Daring Devlin (Lost Boys #1) - Jessica Lemmon Page 0,58

bottom lip and I was careful not to slip on water dripping from our bodies onto the wood floors. “Or we could—”

A hard knock sounded at my front door. She let out a yip of surprise and I pressed a finger over her lips. The knock came again, more intense this time. Another memory of last night came—the one about how I’d dropped my phone in a glass of water at the bar. The calls from Sonny I’d avoided after missing a meeting with him this week.

Shit.

“Get dressed,” I told her. My tone must have communicated that I wasn’t playing. She was out of my arms in a flash and gathering her clothes from the living-room floor. In my room, I pulled on a pair of jeans as Rena shut the bathroom door behind her. I paced into the living room, tugging on a long-sleeved shirt as I went. The knock sounded again, this time followed by a voice.

“Devlin Calvary! I know you’re in there!”

Not Sonny. Relief. I looked through the peephole. Cade was standing in the hallway, lifting his fist to pound again.

“Hang on!” I shouted, followed by an under-my-breath “impatient bastard.” I opened the door, running my hand through my wet hair. “What the fuck?”

Cade walked in without waiting for an invitation. I closed the door behind him.

“King Calvary.” Hands on his hips, he surveyed my living quarters.

“Come to kiss my rings?”

“I’m here to talk business.” He faced me. “I know you know—”

The bathroom door squeaked and we both turned our heads to find Rena dressed in her work clothes from yesterday, her wet hair pinned up. She collected her coat from a chair and then hooked her purse over her shoulder.

Cade’s eyes flicked up and down her body. I prepared to strike. If he came on to my girl, I’d tear his head off with my bare hands. It wouldn’t be until later that I’d recall thinking of Rena as “my girl” and realize it hadn’t alarmed me in the slightest.

“Hey.” She sent an unsure smile to me and then Cade. “I’m—I have to go. I called a cab.” She dropped her phone into her purse.

“I know you,” Cade said. Her eyes snapped to him. Mine followed.

“You know Tasha,” she corrected.

Tasha?

He grunted. “Yeah, I know Tasha.”

I didn’t like the familiar way they watched each other. I also didn’t know Tasha and I didn’t like that Cade knew Tasha.

Wait. I did know.

A memory crawled out of my brain’s filing cabinet, and I recalled a conversation in the kitchen of Oak & Sage during a rush. Tasha was Rena’s best friend, the friend she’d told about my coming to her apartment but left out the part where I’d shown up bleeding.

“I’ll see you later.” She walked up to me and I froze. Kissing her goodbye would be the normal thing to do, but I felt awkward showing affection in front of Cade. I didn’t want him to see how soft she made me when she was around. It was too weird. This whole thing was too weird.

I patted her shoulder. Which proved weirder. “See ya.”

Cade frowned.

“I’m Rena, by the way” she introduced, proving they didn’t really “know” each other but had probably met in passing. That made me feel marginally better.

“Cade,” he answered. “Devlin’s brother.”

Awkward, party of three.

Rena took the news in stride. “Ahh, well, this promises to be fun. Sorry to miss it.”

Cade’s expression melted into admiration and he smiled at her. Which I didn’t like at all. So I bent and kissed her long enough to make Cade uncomfortable, Rena moan, and my pants tight.

When I pulled my lips from hers, I muttered, “Take my scarf, baby.”

She blinked up at me, a little dazed and a whole lot beautiful.

“Your hair’s wet and it’s cold,” I explained. “Take my scarf.”

She walked to the hook where my leather coat and scarf hung, pulled the scarf from the rung, and wrapped it over her wet hair.

I walked to the door, opened it, and kissed her again when she met me there.

“Bye,” she breathed, looking damn cute in my scarf.

“Bye.” Regret washed over me. I could’ve been inside her by now, knocking pots and pans and various utensils from the counter to the floor. Another time, I guess.

The moment I shut the front door, Cade plopped onto my couch and put his feet on the coffee table.

“You were saying?” I asked.

He propped his arms across the back of the couch, and then I understood why my back still hurt from where