Rogue Devil (The Rourkes #11) - Kylie Gilmore Page 0,24

out of my head if I spend the next eight weeks with her. It’ll practically be like living with her.

Anyway, it looks like she’s the one who’ll be super busy between work and studying with Kablooey. My lips curl up. I hadn’t expected her to have a doll of any kind, let alone an ugly-as-sin troll. She probably thinks it’s cute. What else is she into?

I turn off the TV in disgust over wasting my time thinking about the woman I swore I’d stop thinking about, and march out the door. I text Beast to see if he’s home. Maybe we’ll grab a bite for dinner. I’m secretly hoping he’ll cook. My little brother is practically a chef with all his skill, and I miss all the great dinners he prepared when he lived with me. Okay, he’s not little and he’s only two years younger, but I gotta bust his balls. It’s what we do. Dude can cook the most amazing stuff. I’m talking chili, enchiladas, homemade tortellini in cream sauce, paella, steak with mashed potatoes. I don’t know where he learned to cook like that. He says he just got some recipes online and started to get a feel for it. I bet he took cooking classes. You should see him with a knife—chop, chop, chop—like a master chef.

I step outside and get his text. Come on over.

Half an hour later, I climb the steps to a corner brownstone in Park Slope and ring the bell. It’s my brother Sean’s place with his wife, Josie. Beast is house-sitting. He answers the door wearing a red apron over a gray T-shirt and jeans. “Great timing. I’m making enchiladas.”

My mouth waters. “Awesome.” I follow him downstairs to the kitchen, where there’s a large center island with swivel stools that have intricate ironwork decorating the back. This place is so cool. I know Sean did most of the renovation work on it, but it’s Josie who decorated it. She’s got big bucks now with a couple of movies under her belt. No wonder Beast wanted to house-sit. The kitchen has top-of-the-line appliances, unlike the kitchen at our place.

He opens the refrigerator and pulls out a beer for me, opening it, and handing it over.

“Thanks.”

“Yup.” He takes a sip of his beer and turns back to the stove, stirring something.

I stare at his bulky shoulders. “You still lifting weights?” He had to leave his dumbbells at our place.

He glances over his shoulder at me. “Yeah, Sean’s got weights in the basement.”

I cup my hands over my mouth. “Bee-ee-ast.”

“Yeah, yeah. Sue me for liking being fit.”

I consider telling him about my new neighbor. He knows her from Villroy, but then what would I say? The pretty redhead is living next door and we’re friends, but not really. He’ll want to know why I don’t make a move since I talked about her before like I was into her. How can I explain a casual hookup won’t work with our family connection, and I can’t risk screwing up a relationship? I’m not even sure I know how to have a relationship. I never have before. And who could forget her psycho assassin ex? I’m sure I’ll be seeing him at my next visit to Villroy. Maybe even with Chloe around too. It all comes back to the family connection.

I won’t bring it up.

I take a pull on my beer. “Whatcha doing tonight?”

“Hitting up a bar later with the guys for some pool.” He turns off the burner and takes out a long baking dish from a cabinet in the island. “Next weekend me and the guys are going to a music festival in Delaware.” He’s really into travelling around to music festivals. He always meets a ton of women too.

“Cool.” I could join him for pool. I know his friends, but I’m not in the mood for the bar scene. I’m friends with a couple of guys on crew, and we usually hit up underground parties in the city—some of them get pretty wild—but that doesn’t appeal either.

Well, I’m not going to sit home with her next door studying her big brain out. I bet she’s home every night studying, which means I’ll have to go out every night. I’m exhausted just thinking about it. Sometimes a guy just wants to sit home with a beer and watch the game.

“Guess who moved in next door?” I say louder than I mean to.

He stops layering the enchiladas to stare at me. “Mallory?” My ex who