Ryan (Mallick Brothers 2)

"Stay away from her," I growled before I could seem to stop myself.

I was fucking losing it over nothing.

"Oh, fuck," he said, sitting forward again, chuckling slightly. "You have a thing for your neighbor. About fucking time too. You've been in a dry spell for what now..."

"I do fine, thanks," I said, shaking my head.

While Mark and Shane (before he found Lea) were of the manwhore variety, I had always been a bit too busy to put that much emphasis on bed hopping. I got my fair share, but I wasn't a different girl every night or every weekend kind of guy.

"Fine isn't great though, bro. Great is great. Banging your hot neighbor until you wake up the whole building is great."

"Can we get back to the budget and leave my personal life alone?"

"No, I don't think we can do that," Shane's voice said from the side and I turned to find him standing in the door to the office, his hulking frame almost taking up the whole space. "What personal life? Since the fuck when do you have anything that even resembles a personal life?"

So I was a workaholic.

That was no secret.

There was a lot that went into the family business. And loansharking was only part of the family business. There was also the bar and the dozen or so other businesses we all owned between us. And our dirty money got laundered through those legit businesses so I had to keep the books for everything even though I technically had no hand in the operations of Shane's gym or the landscaping company or the liquor store or any of the other things my brothers actually owned.

Then on top of those types of books, there were the businesses that I did, in fact, own. And had to staff and make orders for and do improvements on and settle disputes for. On top of all of that, I took on the women's shelter. They had run out of money and were going to lose their business and because my family was so involved with it to start with, we decided to step in. I just so happened to be the only one with enough disposable cash to take it over. And it came with its own headaches, though I did force Mark to do a lot of the work around the place to save me some hassle.

I was fucking busy.

From the moment I woke up until about an hour before I crashed, I was fucking swamped.

They were right; I had almost no personal life.

And maybe they were right. Maybe it was getting to me. Maybe I needed to get out a little, get laid, unwind. It would explain why I was zoning out during a goddamn business meeting.

"Ry has the hots for his housebound neighbor," Mark supplied, making me pick up a pen at throw it at him.

Brothers, they were every bit as invasive as sisters, no matter what anyone said. Or maybe that was only true in families as close as ours was.

"Housebound, huh?" Shane asked, smile going devilish. "That kind of works out then, doesn't it? No tracking her down. No taking her out to a fancy dinner. You just show up and you're fucking."

"I'm not sleeping with my neighbor," I said immediately. Even if I had thought about it. Often. Usually in the shower. Like some kind of horny fucking teenager.

"But he wants to. And she apparently has some kind of drama with some dirtbags," Mark added.

There was no such thing as privacy in the Mallick family. If Mark knew it, so did Shane. Then from there, Lea, Fee, Hunter, Eli, and our parents.

My goddamn cell would be ringing and beeping all night.

Great.

"You're gonna knight-in-shining-armor her?" Shane asked, leaning against the wall, crossing his arms. "Not a bad move. I mean, not the shortest shortcut to pussy. But it will work eventually."

"Jesus Christ," I sighed, raking a hand down my face, my palms catching on scruff I must have forgotten to shave off somehow. "Enough. I'm not sleeping with her. I don't plan on sleeping with her. This conversation is over."

"Uh-huh," Mark said, nodding, smirk still in place. "Sure, man. So Shane," he said as I sat back on a sigh, knowing what was to follow. "I have my money on... a week," he offered, betting on shit like we were always known to.

Shane looked over at me. "Nah, man. He's practically a monk and she's a shut-in. I say three."

"Hunt will do the smart thing and take the bet in the middle," Mark mused. "And Fee will likely..."

"Alright, I have better places to be," I said, standing, buttoning my suit jacket. "Like literally fucking anywhere but here," I added, grabbing my cell and heading toward the door. "Lock up on your way out," I finished with, closing the door behind me.