Текст книги "Play"

Автор книги: Kylie Scott

сообщить о нарушении

Текущая страница: 7 (всего у книги 16 страниц)

“Of course I’m fucking serious. This is my fucking girlfriend, you moron.”

Ben’s gaze flitted over my body. “Yeah well, your fucking girlfriend’s pretty cute. You know what? I think I like her.”

Every part of Mal tensed. There was fire in his eyes. “You–”

“No.” I grabbed hold of the lapels of his jacket. “No fighting.”

He looked at me, nostrils flaring. What was it about weddings that invited so much drama?

“I mean it,” I said. “This is Ev and David’s special night.”

But Ben was apparently having far too much fun to stop now. “Remember that time we shared a girl in Berlin? That was good … real good. Always thought I’d like to try that again. What do you say, Anne? Up for a bit of fun? Promise we’ll take good care of you.”

Mal snarled and I lunged, getting him in a strangle hold. I was basically hanging off him. Damn, the man was strong. Ben might be huge, but given Mal’s current mood, I wouldn’t bet against him in a fair fight. The muscles in his neck were bulging.

“Mal?” I said his name in my super calm and in control voice. Under different circumstances I’d have probably made an awesome therapist. “Are you listening to me?”

“Yeah.” His hands gripped my ass, taking some of my weight. A good thing. Dangling from someone’s neck was harder than it looked.

“Everything’s fine. Ignore him,” I said. “Ben, get out.”

The jerk waggled his eyebrows at me.

“Now.”

“Sure, Anne. No worries.” He winked at me, closing the door.

“Be calm, Mal. The bad man is gone.”

“I’m calm,” he growled, holding me to him.

“He didn’t mean it. He was just messing with you.”

“Didn’t you see the way he looked at you? Idiot meant it.” Mal hugged me tight. “Piece of shit’s bad as Jimmy sometimes. Should have kicked his ass.”

“Hey now, harness that inner caveman. You’re very aggressive tonight.”

“I don’t like people saying stuff about you. You shouldn’t have to put up with that.”

“Well, that’s sweet. But I don’t need you beating up anybody for me.”

“Four of us have been beating each other up since we were kids. It happens.” One handed, Mal tugged my zipper back up into place. Then he pierced me with a hard look. “You didn’t want to, did you?”

“Generally, I do prefer one penis at a time. It’s a failing of mine, I guess …”

“Good.”

I gave him a kiss on the cheek because a jealous Mal was an awesome sight. “What was he talking about ‘it’s time’?”

“Davie wants to play a few songs for Ev. We gotta go back out.” He sighed and sat me back on the counter. His hands rubbed over my sides. “You okay?”

“Yes.”

Still he frowned.

“You know, you can be kind of intense sometimes, Malcolm Ericson.”

His watched me in silence.

“You come across as this happy-go-lucky-type dude most of the time, but you are in fact a man of many layers. You’re kind of complicated.”

“Surprised?”

“Yes. And no.”

“And you call me complicated. You gonna dance with me later?” he asked, shaking off the bad mood.

“I’d love to.”

“You wanted another drink, didn’t you? C’mon, let’s go get that before I set up.” He lifted me down, his hands on my hips, treating me with the utmost care.

“You’re the best boyfriend ever. Fake or not.”

“How many you had?”

“Boyfriends? Two.” I held up a couple of fingers, just in case he wanted a visual aid. It was good to be helpful.

“So I’m number three?”

“No, you’re number two. Relationships aren’t my specialty.”

“No?” He lifted his chin, looked down at me. “You’re doing real good, Anne.”

“Thanks, Mal.”

CHAPTER ELEVEN

I had a nice buzz by the time we stumbled home. We shared a cab with Nate and Lauren at around three in the morning after an amazing party.

I’d finally heard Stage Dive play live. They were awesome playing acoustic. Jimmy’s and David’s voices melding together beautifully. Each one of those men was so damn talented it made my teeth hurt. Ben, with his bass, and even Mal, deprived of his full drum kit, made his presence felt in amazing ways. They were all in perfect balance, integral to the music.

