Smart, Sexy and Secretive (The Reed Brothers 2)

“Sorry I was being nosy,” I say quietly.

“You can ask me anything you want,” he says. He looks into my eyes. “But you can’t get mad at me when I give you the answers.” He arches a blond eyebrow. “Do you really want to know where I learned that?”

I push off of him. “No.”

He chuckles. “Wait,” he says, pulling me back on top of him. “I learned it from a men’s health magazine, silly.” He laughs. “I wasn’t even sure it would work.” His laughter rumbles around the room. It’s such a welcome sound. He looks down his nose at me. “Did it work?”

“Oh, heck yeah,” I breathe. It worked.

He kisses me. “Good.”

Logan

I follow Emily into her apartment and stop short when I see Trip lying on her sofa in nothing more than a pair of boxers. He has one hand stuck in the waistband of his underwear and the other is behind his head. He’s completely oblivious to the fact that we’re there. What the f**k, I sign.

He didn’t know we were coming.

I don’t give a f**k if he knew we were coming or not. He doesn’t live here. And he doesn’t live alone. This is shit.

“Trip,” Emily calls. She picks up a couch pillow and throws it at his head. “Put some clothes on.”

He sits up. “Oh,” he says, his smile bright. Then he sees me behind her. His smile falters. “Good morning.” He nods at me and gives me a tight, fake grin. “Logan,” he says.

“Trip,” I say with a nod. Emily walks toward the kitchen. He calls to her retreating back. “A courier came a few hours ago with some clothes. I put them on your bed.”

Her head shoots around the corner. “My room is off-limits,” she says sharply. Trip grins. I want to punch his f**king face.

“It’s not like I’ve never been in your room before,” he says. He’s still grinning, and this time, I start toward him.

Emily rushes across the room and stops me by putting her hands on my chest. “Let’s go see what my mom sent.”

I look down at her. I’ll go with her as soon as I deal with Trip. “You go ahead. I’ll be there in just a minute.” I nudge her shoulder toward her room.

“Logan,” she says. Stop it.

Stop what? I go and sit down on the couch beside Trip, cross my foot over my knee, and raise my arms to the back of the couch. “You go shower. I’ll catch up with you in a minute.”

Emily stomps her foot, and I smile at her. I’m not moving. Not until I tell Trip a few things he needs to know. You may as well go ahead. Trip and I need to talk.

“That thing you two do is rather rude,” Trip says snidely, looking from one of us to the other.

“You mean talking?” I ask. I smile at him. To Emily, I sign, Go ahead. I won’t hurt him. I promise.

You swear it?

I draw an x over the center of my chest. She rolls her eyes and goes into her bedroom.

“It’s still just as rude now as it was a moment ago,” he says. I imagine he grumbles it, but I really can’t tell. He’s looking at the TV and not at me, but I can still see his lips.

“What’s rude is bringing my girlfriend home and finding her ex-boyfriend in her apartment wearing nothing but his boxers.” I smile at him. I work to look relaxed, but I’m not.

“She was my girlfriend first,” he says. He reminds me of Hayley when she’s really tired and doesn’t get her way.

“I’m pretty sure that ship has sailed.” I grit my teeth.

He shrugs. “Never know. That ship might come around again.”

“You’re totally f**king up the Bro Code, dude,” I say.

“Bro Code?” he asks. “We’d have to be Bros”—he draws quotes in the air—“for that to be a concern, wouldn’t we?”

I nudge his shoulder with mine playfully…and forcefully. “Oh, we’re Bro’s. You just don’t know it yet. I can be your best friend or I can be your worst enemy. But I can’t be your best friend while you’re living with my girl. Or while you’re in your boxers.” I look down at the offending item. “Put some f**king clothes on when you’re outside your room,” I growl.

Shit. I was trying to stay so calm. I fail. Game over.

He bites his lower lip as though he’s laboring over something snarky to say. “See, Logan, that’s just it. This is my apartment right now. So I can walk around dressed any way I like.”

“Well, in that case,” I start. I get up, stretching broadly. “Emily and I will just have to stay in her room for a bit. Until you can decide to put some clothes on.” I pat his naked knee and flash a conspiratorial grin. “There wasn’t a TV in her room the last time I spent the night there.” His grin falters. “But I’m sure we can find something to occupy the time.” I wink at him. “Bet you f**king wish you were me right now. One—so you don’t have to hear me with Emily.” I point to my ears, reminding him I’m deaf. “And two—so you could be alone with her in her room. Naked.” I make a tsk, tsk, tsk with my mouth. “Of course, if you were dressed, we would be able to hang out here with you.”

He gets up and stomps toward his room. A minute later, he comes back wearing lounge pants and a T-shirt.

“Thank you,” I say.

“You’re not welcome,” he replies. He sits up and looks at me over the back of the couch. “You know I had her first, right?” he says.