“I don’t care.” She giggles, and I have never, ever heard a happier sound.

“Are you all right?” I ask. What if she’s delirious from the stress of it?

She lays her head back against the pillow, her chest shaking with laughter. “I think I just came on your face,” she says. She giggles again.

I laugh, too. I can’t help it. It’s contagious—her happiness. She’s f**king happy. And so am I.

Reagan

I wake up in Pete’s arms, our naked limbs tangled together. Pete had taken off his boxers and used them to clean up the mess between us, and then he slid into bed naked, just like me. He’d pulled me against his chest and kissed my forehead, murmuring softly to me about how amazing that was. I don’t think it was nearly as amazing for him as it was for me. He had to work to get me off, and all I had to do was touch him really quickly. I smile against my pillow at the thought of it. Perfect. That’s what it was. Perfect.

He stirs when I start to move, and his arms reach for me. But now I know what woke me. Maggie is retching beside the bed, and I need to get up. I’m going to have to call the vet. This isn’t normal for her. Not at all. I suppose it can wait until the sun comes up. I glance at the clock on the bedside table, and it’s not even morning yet. “I’ll be right back,” I whisper to Pete. He rolls into his pillow, and I’m not even sure he’s awake. He makes a low sound, but it’s more of a mumble. I pull Pete’s shirt over my head and slide into my jeans. Then I stick my feet into Pete’s sneakers. He won’t mind. I’m not wearing underwear, but I just need to go to the bathroom and find something to clean up Maggie’s mess. I pet her head for a second, and she looks up at me like she’s sorry. The hallway is dark when I step out, and it takes me a minute to get my bearings.

I go back and clean up the floor and go pee really quickly, but then I see Maggie standing at the front door, scratching at it. She needs to go out. It’s the middle of the night, and we’re not in a good section of town. “Oh, Mags,” I say. “Can’t it wait?” I throw my head back and groan. I suppose I could wake Pete up. I really don’t want to go down by myself. Then again, I’ll have Maggie with me.

Papers rustle at the kitchen table, and I jump. One of the brothers is sitting there, and he closes a book in front of himself. It’s the one with the ponytail—Matt? He lays his pen down and says quietly, “Does she need to go out?” He stands up and reaches for his shoes. “I’ll take her.” He slides his feet into his shoes and walks toward me.

“You don’t have to go to any trouble,” I say. I take a step back, and Maggie growls at him. He holds out his hands to the side. “Mags,” I scold. She buries her head under my hand and runs back to the door, where she scratches. “I’m just going to take her out really quick,” I say. I go back to our room, get Maggie’s leash, and clip it to her collar. I open the door and step out, but before I can close it behind me, Matt joins me. “You really don’t have to go,” I say.

He jams his hands in his pockets and walks by me, opening the door to the stairwell. He doesn’t say a word. He just walks down with us and out toward the street, where he leads us to an area with some grass and trees. It’s small, but it’ll do. Maggie immediately squats and comes back to walk circles around my legs. “All done?” he asks. He brushes his hair back because some of it’s falling out of the rubber band at the back of his neck. He really does look a lot like Pete, but he’s thin and tall. He’s not as broad as Pete, but he’s wiry and I can tell he’s strong. He’s not threatening at all, and the fact that he’s not surprises me. Men usually scare the hell out of me.

“Yeah,” I say, and we start back toward the apartment.

The city is not asleep. I doubt it ever sleeps, and some men walk by us wearing knit caps and football jerseys. I back up and step into Matt. He puts his hands on my shoulders and says, “Careful.” He squeezes my shoulders gently, and then he steps back. He holds the door wide, and I slide through without touching him. But in the back of my mind, I’m lamenting over the fact that he didn’t make my skin crawl. “You okay?” he asks as we start up the stairs.

I nod. But I have this lump in my throat. I officially have three men in my life now who don’t scare me. My dad, Pete, and this man I don’t know. And the fact that I don’t know him, yet feel okay with him touching me, amazes me. “Thanks for going with me,” I say.

“I couldn’t let Pete’s girl go out in the dark alone. He’d never forgive me.” My belly flips at his choice of words. Pete’s girl.

“I should have just woken him up. I don’t think he’d mind.”

He snorts. “You’ve never seen Pete in the morning, huh?”

I guess I haven’t. Not when he gets right out of bed. “No,” I admit. But up until tonight, he’d never came in my hand, either, so I guess I’m learning all sorts of things about him, how he looks in the morning being just one of them.

We get halfway up the stairs and I realize Maggie’s not with us. I let her leash drop after we came through the door because she always follows so closely. I look down and see her on the second level, lying on the floor panting. “Mags?” I say. I walk toward her, and she lumbers to her feet. But she’s unsteady, and she refuses to walk up the stairs.

“Will she let me carry her?” Matt asks.

Tags: Tammy Falkner The Reed Brothers Romance
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