It might have been way past my bedtime, but I didn’t want the night to end. Not just yet. I lay on my back, staring at my bedroom ceiling. It’d stopped spinning a short while ago. The gap in my curtains provided just enough light from the street to see by. A few years ago on nights like this when sleep wouldn’t come, I’d often talk to Mal–I mean, the poster version of him. Sad and psychotic, but true. Now the man himself slept next door.

Life could be a strange and beautiful thing sometimes.

Other times it was just a disaster. But sometimes beauty won out.

I ran my fingers over my poor, sore lips. They’d almost been kissed into extinction. Once Mal got an idea into his head, he was unstoppable. And apparently dancing with him meant indulging in a mini make-out session. It had gotten more and more difficult to feign dissatisfaction every time he tried something new. So many ways to kiss, I’d truly had no idea. Soft and hard, with or without teeth, the varying depths of penetration by tongue had featured largely. And hand placement. Whoa, the hand placement. He’d done everything from gently stroking my neck to kneading my ass. A man who knew what to do with his hands was truly a force to be reckoned with. I’d only just stopped him from slipping it up my skirt at midnight.

Such a great night.

He’d stripped down to boxer briefs again once we got home. I’d gone into the bathroom to grab a hairbrush and there he’d been, brushing his teeth. A man brushing his teeth had never been such a turn-on, even with the white bubbly drool slipping out of the corner of his mouth. My guess would be he didn’t own pajamas. Nope, a guy like him must sleep in the nude. A brilliant scientific deduction based on the hot and hard man currently occupying my couch. All too readily I could imagine his warm, tanned skin exposed. Did he sleep on his back, stomach, or side? Aesthetically, on his back would be most pleasing … for various reasons.

But if he did lie on his stomach the long line of his spine would be on show with the bonus addition of his ass. I’d sell something important to see his bare ass. My books, my e-reader, my soul, whatever was necessary.

And I could think about something else anytime I wanted to. But why would I?

No, masturbating was a much more sensible course of action. I was all wired and awake, my nipples hard and breasts aching. The time had come to take matters into my own hands.

“Mm, Nate.”

More moaning.

Some groaning.

A thump.

“Baby, yes.”

“Lick it, Lauren.”

No. Fucking. Way.

I covered my face with my pillow and silently screamed. If I put on music to drown them out (my usual course of action for dealing with Nate and Lauren’s nocturnal passions) I’d probably wake Mal.

Two more thumps. The bed next door started creaking. It was so loud I almost didn’t hear my bedroom door being opened.

“Pumpkin, am I in hell?” Mal walked in, sat on the edge of my bed.

“Yes. Yes, you are. I’m sorry. This is the first and worst level of all, the one where you can hear your neighbors fucking through paper-thin walls.”

Lauren made some screechy noise she was particularly prone to during such encounters. I cringed.

“Make it stop,” Mal whispered, mouth opened wide in horror. “Oh, fuck no. This is horrible.”

We both started quietly laughing. It was the only sensible response.

“Let’s go to a hotel,” he said, moving farther onto my bed.

“It’s four in the morning.”

“How long do they normally take?”

“They’ve been drinking, so this could go on for a while.” I drew up my knees, hugged them tight to my chest. He didn’t need to know about my nipple situation. The sad truth was that listening to people having good, noisy sex wasn’t helping. Lucky I was wearing my best comfy cotton jammie pants and an old T-shirt. They were so baggy they hid everything. Otherwise, having Mal sitting on my bed so close might have been a touch embarrassing.

“Isn’t there something wrong with this picture?” said Mal, scowling at the wall as if it had personally offended him. “I’m the drummer from Stage Dive. I don’t get kept awake by other people having wild sex. I keep them awake. I keep entire fucking neighborhoods awake.”

“Damn, baby. You’re so good at this,” Nate snarled through the wall.

“Did you hear that?” asked Mal.

“Yep.”

“Right. That’s it.” Mal climbed up onto his feet, standing tall on my bed. There was only a foot between him and the ceiling at most. “He’s taunting me. He’s challenging me.”

“He is?”

“The bastard.”

“And I always thought Nate was such a nice guy.”

He reached out his hand to me. “C’mon, Anne. We must defend our fake sex life.”

