Love Me Like That (22 page)

“I won’t stay away as long this time; I promise.” She kisses me on the cheek, and I make my way to the door only to find Kegan shrugging into to his coat.

“You leaving too?” I ask reaching for the doorknob.

“Yep. Going with you.” He begins to button his coat, not paying much attention to me.

“You sure as fuck are not,” I answer before I can stop the words from coming out of my mouth.

“Yeah, I am. We can watch the game. I’ll crash in your guest room, and we can head into work tomorrow together.” I shake my head back and forth.

“Not possible, Kegan.” I’m not trying to hide London, but honestly I still feel a wave of shame, knowing eventually people will find out that she is there.

“I stay over there all the time, Kadin. It’s no big deal.”

“The room is occupied.”

This gets his attention. He tilts his head to a slight angle.

“Occupied? You have a roommate now?”

His assumption, not mine, so I go with it.

“Yes.” Simple answer right? Well, it won’t be a simple explanation when he sees her. I don’t feel like getting into it right now in the foyer of my parents’ house.

“Okay, so I’ll go home after the game. No biggie.” He slaps me on the back and walks out the front door, seconds later he’s climbing into my truck.

Motherfucker, this is not how I had anticipated introducing London to my family.

I’ve fallen asleep with my eReader on my chest; it’s not the first time it’s happened, and I’m sure far from the last. I’m thinking it is the lights still on in the room that have kept me from falling into a deep sleep but then I hear noises in another part of the condo.

I stretch and grunt in a very unladylike manner and make my way out to the living room. I stop dead in my tracks when I see a man crossing the end of the hallway. My first instinct is to run because I have no idea who the hell he is or why he’s even here. This could be some sort of robbery. If people who break into other people’s houses are relaxed enough to walk around without shoes drinking a beer.

He notices me, no doubt from the loud gasp I released when I first saw him. Slowly he lowers the bottle of beer from his lips revealing the most amazing smile. In his smile is the evidence of who he is. This is the man that is in the picture I was looking at earlier. Kadin’s brother.

“Sweet Christ,” he mumbles, his eyes taking me in from top to bottom and back again.

Just then Kadin comes into view, and I cut my eyes to him. He looks from the man to me several times, the jovialness I caught a glimpse when he first rounded the corner quickly fading.

“Where are my manners,” the man says as he wipes his right hand on his jeans and stretches it out for me to take it. “I’m Kegan, Kadin’s younger, more handsome brother.”

I take a few steps forward and reach my hand out to meet his. Surprisingly he pulls me forward another step and raises my hand to his warm lips were he kisses it delicately, his eyes never leaving mine. This little devil is quite charming.

I grin at him until I hear Kadin growl. Seriously, he growled, like a territorial animal. I smirk with satisfaction. A feeling I know I shouldn’t have but can’t deny even if I wanted to.

“Nice to meet you, Kegan. I’m London. Kadin’s…” I cut my eyes to Kadin unsure of what to say, unsure of what to call myself.

Registering my uneasiness Kegan cuts in. “Roommate. He said he had someone in the guest room, but he failed to mention it was an incredibly gorgeous woman.” He turns his head toward his brother. “Now I know why you didn’t want me to come over.”

Kegan releases my hand only long enough to swing his arm over my shoulder, guiding me to the living room where a baseball game is playing on the enormous TV.

“That’s enough,” Kadin says slapping his brother on the back of the head and tugging his arm off of my shoulder.

I look back to Kegan to apologize for Kadin’s rudeness but when I meet his eyes he just winks at me. I can’t help but smirk at his blatant flirting. I have no idea what Kadin has told him about me, but I’m guessing it was minimal if anything at all considering the genuine shock on his face when I walked down the hall.

“Let me get you some pizza,” Kegan offers. “Beer?”

I look over at Kadin and see a bottle of water in his hand.

“Water please,” I tell him.

He nods and leaves Kadin and me alone in the living room.

I look back to Kadin. “You didn’t tell me you had a brother.”

He shrugs his shoulders like it’s no big deal or even more disturbingly like we aren’t on a level with each other that would require him to mention his family. It gets my hackles up immediately, annoyance coursing through my veins.

“Careful,” he says without enthusiasm. “He’s likely to charm the panties right off of you.”

And again with the shit that comes out of his mouth, assuming I’m the type of person that would spend a week with someone and then jump to his brother the first chance I got.

“Well,” I said just as rudely. “Good thing I’m not wearing any.”

I sit on the couch and cross my arms over my chest. I know I’m acting immature, but he’s been distant all day and now he’s resorting to snide comments. I want to tell him that if he doesn’t want me here, then I’ll leave, but I’m afraid he’ll agree and then that leaves me with nowhere to go. I’m impulsive but not that crazy.

“London,” he sighs and takes a step closer to me, and I can see the apology in his eyes.

Kegan reappears before he can say another word. He hands me a plate with a huge slice of pizza on it and sets a bottle of water in front of me on a coaster on the table.

