Standing in the Shadows (McClouds & Friends #2)(52)

"What is it?" Sean's voice sounded breathless and annoyed.

"Jesus, Sean, have you already found a new girlfriend?"

"None of your goddamn business, but if you must know, I'm at the dojo. I just finished teaching my kickboxing class for Davy. What's up? You in trouble yet?"

"Not yet, but I've got a job for you. Urgent. Detective type stuff."

Sean groaned. "Oh, God. You're not unloading one of Davy's duller 'n dirt watehing-the-paint-peel stakeout gigs on me, are you?"

"Nah. I know the exact limits of your attention span. This one's right up your alley. It involves visiting a house full of fresh, juicy, college chicks and prying information out of them."

There was a thoughtful pause. "I'm listening," Sean said.

"I thought that might grab you." Connor related the facts to Sean with blunt concision. "We need to know who this f*ckhead with the Jaguar is, and where he's been. And we need to know it now."

"Got it. One thing. The chicks. Are they genuinely cute? Or are you shitting me?"

Connor looked at Erin. "Cindy's roommates. Are they cute? Sean wants to know."

Erin opened and closed her mouth, bewildered. "Uh, I… well, I never thought to… uh—"

"Drop-dead gorgeous, every last one of them," Connor said into the phone. "There's a platinum blonde, and a redhead, and a black chick, and an Asian—"

"Oh, piss off," Sean muttered. "What's the address?"

"Address?" Connor gestured for her organizer, and Erin passed it to him. He read off the address to his brother. "Get on it quick, Sean. I've got a bad feeling about this."

"You've got bad feelings about everything," Sean grumbled. "I'm on it, don't worry. First thing tomorrow."

Connor hung up. "If anybody can charm information out of a houseful of females, Sean can," he told her. "He's a goddamn Adonis. It's cruel to sic him on them during finals weeks, but hey, this is war."

"Doesn't your brother have a job? How is he free on a Monday?"

"Sean's a free agent. Both of my brothers work for themselves. Our upbringing wasn't conducive to fitting easily into hierarchies."

"You fit in, didn't you?" she asked.

"I thought I did." Her question made him feel bleak. "I guess I wasn't cut out for a real job any more than my brothers are."

"One more thing," she said, frowning. "You say your brother Sean is so cute. Is he as good-looking as you?"

He laughed at her. "Hah. Even at my best, Sean leaves me in the dust. And Davy, too, in a different way. Davy's got forty pounds of solid muscle on me. But Sean's the pinup loverboy of the three of us."

She shook her head. "I cannot believe that," she said. "He cannot be cuter than you. It's physically impossible."

Damn. He was going to blush again. The soft look in her eyes made him want to roll around on the bed, as blissed out as a dog whose belly was being rubbed. "Come back to bed," he pleaded.

She crawled under the blankets he held up and nestled close to him. "Thank you for calling your brother," she said gravely. "I feel better already. Just because somebody's doing something."

He fitted her tightly against him. "It's nothing."

"Not to me." She kissed his chest. "My hero."

He stiffened against her. "Oh, God. Not you, too."

She pulled away from him. "What do you mean, not me, too?"

"My brothers, the Cave. And now you. I can't outrun it."

She sat up, and shook her head, bewildered. "Outrun what?"

"The hero crack," he snapped.

Her eyes were large and hurt. "It wasn't a crack. I didn't mean to offend you. I actually meant it as a compliment."

He rolled over onto his back and stared at the ceiling, ashamed of himself. "Sorry," he muttered. "I'm not offended. Just self-conscious."

She kissed his chest. Her soft lips against his skin, her delicious warm weight made his body stir… and then throb.

"Well, whatever," she said briskly. "In any case, thank you. You're a sweetheart, and I appreciate your concern for my little sister."

"I care about Cindy, too," he said. "She's always been my pal."

"I know," she said. "I used to be so jealous that you joked around with her, but never with me."

He gaped at her. "Give me a break. Cindy was just a scrawny kid. But you? The teen dream with the sexy, pinup-girl body? Like I was going to tickle you or arm-wrestle you or so much as touch you with a ten-foot pole in front of your dad. I don't have a goddamn death wish."

"Oh, please," she murmured. "Don't exaggerate."

"Exaggerate, my ass," he muttered. "Besides, your mom was on to me from the start."

"What do you mean? On to what?"

"On to the fact that I liked you," he said. "She always hated my guts, and I'm pretty sure that's why."

"Mom did not hate you!" Erin protested. "That's ridiculous!"

"Sure. I was the only one of your dad's colleagues who called her Mrs. Riggs. In nine years, she never invited me to call her Barbara."