“Shit.” I took his hand, letting him pull me up too. “Don’t let me bounce off the side. And don’t hit your head.”

“I’m not gonna hit my head. Would you stop being such a grown-up for a minute? Relax, have some fun.”

“Harder, Nate!” Came from next door.

Mal’s cleared his throat, loudly. “Anne!”

“Mal.”

“Louder,” he hissed, as we started to bounce. The wooden frame of my bed made startling creaking noises. The kind it hadn’t made in a very long time, if ever. If only it were due to us being horizontal and naked. That would be so great.

“Mal!”

“You’re such a nice girl, Anne,” Mal projected for the sake of our neighbors. “I really like you a lot.”

“Seriously? That’s your version of sex talk?”

“Let’s hear you talk dirty, then. C’mon.”

I shut my mouth. It stayed shut.

“Coward.” Mal turned his face to the wall we shared with Nate and Lauren. “You taste so fucking good.”

“Like what?” I asked breathlessly, thigh muscles tightening. The man was lucky I didn’t just attack him with my vagina. “What do I taste like?”

“Well, like honey and cream and … I dunno, bread?”

I scrunched up my nose. “Bread?”

“Yes. Sexy bread that I could eat all the time because you are so delicious and full of wholegrain goodness.”

The next round of giggling made my stomach muscles seize up, but I kept bouncing. How weird to be laughing and jumping and turned on at the same time. Some friends of Lizzy’s and mine had a trampoline when we were growing up. It’d never been as much fun as this, however.

Then Mal jumped particularly high and hit the ceiling with his head.

He dropped onto his much-coveted ass, rubbing the top of his skull. “Fuck. Ouch.”

“Are you okay?”

The bed suddenly collapsed, one end of the wooden frame crashing to the floor. The noise was most impressive. As was the sudden silence from next door. I stumbled and slid and wound up landing half on his lap. Fortunately, an arm went around me, stopping me from bouncing further. We sat there, basically chest to chest, with one of my legs thrown over both of his.

“We’ve broken my bed,” I said, stating the obvious.

“In battle, sacrifices must be made, pumpkin.”

“Is your head okay? Do you need an ice pack?” I pushed his mess of blond hair out of his face. Maybe he needed sexual healing. I was so up for that. It was right on the tip of my tongue to suggest it. Drunken bravado was the best.

“It’s good.” His smile came ever so slowly.

Someone knocked on the wall from Nate and Lauren’s side. “You two okay?”

“We’re fine,” I called back. “Thanks. Carry on.”

I could hear barely subdued laughter. My face felt hot. Flame-worthy hot. You could probably cook a steak on that sucker. Crap, everybody would hear about this. And I do mean everybody. We were never going to live this down.

“They’re mocking us,” I said.

“Nonsense. We just fucked so hard we broke your bed. They wish they were us. The natural order of sexual status has been restored.”

We both laughed. It was all so ridiculous.

But then the laughter kind of dwindled away to nothing and we were sitting there staring at each other. His face was in shadows. It impossible to read him. But his thickening cock made its presence known against my thigh. What I wouldn’t have given to know what he was thinking. All of my awareness went directly to between my legs and oh shit, it felt good. I wished he’d do something because I wasn’t sure I could. He reacted to me but what did that mean? Dicks did stuff. Mysterious stuff, like getting hard for no reason. Sex was most definitely not part of our agreement. He’d been specific. And yet, all the kissing and teasing tonight…

I’d never been so confused in my entire life. Confused and horny.

Next door, the noises started up once more as they took my advice and did indeed carry on.

“I’m pretty sure they’re not thinking about us at all,” I said.

“Just out of interest, how drunk are you?”

“The room is kind of spinning. Why?”

“Nothing. We better move,” he said, voice guttural. Carefully, he lifted me off of him and then climbed out of the ruin of my old bed. We both stood there, collectively ignoring the bulge in his pants. Not awkward at all. It had to be said though; a damp crotch was far easier to hide.

“Let’s go watch a movie,” he said. “No one’s getting any sleep anytime soon.”

“Good idea,” I lied and let him haul me out of the wreckage. “Poor bed. But that was fun.”

