our joking. I needed to know that even after everything, we were still us, Lex and Gabi.
“And what type of guy sleeps with his girlfriend after she’s been sobbing her eyes out over losing her best friend? Am I that bad of a person?”
“Do you really want me to answer that?” I teased, turning my back so he wouldn’t see the fresh tears forming. “You’re Lex.” I shivered as he wrapped his arms around me from behind. “The world could come crashing down around you, and if I flashed boob—”
“Shh.” Lex nipped my neck. “My sensitive ears send bad signals to my body when I hear trigger words.”
“Any other words I should know about?”
“Gabi, don’t make me talk dirty.”
I squirmed as he kept kissing my neck and then untangled me from his arms. I slowly led him up the stairs and over to his bed. I lay down, waiting for him to follow.
Lex watched me, a playful smile crossing his features as he pulled off my shoes, pants, and shirt, then tucked me in, drawing the covers all the way up to my chin.
When he didn’t join me, I frowned. “Where are you going?”
He sighed and pointed to his computer. “Crime doesn’t fight itself, Sunshine.”
I fell asleep with a smile on my face.
Even though my heart hurt.
Chapter
Forty-Two
Lex
Ian finally showed up three days later. I had spent most of the evening finishing the new coding and then gone downstairs to hook up the coffee machine when my steps faltered.
Ian was sitting at the breakfast bar, reading the freaking newspaper and drinking coffee as if he hadn’t just basically kicked both Gabi and me out of his life.
“Ian,” I mumbled as I walked over to the coffeepot and poured a generous amount in my favorite Yoda mug.
“How long?” he said from behind the newspaper. I couldn’t see his face, didn’t need to see it to know he was pissed. “How long have you been sleeping with her?”
I was running on three hours of sleep.
Not the conversation I wanted to have, especially before my first sip of coffee.
“Does it really matter, Ian?”
“Yes.” He slammed the newspaper down onto the table. “It matters. How. Long.”
I did the mental calculations. “A month.”
“A month!” he roared, jumping to his feet.
I calmly set down my mug. “Ian, I’ve had a thing for her since freshman year.”
Holy shit, did he just stop breathing?
Hell. I killed my best friend.
Ian’s left eye started a slow tick while I backed away to put space between us just in case he decided to slam me against the oven.
“Four years,” he repeated. “So, what? You’ve been practicing with all those women since then?” Voice raised, he covered his face with his hands. “Lex, what the hell do you expect me to do with this?”
“Not kill me, for starters,” I grumbled. “I’d like to live to have children someday.”
Not the right thing to say, not at all.
“SHE’S PREGNANT?”
Damn me to hell. “No, you bastard, she’s not pregnant.” Though I’d be lying if I said the idea didn’t make my heart flip a bit. Any child of ours would be . . . a complete and total hellion.
“Stop smiling,” Ian barked.
I was smiling?
“Lex, you’ve stuffed your dick into some pretty bad situations. And now you’re telling me you like my sister? You’ve been keeping it from me, and what’s worse, you’re inevitably going to break her heart. And you expect me to just stand by and do nothing? She’s always been off-limits for this very reason! You wouldn’t know commitment if it bit you in the ass!”
“Careful, kettle,” I warned as anger tore through me. “You do realize that two months ago you were screwing anything that looked at you cross-eyed, right?”
“That’s different!” Ian said defensively.
“How?”
“Blake wasn’t your sister!”
“And if she were?”
He opened his mouth and closed it.
“Would it have stopped you?”
Again, silence. And he wasn’t quite meeting my gaze.
We were at an impasse. I wasn’t going to back down, and he refused to give me an inch or any slight acknowledgment that I could be right.
Footsteps sounded behind me and then Gabi appeared on my right, and her hand gripped mine. It was hard as hell not to give Ian a smug smirk followed by the finger. Hey, I never said I was completely mature!
It would push him over the edge he was oh so ready to push me off.
“Ian.” Gabi’s voice was hoarse. In an instant she released my hand and jumped into his arms. He held her