Serengeti Sunrise - By Vivi Andrews Page 0,13
Tyler drive onto the ranch with Zoe in the passenger seat twenty minutes ago? How was he supposed to explain the delay? They needed to get their stories straight. They needed—
“Relax, Tyler.” Zoe strolled over to stand inches in front of him, resting her hands on his sides. He couldn’t help thinking of the last place she’d put her hands, and his cock stirred. “Stop freaking yourself out. It’s just sex. No ball and chain. I promise.”
The amusement in her eyes grated even more than her cavalier dismissal. “If Landon finds out—”
“Then he finds out. Who the fuck cares? Cat shifters were horny even in Victorian times. It’s in our nature. People have sex without getting married all the time. You need to learn a little carpe diem, Tyler. There’s more to life than the shoulds.”
“I think I just proved I have plenty of carpe diem.”
“Oh? Was that you? I thought I was the one who jumped you.”
“I have restraint, unlike some people. But, for the record, the jumping was mutual.”
“You just keep telling yourself that, sugar. And let me know when you’re ready to seize something.” She ran her hands across his stomach, her eyes dark with invitation, then pivoted and strutted out the door, her gait liquid with satisfaction. The kind of walk that made sure anyone who saw her knew exactly what she’d been doing.
Tyler cursed and followed his doom out the door to the Alpha’s place, hoping Landon didn’t have some kind of sex radar that could tell that Tyler had just had his cock in his sister’s mouth.
Chapter Four
Ava knew.
Zoe sat at the large round table that took up half of Landon and Ava’s bungalow, convinced her sister-in-law had been shooting her funny looks ever since Tyler walked into the room. It probably didn’t help that Tyler refused to sit down and kept circling back to her like he needed to mark his territory.
Ava had to know. She was too perceptive by half, though she was too diplomatic to say anything. Petite, gentle, malleable, Ava was all the things Zoe wasn’t. And tonight, for the first time, her sister-in-law’s quiet gaze was making her a little bit crazy. Zoe fidgeted guiltily, even though she didn’t have a damn thing to feel guilty for. Tyler’s paranoia must be contagious.
She’d avoided getting too close to Landon and Ava, knowing Tyler’s scent would be all over her, but his behavior was effectively negating her attempts not to rub her sex life in her brother’s face.
Luckily, Landon seemed oblivious to any suspicious undercurrents. He was too busy being pissed at her for trying to go into town without permission.
“Goddammit, Zoe, are you even listening to me?”
Not a bit. But she knew the gist. Obey me, blah blah blah. Think of the pride, blah blah blah.
She met her brother’s eyes calmly. He may be the Big Bad Boss, but he hadn’t been able to intimidate her since she was ten. “Don’t you think I’m a little old to be called into the principal’s office, Landon?”
“You aren’t independent anymore,” he roared. “Your actions affect more people than just you. Especially the stupid ones.”
“The stupid people?” she asked with false sweetness, batting her lashes.
“Zoe.” Her name was growled as a guttural reprimand, but it was Tyler’s voice checking her for her impudence, not Landon’s.
Zoe stiffened. You give a guy head and suddenly he thinks he owns you.
Ava shuttled a gaze back and forth between the two of them, a frown furrowing her brow.
Zoe shoved down the urge to smack Tyler, hoping to avoid further attention from Ava, and focused on her irritation with her dictatorial brother. The same brother who had touted himself as different from all the other dictatorial Alphas. The distraction almost worked. She barely noticed Tyler prowling the room behind her, taking up too much space with his broad shoulders and bounce-a-penny-off-it ass.
“I don’t suppose you’d care to explain why you felt the need to directly disobey my order to stay on ranch lands until things had quieted down.”
Zoe shrugged, leaning back in the chair. “It was a stupid order.”
“This is our home now, Zoe.” Landon’s voice was a rumbling growl, betraying how close his lion was to the surface. “You’ve made it very clear you don’t want to accept this pride as your own, but while you’re here, you’re a part of us. Protecting our family is never stupid.”
“It is when we don’t even know what we’re protecting against.”
“That’s no excuse for going behind my back,” Landon snarled.