“Yeah, it was. Not as much fun as actually fucking, but still, not bad.”

My curiosity got the better of me. Either that or I had no manners and was indeed still drunk. “Speaking of which, what happened to your hook-ups? I thought you might go visiting a lady friend after we got back from the party.”

“Meh.”

“Meh?” He had a half-on and he was giving me ‘meh’?

“Between getting ready for this tour and being in a serious fake relationship, I haven’t had the time.”

“Fair enough.” I didn’t believe him at all.

Instead, my alcohol-addled mind made giant leaps of logic. Little to no reason was involved. What if his lack of libido had to do with his need for a fake girlfriend somehow? Maybe he had a mysterious real girlfriend hidden away down in L.A. and I existed solely to put people off the scent. Actually, no. That theory hurt. But maybe this was all about the bet he’d made with Ben. He’d backed himself into this ridiculous corner with his insane jokes and now his pride would be wounded if he tried to back out. And that theory hurt even more. Neither probability covered his being sad sometimes, though. I let him lead me into the living room, my head and my heart a not-so-sober mess.

“What about you? You weren’t seriously keeping your legs crossed until douche came to his senses, were you?” He sat in the middle of the velvet couch, pulling me down beside him, keeping me close.

“No, I’ve dated. Just not recently.”

“How not recently?” He picked up a remote and the huge TV came to life. His arm rested on the back of the couch behind me, the flat of his hand beating out a fierce rhythm.

“What do you feel like watching?” I asked.

“Not going to tell me?”

“A few months.”

Some old horror film was on. From the eighties, if the big hair and spiral perm were any indicators. A pair of barely concealed breasts bounced their way across the screen. A woman screamed.

“This looks good,” Mal said.

“Mmm-hmm.”

“You don’t scare easily, do you?”

“No. Though it does make me sad when Johnny Depp gets turned into tomato soup.”

“Bet it does.” He smiled. “You know, I meant what I said.”

“About what?”

“About you.” He looked straight ahead, never meeting my eyes. The light from the TV lit the angles and planes of his perfect face. “I like you.”

“Thank you, Mal.”

Then why weren’t we having sex? Obviously, he didn’t like-like me. He just liked me, like he’d said.

My mind starting spinning all over again.

“You didn’t say you liked me back,” he prodded, sounding the tiniest bit insecure if my ears weren’t deceiving me.

“Oh, well.” I turned to look at him, squinting, ignoring the screaming still coming from on screen. “You are …”

“I’m what?”

“So …”

“C’mon, pumpkin, you’re taking too long. Spit it out.”

“Very …”

“Fuck it. I’m just gonna compliment myself.”

I sighed long and loud, enjoying this immensely.

“You’re hopeless at this,” he bitched.

“How about stupendous? Does stupendous work for you?”

“Hmm.” He gave me a small, satisfied smile. “Yeah. That’s not bad. I mean, it definitely starts to cover the glory that is me.”

“And egotistical. So very egotistical.”

“You lie.” His fingers danced over my sides, making me giggle and squirm. “I am humble perfection.”

“No. Don’t tickle me.”

“Admit I’m your reason for being. Admit it!” His arm came around me, pulling me back into him as I tried to escape. “Shit, don’t fall off the chair again. I can’t take any more hits to the head to save you.”

“Stop tickling me, then,” I huffed.

“Tickling you. Please. As if I’d be so immature.” A hand came up and gently pushed my head onto his shoulder and the arm around me tightened. “Shh, quiet time now.”

The warm buzz filling me was ten times better than anything alcohol could ever provide. No, a million times better, because it came with the added bonus of smelling and feeling like Mal Ericson.

“Relax,” he said.

“I’m relaxing.” Stuff happened on the big screen. None of it mattered. My eyes drifted closed as I concentrated on him. Whatever his reasons for being here, there was little chance I’d ever get what I wanted. It was the human condition to always want more. That being said, what I had for the moment was pretty damn good.

CHAPTER TWELVE

People were arguing again when I woke up. Only this time, there was no yelling. Heated whispers passed straight over my head.

“Why is my sister asleep on top of you?” asked Lizzy.

