through his brother’s skull.
But that also meant he’d never touched Kata, and she’d been in on this scheme all
along.
“This is the first time we’ve met, isn’t it?”
A genuine smile flashed across her face. “You figured that out pretty quickly. Yeah.”
“You might have told me that instead of letting me squirm.” He sent her a chastising
glance.
Her smiled widened. “I might have . . . but where’s the fun in that? Your brother
brought you here in the middle of the night and dumped you in bed. I was asleep, so
this is the first time we’re meeting.”
Well, hell. If Kata was acquainted with his brother, it was a good bet that Xander
knew Kata in the biblical sense. He eased back in the bed with a sigh and used the
sheet to cover himself. She laughed and stood, reaching her hands up high, stretching.
In this position, there was no way he could miss the wink of her diamond naval ring
and the twin circles pushing against the fabric around her pierced nipples.
Gorgeous.
Xander might be a complete douche . . . but he had great taste in women.
“Where is my brother?”
“According to the note I found, Xander is out with Tara, my sister-in-law. We share
this place. No idea when they’ll be back.”
Javier ground his teeth together. “Thank you. I’ll be leaving now. My brother might
have brought me here, but I won’t impose on you anymore. Lovely meeting you. Thanks
for the coffee and ibuprofen.”
Javier staggered to his feet. The blood rushed out of his head, and he damn near fell
back to the bed. Steadying himself on the nearby lamp, he almost knocked it over,
then barely righted the modern, brushed nickel contraption . . . just as his stomach
turned over. That only made his head throb more. He sagged back to the mattress. So
much for his grand exit.
Later, when he felt better, he’d leave. After he’d seen Xander. Yeah, he wanted to
kick baby brother’s ass first. If he left now, it would only look as if he was tucking
tail and running. Xander didn’t scare him at all, but Javier had to admit that his
brother was far sneakier than he’d given the asshole credit for.
So who exactly was Kata and why would she help his brother? Hadn’t Kata mentioned
that Xander had sneaked away with another woman? Maybe that meant Kata wasn’t fucking
his younger brother. Maybe . . . but unlikely. Xander nailed every pretty female who
moved and breathed. But Kata had said earlier that Tara was her sister-in-law? Fuck,
the whole morning had been one confusion after another.
“Are you married?”
“Yep. So is Tara. We’re the wives of the Edgington brothers, in case Xander ever mentioned
them.”
Logan and Hunter, the Navy SEALs. Yes, Javier had a vague recollection of Xander talking
them up. For ogling Kata, her husband could kill him in twenty ways in under a minute
with his bare hands without breaking a sweat, while Javier was too sick to defend
himself. How fucking comforting that wasn’t.
“Is your husband here?”
She laughed. “No, and no turning green on me. I don’t expect him home for a while.”
He sagged back to the pillow with relief. Good. So he wasn’t going to have his balls
forcibly detached from his body and shoved down his throat. That was the only good
news he’d had all morning.
“I suppose you know why Xander brought me here?”
Kata pursed her full lips and hesitated, as if searching for the right words. “He
said something about removing your distractions.”
“You don’t have a drop of liquor in this house, do you?”
“Not as of this morning.” She sent him a sympathetic smile.
It raised his hackles. His motherfucking brother was babying him. Xander was definitely
a dead man. The second he walked in the door, Javier planned to skewer him. Why the
hell hadn’t his brother just confronted him?
Last night’s argument filtered back through his brain. That had been one hell of a