioned her; getting verbally slapped down by this amazing, ballsy woman.
“Okay,” Spencer agreed giddily. “Wehavekind-of bypassed the whole getting-to-know-you thing. I guess that means we’re going steady then,” he agreed happily.
Tabitha beamed. “Indeed. Should we tell your brother?”
Spencer groaned in amusement. “Depends. If we do, he’ll smile like a baboon for days, and every time he sees me he’ll punch me in the arm and declare that I’ve met my match.”
Tabitha snorted. “Which is exactly what you’d do to him in the same circumstances, am I right?”
Spencer gave in. “Yeah, but… That comes from years of sharing a room, pulling pranks together, and trying to stay one step ahead of our parents.”
“Who must be saints, by the way,” she admonished. “If all eight of you are like this… But I think I might have said that before. You had to be hell on them.” Tabitha shook her head.
“Hey,” Spencer rebutted, but this time there was some fire in his response that he couldn’t quite douse. “Give me a little credit here. Don’t go imagining I’m exactly like all my brothers. Just because we grew up looking alike and doing shit together, doesn’t mean I’m not an individual; that I haven’t forged my own path.”
“Whoa, whoa,” Tabitha backed off, but narrowed her eyes at him. “Correct me if I’m wrong. Have I somehow touched on a sore subject?”
Spencer huffed.Wow.She’d definitely pushed his buttons without knowing it.