“Because I’m her boyfriend,” Mal answered. “Who are you? Anne didn’t say anything about having a sister.”

“She didn’t?”

“No. And how many people have fucking keys to this apartment, anyway? You forget the sliding bolt for a moment and it’s open city.”

“With Skye gone, just me and Lauren as far as I know.”

“Don’t say that name. She gets upset when you mention it. Her eyes go all sad and it totally bums me out.”

“What, Skye?”

“Yeah,” he growled.

“Fine, fine.” A pause. “You’re kinda hot, aren’t you?”

A disinterested grunt.

“I’m not hitting on you, idiot. She’s my sister and this is my suspicious voice. Don’t I know you from somewhere? Your face is very familiar.”

The fingers connected to the big hand cupping my ass tightened. What it was doing there, I had no idea. But did I like it? Yes. Yes I did. I was sleeping on a bed of Mal. Talk about heavenly. I couldn’t even remember falling asleep. Obviously, it had happened sometime during the gory horror movie because we were still on the velvet couch in the living room. My sister was here so it had to be Sunday morning, our day to do our duty and call mom. We always performed this unpleasant task together.

I did not want to move. Not until Wednesday at the very earliest. I was mildly hung over.

But more than that, I didn’t want to get off of Mal.

“What the hell did you do to her? Her lips are all puffy and bruised.”

“Are they?” Mal’s body moved beneath me as he no doubt lifted his head to check out the damage. “Shit. Ah, yeah. She’s a bit of a mess, isn’t she? But how was I to know if she was into biting or not if I didn’t try it out?”

“She’s not,” said Lizzy. “Or at least, I don’t think she is. Anne’s never seemed like the biting type to me. She’s more … restrained.”

“Restrained?” Mal laughed softly. “Yeah. Why don’t you go check out her bed, then tell me how restrained she is.”

Footsteps followed by a gasp. “Fuck me. It’s totaled.”

“My pumpkin’s an animal when she gets going.”

“You call her pumpkin?” My sister’s voice was filled with awe. “Does she actually answer?”

“Well, she pretends to hate it. But secretly, I know she loves it. Her face goes all soft and everything.”

Oh good god, enough. I’d basically raised this girl; she didn’t need to hear this sort of shit. Any authority I’d once had would be dust. I cracked open an eyelid. “Quiet, Mal.”

“I am your servant in all things.”

“What time is it?” I asked as a yawn almost cracked my jaw in two.

“Mal? Did she call you Mal?” asked Lizzy, coming up close beside us. My sister and I didn’t look much alike. Her hair was a pretty caramel color as opposed to my carrot. Her features were more delicate than mine, though we both had mom’s strong jawline. “No. Way.”

Ha, this would be fun.

“Strangely enough yes, way,” I said, my voice ever so slightly smug. “Mal, this is my little sister, Lizzy. Lizzy, this is Malcolm Ericson.” My sister hadn’t been quite as big a Stage Dive fan as me. Doubtful it would stop her from fangirling out, however.

As suspected, Lizzy squealed like a loon. Both Mal and I winced. “Oh my god, Anne loves you. She had an entire wall of her bedroom dedicated to you.”

“No!” Shit, how had I not seen this coming? Fear choked me. Someone had to tackle my sister, now. Take her down and lock her in a cupboard. It was absolutely for her own benefit, but mostly mine. I tried to lunge at her, but strong arms held me trapped. “Lizzy. Shut up. Please shut up. He doesn’t need to know that.”

“Tell me more, Lizzy,” demanded Mal. “A whole wall, did you say? That is fascinating. I definitely need to know more.”

“No you don’t.”

“Hush, Anne. I’m listening.”

My arms weren’t long enough to cover Lizzy’s mouth. I had to settle for Mal’s ears. I fought him, but he shook off my hands far too easily, the wily man.

“She used to write your name on her thigh in permanent marker,” my traitorous wench of a sister reported. It was official: Lizzy sucked. There was a good chance I’d soon be an only child if she kept talking. Given mom rarely noticed she had children at all, the loss shouldn’t be too debilitating long-term.

“That’s a lie!” I cried, breaking out into a cold sweat.

