I do and don’t get?” she asks angrily. “Your brother isn’t as neglectful with me as you might think.”
“Come on. I’ve never seen my brother touch you. Does he even grab your ass like I did out there? Because it’s a beautiful fucking ass and deserves to be grabbed and bit and whatever else you want done to it.” I shouldn’t have said what I just did, but I can’t help myself right now. Maybe I had a few too many drinks too, because more unwanted words spill out. “My hands would be all over it twenty-four-seven if you were mine. Probably my tongue too.”
She swallows nervously and clears her throat. “He touches my ass plenty.” It’s a lie and even she knows it. Her nervous expression gives her away. “Your brother knows what he’s doing with me. In fact, sex with him is the best sex I’ve ever had.”
Not sure why that last part annoys me, but it does. “Because you haven’t had me,” I say with confidence. “But enough about my brother for tonight. We’re both a little tipsy and need some downtime. I already told the others we’re going to spend some time alone in the hot tub. We can talk for a while. About anything you want.”
With my eyes on hers, I yank my shirt over my head and toss it aside with a smirk. “Undress.”
“Undress?” she questions. “You mean change?”
I laugh as I kick my jeans aside and adjust my boxer briefs. “Your underwear is fine. I’ve already seen you in them. Besides, your bathing suit is more revealing.”
“I’m wearing a thong,” she mutters. “It’s definitely more revealing than my bathing suit.”
“Do you feel like changing back into your bathing suit?”
She shakes her head. “Not really.”
“Then wear your underwear. No one’s going to see you but me.” I cover my eyes. “Here. I’ll even cover my eyes while you strip if you want.”
“Fine. Throw me that clean towel over there.”
I smile and throw her the towel she asked for. “Let me know when I can look.”
“You can look,” she says a few moments later.
I remove my hand to see her wrapped in the fluffy white towel. “Looks good on you,” I joke. “Sexiest towel I’ve ever seen.”
She cracks a smile. “Shut your face before I change my mind and go to bed instead.”
“I’ll behave the rest of the night. I promise.”
She hesitates for a moment, before following me through the cabin and out the side door that leads to the hot tub. There’s a small deck around it which gives us some much-needed privacy.
I know it’s been a long day of pretending for Natalie, and I need to do my best not to wear her out or piss her off too much before this trip is over. Plus, I need some time away from Alana anyway. I don’t think I can take her eyes on me any more tonight.
“So what do you want to talk about?” I ask after we’re both settled on opposite sides of the hot tub. “The hotel? My brother? I’m all ears.”
“I pretty much hate my job, so I’d rather not talk about that right now.”
“Fair enough.” I place my locked hands behind my head and get comfortable. “So my brother it is. How did you meet?”
“He never told you?”
I shake my head. “We don’t usually talk about things like that.”
“We met at Beggie’s—the diner he was supposed to meet me for lunch at yesterday. He was taking a lunch break from the office that day and I had just gotten done with my shift at the hotel. I overheard him cussing at someone on the phone and laughed at his seriousness.”
“And then he came over to give you a piece of his mind?”
“Yup. Told me to mind my own business. When I told him to fuck off, he took a seat instead and apologized for his confrontation.”
“Sounds like him. Always with that stick up his ass.”
She tries not to laugh at the last part, but I catch her up before she wipes her smile away and crosses her arms. “What next?”
“How many times have you seen me in concert?”
“What makes you think I’ve seen you in concert?”
“You have at least once.” I smile at the way her cheeks flush. “Did you really think I didn’t notice you in the crowd? A few months after you started dating my brother—we hadn’t met yet actually—you showed up at that concert we put on in LA. It was a smaller venue than usual,