Long Road Home (The Barker Triplets 4)

“Thanks for the warning.” Shane took a step back, thinking this conversation was over, but Coral surprised him one last time.

“Just so you know, the river is full of gators and such. People do tend to go missing from time to time. Whether they’re famous artists or not.”

Amused, Shane couldn’t help but grin. “I’ll keep that in mind.” He gave a small nod and headed for the stairs. He didn’t stop until he’d climbed the second set, and then he stopped in front of Bobbi’s door.

He didn’t hesitate. He wasn’t that kind of man. He lifted his hand and knocked once and tried the knob. It wasn’t locked. A polite man would wait. But Shane was done with waiting and wondering. He opened the door and let himself in.

Chapter Eleven

Bobbi sat up suddenly, eyes still heavy with sleep. Someone was in her room. She’d pulled the blinds closed earlier because the sun was overwhelming late in the day, and the shadows that clung to the corners held fast to whoever stood there.

But she knew, didn’t she?

She pushed back the hair that had fallen over her face and slid off the bed. Shane stood a few feet away.

“Hey,” he said huskily. “I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“It’s fine. I didn’t mean to sleep so long.” She stared down at her toes, suddenly awash with feelings of uncertainty and longing and vulnerability.

“You okay?”

Bobbi glanced up sharply. “What do you mean?”

“I…” Shane seemed to stumble over his words. “I just meant, I hope you’re feeling all right. You don’t usually nap.”

“Well, we are in the South,” Bobbi replied, attempting a smile. “Everyone seems to nap around here. It’s the heat or the air or…” God, she was rambling like an idiot. “And I haven’t been sleeping well at night.”

“That’s because you’re sleeping alone.” A slow smile touched his mouth and did funny things to her stomach. “We can remedy that, no problem.”

Bobbi took a step back, a spark of irritation giving her the boost of energy she needed. “What is it with you men? You think that sex solves everything.”

“Babe, in our case, it usually does.”

“Not this time, Shane.” She shook her head. “If we’re going to do this, there need to be some rules, because we need to be sure. I need to be sure.”

His frowned at that. “Sure about what? Me?” He took a step forward, but stopped and then shoved his hands into the front pockets of his jeans. He blew out a long breath, and she could tell it took some effort for him to relax.

“Give them to me.”

“What?”

“The rules.”

Bobbi didn’t know exactly what to say at first, because there were a lot of things running through her mind. The big one, though, was the fact that if Shane turned a little bit to his right, he’d have an unfettered view of the bathroom, and a certain something was still sitting on the sink.

“Um, well, no sleeping together.”

“At all?” His eyebrow shot up at that.

“I just finished telling you that sex doesn’t solve anything, Shane.”

“But it sure as hell puts you in a better mood.”

“Yeah, and then I can’t think straight for days.” Wrong thing to say, because that grin of his electrified a thousand times over and that funny thing in her stomach was working overtime, sending a flash of heat straight down her belly to settle between her legs. “I’m serious, Shane.”

“Okay, how about no sex unless you initiate it?”

She began to shake her head, but he wasn’t having it.