“Did she write it on her inner thigh? I bet it she did, the minx.” Mal grabbed my wrists, holding them against his chest. An effective means of stopping me from beating him bloody. “Did she draw little hearts with arrows sticking out of ’em too?”

“I don’t know.” My beloved sister settled into the wingback, crossing her legs. “But she did practice signing her name as Anne Ericson all the time.”

“I am so touched you’d take my name, pumpkin.” Mal attempted to smooch my fists. “No shit, that’s awesome of you. Means the world to me. My family is gonna love you.”

“La–la-la-la,” I sang at the top of my voice, drowning them both out as best I could.

“And she’d watch Stage Dive videos over and over. Except for the one where you kissed that girl.” Lizzy clicked her fingers, her face tensed in concentration. “’Last Days of Love’, that was the one. She flat-out refused to watch it, would leave the room if it came on.”

Beneath me, Mal’s body shuddered because he was laughing his ass off. The man was in hysterics. Even his eyes were bright with unshed tears, the douche canoe. A big hand curled around the back of my head, pressing my face into his neck. “Aw, Anne. Were you jealous?”

“No.” Yes. Horribly, horribly jealous. That kiss had ravaged my teenage soul and made me listen to sad songs for almost a year.

“My poor girl.”

“Shuddup.”

“I didn’t mean to kiss her. My mouth slipped,” he said, trying for earnest and failing. “I swear I was trying to keep myself pure for you. Tell me you believe me, please.”

I called him something foul.

He laughed even harder, making the whole couch shake.

Given he wasn’t letting me go any time soon, I hid my hot face in his neck as invited. Everyone in the room, I hated them. I hated them hard. It was tempting to bite him but he’d probably enjoy it. He’d certainly spent quality time nibbling at my lips and jaw after cornering me yet again at the party last night. His kissing crusade had almost undone me, but it had taken my sister to do the real damage, my own flesh and blood.

Now Mal knew everything. I was doomed.

“Lizzy, be a good girl and fetch me a pen,” said Mal. “I need to write your sister’s name on my junk, right now.”

Honest to god, I tried not to laugh. I tried so hard.

“How about I go make coffee instead?” Lizzy hauled herself to her feet. “You know she usually has breakfast cooked for me by now, every Sunday at ten o’clock on the dot. You’re a bad influence on her, Mal.”

“Let me get dressed, I’ll take you both out.” He smoothed his hand over my back. “Can’t have my future sister-in-law getting mad at me already.”

“Won’t you get hassled?” Lizzy hollered from the kitchen.

“People have usually been pretty cool around here when I’ve visited. But I’ll wear a hat and sunglasses. And I can call up some security if needed.”

“Why don’t I cook us something? It’s got to be my turn by now,” said Lizzy. The clanging of pots and pans and the running of water accompanied her statement. Maybe my sister wasn’t so bad after all.

“Thanks,” I said.

“Soooo.” Mal smacked a kiss on the top of my head. “You weren’t just a little into me. You’re my biggest fan. You love me.”

“I don’t love you.”

“You totally love me.” He gave me a squeeze. “I’m your everything. You’d be lost without me.”

Thankfully, this time when I scrambled off of him, he didn’t try to fight me. I pulled down my old T-shirt and smoothed back my bed hair, getting myself together. “It was just a stupid teenage crush. Don’t let it go to your already swollen head.”

“The big one or the little one?”

I groaned.

Mal just laid there, his fingers sitting steepled atop his bare chest. He watched me without comment. His eyes, they saw far too much. After a moment, he sat up, his feet hitting the floor. He yawned and then stretched, cracking his neck. “You know, that’s the first decent sleep I’ve gotten in ages.”

“With me passed out on top of you? It can’t have been comfortable.”

The shadows beneath his eyes had faded and he seemed more relaxed, stretching out his long limbs. Still, he rubbed at the back of his neck. “No, it wasn’t really. Go figure. Guess we should be sleeping on the couch every night from now on.”

“My bed is broken.”

He pushed back his hair, gave me a smile.

“You’ve been having trouble sleeping?” I asked.

“A bit, I guess.”

“Something on your mind?”

“Dunno. It’s nothing.” He avoided my eyes.

