Hot Stuff (Hot Zone 1)

"Something tells me it's time for you to turn in, too," Annabelle suggested sweetly.

He frowned. "I thought Vaughn and I could talk some first."

Annabelle waved a hand. "I'll clean up in here. Maybe in the meantime, Vaughn can talk some sense into you as far as Lola's concerned. And as far as your staying here, don't you have a business that needs you in the city?"

Vaughn saw his cue and grabbed at it. "Yank's welcome to stay here as long as he wants." As a buffer between himself and Yank's niece, a woman whose every facet he liked more and more.

Annabelle narrowed her gaze. "You surprise me."

"Why? You thought I'd be an inhospitable pig?" he asked with a friendly grin on his face.

She shook her head. "I just thought you liked your privacy and needed your space." And with that, she began stacking the remainder of the dishes and cleaning the table.

He mouthed a silent thank-you her way before turning to her uncle. "Yank, want to go have a drink in the family room?"

A long drink. Long enough for the women in the house to go to sleep and let the men be in peace.

ANNABELLE FOCUSED on the night ahead. While Uncle Yank and Vaughn shared a drink and talked, she took Boris for his last walk and cleaned Natasha's cage. Spike, she assumed, was perched on either Vaughn's or Yank's lap. She was female, after all. Alone in her room, Annabelle washed up and undressed for the evening. Since Uncle Yank or Lola could walk in or catch her in the hall sneaking to Vaughn's room, the silk teddy was out. That left her with the jerseys she felt most comfortable in anyway. Once she was finished washing up and changing, she glanced over at her empty bed.

Loneliness seemed to emanate from the double mattress. She shook her head in frustration. Every night at home she slept alone, yet because she'd spent one night with Brandon Vaughn, one spectacular night, she craved his company. Not only had she gotten a tempting taste of sharing, and wanted more, but she knew her time with Vaughn was limited to this business trip. She'd be darned if she'd let an unexpected family visit ruin it for her.

At the reminder of family, Annabelle's concern for her uncle rose. Something was up with him, she had no doubt. He wouldn't travel all this way to Vaughn's just to escape from Lola. Annabelle pursed her lips and thought hard, but came up blank. She obviously wouldn't be finding out what Uncle Yank's real problem was, at least not yet. So she turned her focus to her own issues.

Vaughn was shutting down. He was using her uncle's visit as a means of putting up a wall between them. No shared meals, no joint cleanup, no long talks over dinner. Nothing. Annabelle had had every intention of correcting the situation. Though she was by no means certain she'd be welcome, as soon as she heard the door to Vaughn's room close, Annabelle drew a deep breath for courage and headed down the hall.

Like last night she knocked on his door. Seconds passed that felt like forever. Finally the door opened wide and Vaughn stood before her.

"Annabelle," he said gruffly, his voice filled with longing and desire. But he didn't invite her inside.

"Can we talk?" She swallowed hard.

He nodded, his big body blocking the doorway.

"Inside," she prodded. "So we don't have an audience."

With a groan, he stepped aside and gestured for her to come in. "This is crazy," he said as he shut the door behind them. "Your uncle's upstairs."

"I'm over twenty-one," she reminded him. "Uncle Yank has no say. I respect him, but I won't let you use that as an excuse to avoid me."

"It's not an excuse. I need to earn back your uncle's respect," Vaughn said.

She reached a hand out and stroked his cheek. "I'll sneak out in the morning."

His blue eyes dilated and darkened in hue but his next words smothered her hope. "I'm not sleeping with you while your uncle's under the same roof."

She admired his chivalry and old-fashioned values. "All I want to do is share your bed." She didn't want to disrespect her family any more than he did, but she wanted to be with Vaughn. Just lying next to him would be enough.

Uh-oh.

Obviously despite her self-made promises not to get attached, there was a definite emotional component to her need.

"You can stay," he said, understanding in his expression.

She'd thought his mere presence would be enough yet as she joined him in bed and Vaughn shut the light and rolled over to go to sleep, she realized it was definitely possible to be with someone and still feel alone.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

VAUGHN AWOKE to the unfamiliar sounds of someone tossing and turning. It took only a second for things to register and for him to realize it was Annabelle, murmuring fitfully in her sleep while her body jerked against his.