Michael’s eyes narrowed. “I’m not going to say it again, Nikki.”
“And what are you going to do if I don’t listen? Sit there and stare at me? Yeah. No,” I said, closing my eyes once again.
Then my ass was sliding across the seat by way of Michael’s massive hand wrapped around my ankle.
I screamed, turning over onto my belly as he got my legs out of the car, and then latching onto the door as I was pulled all the way out.
Michael’s hands went to my hips as he pulled harder, and my grip on the door started to give.
“Let me go, you big douche bag!” I yelled. “Help!”
We were on a deserted street in the middle of downtown, so the fact that I was yelling ‘help’ when there was no one around was quite comical, and apparently Michael thought so.
He laughed. The bastard.
“Let me go! I hate you!” I yelled, starting to kick when he tossed me over his shoulder.
He smacked my ass, and I screeched.
“You bastard!” I snarled.
“You already said that,” he said laughingly, walking past my brother and the other officer who brought him, which happened to be James.
My brother’s mouth twitched as I passed, and the bottle he’d handed back to me as he shoved me into the car sounded like a great thing to throw at him again had I had it.
Except Michael had made me lose it with his caveman tendencies.
When he got to the passenger door to his truck, he unlocked it with the keys in his hand and yanked the door open forcefully before depositing me unceremoniously on the seat.
I gasped in surprise, and then glared at the closed door that had just slammed in my face.
“Pendejo.” I muttered, then tried to open the door.
It didn’t open, mostly because my brother was there to stop me.
I flipped him off and he laughed.
“I’ll get you back for this,” I said, pointing at him warningly.
He lifted both hands and shook in fake terror.
I narrowed my eyes, and then smiled as I pulled out my cell phone.
“Hello?” My best friend answered.
“Georgia,” I said when she answered. “You know last week when you asked Nico what he had for lunch, and he said salad? Yeah, it was really a burger from Jucy’s. He lied to you.”
Her outraged gasp, and then the click of the phone in my ear, followed by the instant ringing of Nico’s had me nearly laughing in hilarity.
“Karma’s a bitch!” I yelled when he answered the phone.
Georgia was on a diet, which meant that Nico was on one, too.
Except Nico didn’t want to be on a diet, and every day he was on shift he ate out because he was so hungry.
He paid in cash because she could see their bank account, and I’d caught him at Georgia’s favorite restaurant just last week where he’d made me promise not to tell.
Like the good sister I am, I didn’t tell. Until he put on his bastard hat. Then all bets were off.
“That wasn’t nice,” Michael said from my side.
I’d heard him open his door, of course, but I was ignoring him so I didn’t bother acknowledging him.
Crossing my arms over my chest, I stared straight ahead and refused to even think about him.
“Put your seatbelt on,” he ordered as he started the truck.
I ignored him.
“Nikki,” he said with a sigh. “Put it on.”
I didn’t.
Growling in exasperation, he unbuckled his own seatbelt, reached across me.
His forearm caressed my breast, and my nipple tightened.
The traitorous bitch.
Once he had a hold of the belt, he reached it around me and buckled it into place next to my hip.
He smelled good. Not that I would admit that.
And my nipples were still tingling.
Michael went back to his seat, rolled down the window, and started backing up.
“Thanks!” He yelled at the two men watching us leave.
I snorted.
Screw them, too.
I’d be talking with James’ wife, too. I was fairly sure I could find some dirt on him to wipe that smirk off his face.
“What crawled up your ass?” He asked once we were on the road.
I turned my head to look out the window and stayed silent.
“Stop being childish and talk to me. What you did today could’ve turned out a lot different. You’re lucky it was your brother to pull you over and not someone that didn’t know you. Things could’ve gone to shit easily,” he growled.
I turned to him then.
“You wanna know childish? How about your wife telling everyone at work that I’m a piss poor employee, and then tattling on me because I’m wearing the wrong shoes. The same ‘rule,’ and I say rule with the upmost reluctance because nobody follows it, that everyone breaks. Which I then get sent home for,” I snarled.
He blinked. “She’s not my wife.”
“Well, you fucked her and you were married to her. Nearly the same thing,” I told him.
“It’s not nearly the same thing. I’ve been divorced from Joslin for way over two years. We have no relationship whatsoever, and she’s marrying my brother,” Michael said matter of factly.
I tried hard not to react to the fact that she was marrying Michael’s brother, but failed.
“She’s what?” I yelled.
Well if that didn’t take the wind out of my sails, I didn’t know what would.
Michael shot me an amused look, and it only made that fire burning down in my belly become hotter.
He was so sexy.
His black hair was shaved tightly to his head on the sides, and had about a half inch on top, and his face was clean shaven, though it hadn’t been last night. He was back in his trademark black t-shirt, and a pair of jeans covered his legs.
“Yeah, you heard right,” he nodded.
I blinked and turned back towards my window.
She was such a hoe!
Bryan. At least three doctors that I knew. And Michael’s brother? For real?
How did the woman have that much energy?
“I thought you had to work today,” I said accusingly, not turning away from the view.
“I do. At twelve. It’s only nine thirty in the morning,” he answered. “I was up there to come see you, when I didn’t find you at your apartment, but Joslin was telling me you were sent home.”