“It’s something.” This was the first real in he’d given me. Or first vague in. Either way, I needed to take it. “What’s going on with you? What’s wrong? Sometimes I look at you and you seem so … ”

“What? I seem so what?”

“Sad.”

His face blanked, his hands settling on his hips. Tension radiated from his body like a force field. “Nothing’s going on. I told you that shit wasn’t up for discussion.”

“Sorry. I just thought maybe you’d like to talk about it.”

“Not up for discussion kinda means, I don’t want to talk about it. Got it?” His voice was hard and he used it like a weapon. Accordingly, it hurt.

“Okay,” I said quietly.

Anger thinned his lips. “You know, Anne, you’re the last fucking person who should be pushing me about anything. We had a deal, an understanding.”

Oh no, he did not. My chin jutted out. “And you’ve stuck to it so well.”

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

“I went to the party. I played my part.”

“Yeah? And?”

“And you spent the night trying to prove you’re the world’s greatest lover or something. There wasn’t anyone around to see some of those kisses, Mal. They were all about you proving you’re the shit because that’s what you decided to do.”

“They were about more than that.” A muscle popped in his jaw. It was kind of impressive and a little scary. But screw him.

“Where they?”

“’Course they fucking were.”

I stared at him, a little taken aback. “Okay. I didn’t realize. But don’t rip my head off for crossing a few lines because I’m worried about you. I don’t like seeing you sad either.”

“Fuck,” he swore and his face stilled. He linked his hands behind his head, muttering some more expletives. Then he let out a long breath, never taking his gaze off of me. His mood had shifted, the anger gone from the air. Ever so gently he reached out and traced my swollen bottom lip. “Looks sore.”

“It’s okay.” My voice wavered.

“I overdid it. Sorry.”

I wilted, the anger seeping straight out of me. His eyes were sad again and this time, it was all about me. I had no defense for that. “If the worst thing to happen to me is that you think it’s fun to kiss me and lie to people about me being pregnant with your child, my life will probably be pretty sweet.”

His smile lacked commitment, there and gone in an instant.

“Mal, if you ever want to talk, I’m here.” I should probably have shut up but I couldn’t. “It’s okay.”

He looked away.

“To be honest, I’m not exactly great at sharing either.” My hands flexed and fisted, flexed and fisted, as if to demonstrate the point. Awkward as all hell, I hated feeling helpless. Why couldn’t he just spill so I could try and fix whatever was wrong already?

“Can we stop talking about this now?” he asked the wall.

“Sure.”

“Thanks.” He reached out, tugged on a strand of my hair. Then his hand slid around to the back of my neck and he drew me in against him. Damn, he smelled good. I got giddy. Maybe there was also a little relief over the argument ending, hard to tell which. With my cheek pressed to Mal’s chest, my brain malfunctioned. I wrapped my arms around his waist, getting a solid hold on him just in case he changed his mind and tried to peel me off of him.

“That was our first fight,” he mumbled.

“Yeah. I won.”

“Did not.”

“Did too.”

“Pfft. Okay.” His arms tightened around me. “I’ll give you that one. But only because you’re being so childish about it.”

“Thanks.”

He breathed out hard. “I don’t want to fight again.”

“No,” I agreed wholeheartedly.

“Is it safe to come out yet?” Lizzy asked, peeking around the kitchen door. She gave Mal a quick once-over and then realized what she was doing and looked away. I didn’t blame her, but I didn’t like it. Man, now I was getting jealous of my own sister. Ridiculous, especially given the man had an army of women after him. If I planned to hang out with a rock star I’d need to get used to this.

“Your sister and I have to go have make-up sex now. It’s very important for the long-term health of our relationship.” Mal started forcibly stepping us toward the spare room. “But you have a good breakfast and a very nice day. Just leave the dishes; I’ll take care of ’em later. It was lovely to meet you, Lizzy.”

“Mal, you’re strangling me.” Or that’s what I tried to say. With my face pressed up against his hard chest, it came out garbled. Most likely my words were completely unintelligible.

“What was that?” He loosened his octopus hold enough to allow me to take a good deep breath. Phew, oxygen, my dear old friend.