“No, she did not,” her brother exclaimed, glaring at her. Tara sunk back into the sofa. Oh, this was not good.
“I wondered why you didn’t come to visit her,” Alex mused. “I even offered to call you, but she said that she would get around to it.” He sent her a look that told her she was in trouble. Whoops.
“Somebody better tell me. Now.”
Tara raised her eyebrows at her brother’s demanding tone. He almost sounded Dom-like. But no, he was her little brother. He knew nothing about BDSM.
She quickly relayed the story. Ben interrupted a few times with questions, but otherwise he just sat there, scowling.
“Why the hell did you work for that jerk?” he asked finally.
“Umm, he paid well.”
“Wasn’t worth it, for the shit he put you through…” Ben trailed off with a frown. “It was because of me, wasn’t it? To help me out. Damn it, Tara.”
“Don’t ‘damn it, Tara’ me,” she said grumpily. “You’re my brother. I love you.”
“I love you too.” He leaned over and pulled her into his arms. “Thank you. But don’t you ever do that again.”
***
Later on that night Tara lay snuggled in Alex’s arms.
“I’m sorry about the unexpected house guest,” she said.
Alex brushed the hair back from her face and kissed her forehead. “It’s not a problem. Honestly.”
Tara smiled up at him. “Don’t worry, he’s only staying two nights. He’ll be gone before the weekend.”
They’d planned a trip to the club that weekend.
“Good,” Alex said with a look of relief.
She chuckled and he smiled. “Not that your brother isn’t welcome to stay with us anytime.”
“But shorter is better.”
“Or maybe a guest suite would be the best idea.”
She frowned in confusion. “What?”
He rolled onto his side. “What do you think about buying a house? Something where the master bedroom is far away from the other rooms so your brother can feel welcome to visit anytime without being right next door.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, I think it’s time we had something that was ours. I bought this place as a bachelor pad after I separated with Simone, but now it’s not quite meeting our needs. What do you say?”
She smiled. “I say yes.”
Alex leaned down and kissed her.
“I wish we could do more,” she said as he nibbled down her neck.
“I should have bought an apartment with a soundproof bedroom.” He cupped her breast, squeezing lightly.
She groaned. “We can’t.”
“We can,” he replied as he slid under the covers and flicked one nipple with his tongue. “You’ll just have to be very, very quiet…”