Sidling up behind her, he lifted the hair off her neck and placed his lips against her soft skin. Her head lolled to the side. She moaned softly when he slid his hands under her shirt and bra to cup her breasts.
“Call the cab company already,” she ordered in a hoarse voice.
“Right, okay. I’m on it.”
He withdrew his hands reluctantly. When she walked past him at the phone with three cups of coffee, his gaze followed her until she was out of sight. After a few more rings, someone answered on the other end. “Yellow Cab, how may I help you?”
“I need a pick up at six-twenty—”
He broke off as Marley returned, shaking her head. “Hang up.”
He lifted a brow, but she just reached to remove the phone from his hand, then spoke into the handset. “I’m sorry, we don’t need a pick up after all. Bye.”
She jerked her head toward the living room. When they reached the couch, Justin wanted to shout in frustration at the sight of his twin brother, sound asleep, snores emanating from his slack mouth.
“I’m beginning to wish I were an only child,” he groused. That earned him a smack on the arm. “I’m kidding,” he tacked on. “Mostly.”
Jordan mumbled and started to roll over with his half-empty wine glass in hand. Marley lunged for it, and Justin took hold of his arm to haul him to his feet. With Marley’s help, he carried Jordan down the hall and laid him on Nate’s bed, removed his shoes, then covered him with the comforter.
Snagging the other pillow and a blanket off the end of the bed, Justin closed the door behind him to face Marley in the hall. She glanced down at the bedclothes in his arms.
“It’s late.”
He looked at his watch to distract himself from the vision of her. “In the world of construction, it’s really late.”
She took a step toward her room. “I guess I’ll see you in the morning then?”
The hesitancy in her words tore right through him. He had to clear his throat before he could reply, “Goodnight.”
He started down the hall, silently cursing his brother to hell and back.
“Justin?”
His heart leapt as he stopped without turning around. “Marley, don’t,” he said gruffly. “One more word and it’s not going to matter one bit that Jordan’s in the next room.”
He held his breath in the ensuing silence. When he heard the soft click of her door, disappointment flooded through him. After changing into a pair of shorts and tee shirt, he made a quick round of the house to secure each entry. He dumped the coffee and left the light on above the stove before making his way into the living room to park his butt on the couch.
Only the hum of the refrigerator and ticking of a clock in the kitchen broke the silence of the night. Justin lay first with his eyes closed, then open, slowly tuning in to the creaks and groans of the house.
Hours seemed to pass as comfort and sleep eluded him. Staring into the dark, he heard the sound of the increasing wind through the trees and around the corners of the house. Already on edge from the events of the past few days, and the repressed sexual desire thrumming through his veins, the noises kept him awake.
An extended creak from the back of the house made him tense. It almost sounded like a door opening slowly. Silence followed. Just when he’d started to relax, the lightest scuff of a footstep on the hardwood floor sent a rush of adrenaline straight to his nerve endings.
He rolled off the couch, his pulse pounding in his ears. A dark figure, haloed by the meager light from the kitchen, headed toward the couch. It registered that the slim shadow was Marley a split second before she whispered his name.
“Justin. You’re awake.”
“Hell, yes, I’m awake.” He met her halfway around the couch. Her face remained in s
hadow, and he gripped her arms. Concern threatened to overwhelm him. “What’s the matter? Did you hear something? Was someone—”
“No,” she hastily assured him. “Everything’s fine.”
“Then what…?”
“I can’t sleep.”
He stared a moment. “But you’re okay? Everything—”