“Thank you,” I say and place the plate on my lap, looking up at Kadin as his brother settles in right beside me on the couch.

He rolls his eyes at his brother and walks out of the room.

“So you and Kadin huh?” His brother is obviously pushing for information Kadin hasn’t given him.

“Roommates,” I answer refusing to tell him anything his brother hasn’t already disclosed.

“So you’re single then?” I smirk at Kegan and take a bite of my pizza. I can tell he’s only trying to irritate his brother, and I refuse to play along with whatever game he’s getting at.

“Back off, Kiki,” Kadin says coming back into the living room with his own plate of pizza.

“Don’t call me that, KayKay,” he sneers playfully.

I roll my lips between my teeth in an attempt not to laugh. Kadin sits down on my other side so close he’s practically sitting on my lap.

“Kiki? KayKay?” I say looking back and forth between them.

They look past me at each other. “Truce?” Kegan asks.

Kadin narrows his eyes in contemplation. “Truce,” he agrees and they bump knuckles in front of me.

He places his hand on my thigh, an apparent show of possession. I hear Kegan chuckle beside me.

With the battle over and both parties back in their own corners, we watch the baseball game and eat pizza. Well, the guys watch the game. I sit there and wonder just what in the hell is going on. Here I am, the meat in a Cole sandwich, and I have no idea how to act.

If we were back at the cabin, I would be snuggled in his arms, but other than the hand that remains chastely on my thigh he’s made no other attempt to welcome me closer.

“I’m glad you finally got a TV, man,” Kegan says before taking a ridiculously large bite of his pizza slice.

“Got tired of watching the game on my laptop,” Kadin says with a shrug.

They begin talking back and forth about the teams and how their seasons have gone, and I eventually block them out. Instead, thoughts of employment and apartment hunting are running through my head. I haven’t agreed to take the position Kadin so kindly offered me the other day.

The way things are looking already in the few hours I’ve been here in Spokane with him, it may be best to find my way on my own and not rely on him. If things go any further south, I know I’ll have to leave.

I made the decision before I even ended up in the ditch that I was done being run over. I was through with not following my gut and allowing people to walk all over me; to make decisions I should have been making for myself. I need to gain every ounce of independence that I can muster.

I honestly don’t know what I want from Kadin and if anything with Kadin is even an option, but it’s a conversation we need to have. One that’s not possible with his brother here.

The deep timbre of Kadin’s voice calms my nerves and settles my thoughts without purpose on his part. Without thinking, I place my hand over his and lay my head on his shoulder.

“Don’t say a fucking word,” I hear Kadin tell a laughing Kegan before my eyes flutter completely closed.

“Care to explain?” my brother says angling his head toward London’s sleeping form that’s nestled into my side on the couch.

“I told you not to say a word.” He won’t listen. I don’t know why I even waste my breath on him most days. As the youngest, the baby of the family, he knows if he pries long enough most people around him will just cave and give him what he’s asking for.

I want to talk to him about her, but I have so many unanswered questions myself I don’t even know where to begin. Savannah is everywhere I look in the condo, and I honestly feel guilty with her snuggled up to my side on the sofa.

“Why didn’t you just say your girlfriend moved in with you?” He cuts his eyes back to the TV.

“Roommates,” I say flatly, not giving into him.

“I wish I had a gorgeous roommate who clings to me in her sleep.”

I move my hand from her thigh and place it around her back. “You should get one. It’s really nice.” I’m trying to annoy him, just like I know he was doing when he was flirting with her.

My brother is childish most days, but he knew there was more to her and me when she walked down the hall in a tank top and skin tight yoga pants. Even in her rumpled state with her brown hair piled messily on her head, he could tell how beautiful she is.

It took everything I had not to grab her by the arm and force her back to her room to get more clothes on. I knew that would throw up a red flag to Kegan, hinting at what we’ve been up to, so I didn’t. Not leaving well enough alone he flirted with her anyways; I’m certain just to get a reaction out of me.

It worked; incredibly so. I almost threw him out on his ass and carried her over my shoulder to her room like a caveman; somehow I managed to restrain myself, attempting to act as nonchalant about it as possible. He saw right through me like he always does.

I shouldn’t toy with him, especially where London is concerned. I don’t know where she and I are heading, but I can’t forget that she’s a large part of the reason I’m sitting in this room again rather than a corpse waiting to be discovered in the woods. She’s more than a roommate, but how can I explain that to him when I’m not certain I know what it all means myself?

“What’s her story?” He asks and sets his empty plate on the coffee table.

“She ended up at the cabin after driving her car into a ditch.”

“And before that?” I can tell he’s trying to act casual, but he forgets I’m older than he is and I’ve seen every trick he’s ever tried to use to get information when the person is less than willing to give it to him.

“That’s her story to tell you if she ever feels the need.” I raise my eyebrows at him.