Strong, Sleek and Sinful - By Lorie O'Clare Page 0,133

want you to take a hot bath. I’ve got your back, Sis. Go soak. Make it a bubble bath. The girls will be in bed tucked in and snoring when you get out.”

“Perry, I can’t.”

“Like hell. Quit acting like your daughters and talking back to me,” he growled, putting her at arm’s length and turning her around. Then holding on to her, he guided her to her bedroom, which was the only room upstairs with an adjoining bath. “I don’t want to see you again tonight,” he informed her.

“I’m too drained to fight you tonight.” Megan’s laugh was dry, but there was appreciation in her tone. “If I ask you a question, will you tell me the truth?”

“Do you know how much men hate hearing that out of a woman’s mouth?” He tilted his head, focusing on the dark circles under her eyes and how easily he saw her cheekbones. His sister needed a long vacation, to be pampered. Hell, if he could think of one good man in this town, he would play matchmaker. She was doing way too much on her own, and the girls’ acting up, like Dani did tonight, was more than she could bear. “What is it?”

Megan searched his face, worrying her lower lip for a moment. Even when they were kids she got the same look on her face she did now when she thought really hard about how to say something, or approach an uncomfortable subject. He narrowed his gaze on her, wondering what in the hell she was about ready to drop in his lap.

“What is your relationship with Kylie?” she asked, whispering as she shot a furtive glance at Dani’s closed bedroom door.

“We don’t have a relationship.” It was the second time tonight he’d denied anything was going on between him and Kylie. Tonight wasn’t the right night to suggest anything otherwise.

“Your hands have been all over her ever since you’ve been here.” Megan crossed her arms over her chest, giving him her shrewd mother look that reminded him so much of their mom. “You are having sex with her.”

“Do you really want to know what women I have sex with and when?” He didn’t like this conversation but knew how to throw it back in her face so Megan would back off.

“We’re a very tight, small family, Perry. And you are the main father figure in my girls’ lives. I know you want that role, and I don’t have a problem with it. But if you’re going to have any kind of relationship, then yes, I want to know when and how often,” she said firmly although still whispering. “I should have a right to yea or nay someone else entering into our family.”

“You don’t like Kylie?” He had a hard time believing that.

“Dani told me Kylie took your gun out of your lap while you were driving and Dani was sitting next to Kylie. She told me Kylie handled the gun like a pro, barely looking at it while checking its safety and ensuring it didn’t have bullets in it.”

“I noticed that, too.” He hadn’t given a thought to how professionally she handled the gun. Her actions had made sense at the time and he would probably have done the same thing if their roles had been reversed at that moment.

“The list of qualities and talents you possess is longer than my arm.” Megan placed her hand on his shoulder and stared up at him with dark, all-knowing eyes. “We’re all accustomed to you handling all matters and seldom making mistakes.”

“Thank you,” he said, sensing he wouldn’t like where she was going with this.

“Kylie is a very beautiful woman. Smart and pretty, with a likeable personality. I can see why you would fall for her.” She paused, holding his gaze, and dragging the moment out before continuing. “Is there a chance she might not be being honest with you? Dani told me some of the things she said while in the truck, like how she needed to make some phone calls, and how she easily handled a loaded weapon. Before you left to go look for Dani, Kylie kept her cool while drilling me for information on Dani. Perry, is Kylie a cop?”

Perry saw immediately why Megan believed he would keep information from her like Kylie being a cop. “No, she isn’t. And if she were I would tell you,” he said, not lying.

Megan let out a long breath, once again exhaustion lining her face and making her eyes