“You…are?” I asked. My heart may as well have been in my hands, it was beating so hard.
“I am.Of course,I am.” He touched my cheek with gentle fingertips. “About last nightandabout the shelter. Will you tell me more about it one of these days?”
I was officially preening. Staring up into his hazel eyes and wondering if I gave him another hug would it feel as good as the last one.
What I wasnotdoing was paying attention to the sounds around us. Not until I heard the distinct jingle of keys or the banging of an opening door.
“Connor?” A deep voice called out. “Con? You here, buddy?”
On instinct, I kicked Connor away from me. Reflexes, you know. Connor, who was taken off guard by the door and my assault, went flying back. Okay, more like stepping back and looking from me to the door like he didn’t know which was scandalizing him more.
I knew which scaredmemore.
My stomach dropped. My heart dropped. I think my everything dropped. I suddenly had to pee. And maybe throw up too. Because that wasn’t just anyone coming into his house. Not his housekeeper or dry clean lady or anything else that would make this any less terrifying.
Nope. That was his brother, Clay. Probably the last person I wanted to discover me and Con likethis.
Or so I thought. Then we heard bickering and the call of another deep voice. This one sterner and to the point. “Connor we’re coming in. You ran off last night and never told us what happened.”
Two brothers?My eyes couldn’t go any wider.
“Con, we’re worried!” Another voice called out. and I got a little dizzy.
Fergy was here.MyFergy—well, I guess she was technically their sister, but she was my friend and this looked… This looked bad.
Connor sprang into action. He grabbed me off the counter like I was some sort of rag doll. Placing me on the ground and spinning around himself like he didn’t know the layout of his own kitchen. It was like watching a big Godzilla toy towering over a town in slow motion.
I rolled my eyes and pushed him out of the way. Then, bending down low, I opened a cabinet that was honestly big enough to fit a couple small children, and climbed in.
Connor crouched down, hands thrown up onto the counter above my head as he watched me crawl into the tiny space.
“Are you sure?” he asked.
“Yes,” I bit out.
“But it’ll be dark and you just—”
“Close the damn door Connor, they’re coming!” I snapped, unable to focus on anything but his crotch aligned right with my face.
He looked skeptical but then there was a sound from way,waytoo close, followed by the timbre of my friend’s voice saying, “Con is that you?”
Connor cursed silently and shut the cabinet door.
A second later he opened it again, shoving my shoes inside and making me eat sand.Dick.
It was as I was spitting out little particles in the dark of a little kitchen cabinet that I decided. I was going to get him back for that ass slap.
Yeah. I was gonna make this motherfucker pay.
Chapter Seventeen
CONNOR
What the fuck?
I may have said it out loud because seriously,what the fuck? What were my brothers and sister doing here?
“Con, Jesus, have some decency!” Tiney practically wailed as she entered the kitchen and immediately covered her eyes overdramatically.
