Chapter Sixteen
WhenIcameinthe next morning, Kara’s face was barely being held together with all the nosiness she was experiencing. She looked demented when she passed Hank off to Tyler and dragged me up to my room.
“He’s coming to work with me today!”
Tyler grumbled and continued eating his pancakes.
“Tell me everything. Right now. Why did two of the Steele brothers show up to pick you up? What happened? I can’t believe you spent the night with them. What’d you do? Where’d Hank sleep?”
I grabbed her shoulders and shook her. “Breathe, woman!”
She followed me into the bathroom as I turned on the hot water and started undressing. “I need to know what is going on with you. Is it Isaac you’re with? Or Blake? Or…both?”
I stripped down to my birthday suit, used to being forced into getting ready in front of her. “Kara—”
“Oh, my god!” She leaned into me and started poking and prodding different spots. “You have hickeys! You little slut!”
I slapped her hands away, embarrassed at her teasing. “Shut up. Don’t touch my boobs!”
She poked it again and threw her head back, laughing. “You had sex. And a lot of it, from the looks of things.”
“Get out. You’re banned from my bathroom!” I pushed her out, all while she was still poking at my body and laughing. When I got her past the threshold, I closed the door and locked it. “You can’t get gossip until you learn personal boundaries!”
When I was clean and dressed, I found Tyler playing with Hank in the living room. He looked up at me and laughed. “Your sister is about to explode with curiosity. She left for work with two different shoes on, she was so distracted.”
“You didn’t tell her, did you?”
He snorted. “Hell no. I just want to watch the world burn.”
I laughed and grabbed a banana to shove down before grabbing Hank and getting everything ready to take him to work with me. By the time I got to work, I was the last one in the building, it seemed. Hannah was already in her chair, next to Julian, talking about who knew what, Blake was leaning against my desk, and Isaac was sitting in my chair.
They all looked up at me, and I had to take a step back at having all of them focused on me so early. “What? I’m not late.”
Blake laughed and came over to take Hank from me. “You’re not late. We were thinking of ordering breakfast in today. Want something?”
I thought of the banana I’d eaten and slowly nodded. “Donuts.”
Isaac pulled me in for a hug and pressed a kiss to the top of my head. “Dates in the morning count as dating, too.”
I found myself smiling and pushing him away. “Just bring me donuts and we can talk about the rest later.”
Hannah was already taking Hank into her arms. He seemed enamored by the color of her hair and wasted no time in trying to grab it. “Oh, my god. I had no clue you were hiding the cutest baby ever from me.”
“I’ll be back with breakfast.” Isaac patted my ass as he walked by, his eyes heated. “I like this dress.”
Blake’s phone rang and he cupped my chin in his hand before pressing a kiss to my mouth and backing away. “Be right back.”
Hannah was already on the floor with Hank, entertaining him by making all kinds of sounds and motions. He seemed like he was in heaven with his new favorite show.
That left Julian. He watched me quietly as I put my bags down and sank into my chair. I powered up my computer and then slowly looked back at him, finding him still watching me.
“Why do I feel like I failed some kind of Julian test already?”
He stretched out in his chair, his long legs invading my space. “No tests or failures. I’m just thinking.”
I took my foot and pushed his foot out of my way. “Why does that seem scarier than a test?”
“You look different.”