“Well.” My dad looked around, his eyebrows raised high. “That was . . . unexpected.”
My scowl deepened. “I can’t shower. ‘Unexpected’ is not a term I would use to describe this visit.”
“Fuckheads.” Corrigan slid his hands into his pockets, hunching his shoulders. “That’s the term I would use.”
My dad sighed. “Well, I can’t say that I’m not a little grateful. Sheldon, with that monitor, if there are any more murders, they’ll know where you were or where you weren’t. This could help in the case.”
“That’s lovely.” I gave him two thumbs-up. “Here’s hoping someone else will die now.”
“Sheldon,” he said quietly.
Beth spoke over him, resting her hand on his arm, “Your father’s just worried. That’s all.” Giving his arm a squeeze, she held her chin high, and left for the kitchen. As she did, the back of her silk robe swayed back and forth behind her. Then I noticed the rest. They were all in their pajamas, somewhat.
Corrigan was wearing grey sweats and a plain white shirt. Bryce had on black sport pants and a grey shirt, while the movie star had on oversized blue scrub pants . . . and no shirt. I wolf-whistled. “I must be really out of it not to notice that.”
His eyebrows bunched together. “Notice what?”
I waved a hand up and down. “It’s a Monet of muscles, the six-pack, pectorals, it’s just . . .” I pretended to kiss the air. “A masterpiece.”
He rolled his eyes. “Nothing you haven’t seen.” He smirked. “Twice.”
I shot back, “I don’t remember any clothing being taken off for the second round.” Then I winced and realized the stoic expressions on both Bryce and Corrigan’s face. “Uh . . .”
“Shut it.” Bryce smirked. “You’ve seen me naked the most here—” He halted as Corrigan abruptly swung around and left, heading down a hallway. “Uh. Never mind. Enjoy Denton’s masterpiece all you want.”
I pressed my lips together. There was another comeback there, a crude joke just asking to be told, but I kept quiet. There’d been a time when Corrigan would’ve said it for me. He would’ve winked, and delivered a better joke than I could ever think of, and he’d follow it up with pinching my ass.
Not this Corrigan.
I watched as he kept walking away. This Corrigan was tense, quiet, moody, and dark. His shoulders were rigid and his head was bent forward. As he turned to go to the bedroom, I caught his side profile. His dark blond hair fell over his forehead. His jaw was hard, and his anger emanated from him.
I felt a little tingle inside me.
“Sheldon?”
Bryce distracted me. “Huh?”
He frowned, rubbing at the side of his face. “Do you want someone upstairs with you? I know Corrigan was there earlier?”
“No.” That word ripped from me quicker than I could stop it. “I mean, no. Thank you, though. I’m awake. I’ll probably go watch a movie alone or something.”
“You sure?”
I nodded. “Yeah.” That damn tingle was bothering me, more than I wanted to admit. “Yeah. I’ll be fine.”
“Okay.”
He
lifted a hand and headed toward where Corrigan had gone. As he did, Denton swung his head to me. “Wanna get drunk by the pool?”
I groaned. “God, yes.”
“See you out there. I’ll go get the good stuff.”
“That’s why we’re friends.” I laughed.
Denton started for the basement, but looked back. “For my wine?”