Hotter Than Ever (Out of Uniform 9)

“Yeah, because it’s so original,” Cash said with a laugh. “Calling a man from Texas Texas. Pure gold, man.”

“Ugh, you guys all have major ADD,” Shelby declared. “I want to know more about Dylan’s brother fleeing the country on his wedding day.”

“That’s pretty much the grand summation of it,” he said wryly. “Chris left without a word and is now lying on a beach in Aruba.”

“Douchebag,” Seth muttered.

Shelby’s blue eyes shone with compassion. “How is Claire handling it?”

“Well, she got rip-roaring drunk last night, so…” Dylan let the others reach their own conclusions.

“And you and Aidan didn’t take advantage of that and—cover your ears, Shelby—double-team her? Prudes.” Seth shook his head in mock disgust.

“Why do you bother telling me to cover my ears?” Shelby demanded. “You don’t even give me time to do it! And besides, since when do you care about offending my delicate sensibilities?”

“I live with kids now,” the scruffy-haired SEAL replied. “I’m pretty sure I ask Sophie and Jason to cover their ears at least twenty times a day.”

Everyone snickered, including Shelby, but the blonde didn’t waste any time in steering the conversation back to what she perceived as juicy gossip.

“Is double-teaming actually something you’re considering?” she asked Dylan. Then she gasped. “Have you secretly been lusting over your brother’s girl this whole time and now you’re finally going to make your move?”

He flashed her a dark look. “No, I have not been lusting over her.”

The disappointment on Shelby’s face made all the men laugh.

“Motherhood and wifehood have gotten boring, huh?” Cash teased. “Is that why you’re trying to turn the D-Man’s life into a soap opera?”

Seth cursed. “You’re right. The name doesn’t work. Stop using it to spite me.”

“I’m not bored at all,” Shelby said in response to Cash. “But you’ve got to admit, the whole situation is very soap-opera-esque.”

Dylan rolled his eyes. “Yeah, only if I had a thing for Claire. Which I don’t.”

“Fine,” she said glumly. “Maybe she and Aidan will hook up then. The poor woman got dumped on her wedding day. She deserves to indulge in some sexy time with a sexy guy, and Aidan totally fits that bill.”

Yep, Aidan certainly had sexy guy down to a T, but Shelby’s suggestion only succeeded in making Dylan feel edgy as hell. Didn’t escape him that Aidan was back at the condo with Claire at this very moment, just the two of them, alone together…

Swallowing a sigh, he claimed the last banana muffin and said a silent prayer that his lover would remember to keep his dick in his pants.

Son of a bitch. She’d kissed Dylan last night.

Claire couldn’t erase the memory of that explosive kiss from her mind, no matter how hard she tried. It was the last thing she’d thought of before falling asleep last night, and the first thing she’d thought of when she’d opened her eyes this morning. And each time the image of Dylan’s heavy-lidded green eyes and sexy mouth popped into her head, she was overcome with equal doses of lust and shame.

It had been a good kiss.

Oh, who was she kidding? It had been the hottest kiss of her entire life. Which didn’t make any sense, because she didn’t even like the man! Not only that, but he was Chris’s brother. Chris, the man she’d almost married. What kind of woman made out with her ex-fiancé’s brother?

“You slept late.”

Claire jumped as the husky male voice sounded from the other side of the kitchen. Her water glass nearly fell from her grip. She managed to hold on to it, then turned to give Aidan a tentative smile.

“Too late,” she answered. “I crashed at eight and woke up at noon. That’s a good sixteen hours of my life I’ll never get back.”

Aidan chuckled. “You needed it. Yesterday was stressful for you.”

“Can’t argue with that.”

The kitchen offered an eat-in counter, so Claire slid onto one of the tall stools and watched Aidan rummage around in the enormous double-door fridge.

“You want something to eat?” he asked without turning around.

As if on cue, her belly grumbled, but she didn’t quite trust that part of her anatomy at the moment. Even though she hadn’t woken up with a hangover or an upset stomach, she’d consumed nearly half that scotch bottle last night, and she knew from past experience her stomach was going to be a little sensitive.

“Depends what,” she told him. “It’s gotta be something light that I can keep down.”

He tossed her a sympathetic look over one broad shoulder. “You feeling queasy?”

“No, but I don’t want to push my luck.”

“Good plan. Okay, well, I’m all about the bacon and eggs after a night of drinking, but maybe you should stick to some toast?”

“Aw, but bacon and eggs sounds so yummy,” she said in a glum voice.

He flashed that dimpled grin, and her heart promptly did a happy flip. Gosh, this man was so freaking adorable. Not to mention so incredibly sexy. How was that combination even possible?

Aidan’s dark eyes narrowed. “Now what’s the secretive little smile all about?”

“I was trying to figure out if it’s possible for a man to be sexy and adorable at the same time.”