Real Men Knit(74)

22




Dammit. On my good sheets too?” Damian sounded like he was ready to call 911 over the unwelcome sight that had invaded his bed.

Jesse groaned and sucked in a breath. God, Kerry smelled sweet, even first thing in the morning. He pulled her in closer toward him, and she moaned. How could she be sleeping through this? But then again, they had gone more than a few rounds last night.

Damian growled. “Did you hear me? I said those are my good sheets.”

Jesse sat up, careful to keep Kerry covered while making a gesture for Damian to keep it down. “Would you stop being so dramatic,” he whispered. “If these were your good sheets, you would have taken them with you to your place. They are your moderately good sheets at best, you stingy bum.” He looked into Damian’s angry eyes.

“They are my good sheets,” Damian countered, “and now they are ruined with your, well—” He made a face as he looked from Jesse to Kerry’s covered form.

Jesse reached to cover her further, and she shifted, her hips moving provocatively and his dick jumping as if being signaled by the call of a bell.

“Freaking crap,” Damian said. “Just throw away the whole damned bed.”

Kerry groaned and sat up, clutching the sheet to her naked chest. She reached over to the nightstand for her glasses and Jesse dived to be sure her ass stayed covered. It was bad enough that Damian was standing there. There was no way he was getting a look at Kerry’s naked body. No. Fucking. Way.

She put her glasses on, then looked back and forth between the two of them. “Seriously, isn’t it a little early to be having this conversation? And why are you arguing over sheets anyway?” She leveled her comment at Damian, who was staring at her now openmouthed. If he drooled, Jesse swore he was going to punch him.

“Don’t worry, I’ll replace them,” she said. “Now, what are you doing here so early in the morning, and why are you barging into my room? I mean, technically it is my room, at least for right now. So, do you mind . . . ?” She made a shooing GTFO gesture with her hand just when both Lucas and Noah appeared in the doorway.

“What is going . . . ?” Noah started, and fell silent when he saw the two of them on the bed. His smile went wide, but Jesse immediately noticed Lucas’s frown.

“This is getting ridiculous,” Jesse said. “What are you all doing here and why are you all in Kerry’s doorway?”

“Kerry, you’re the one who told us to come to work this morning,” Lucas said.

“Oh, yeah. Sorry. I forgot about that,” she said. “But not in my bedroom.”

Noah laughed. “Yeah, that’s Jesse’s job.”

“Go downstairs now, brother, before I beat your ass,” Jesse said.

Noah laughed, then looked at Kerry. She was glaring at Noah with deadly intent, not realizing she looked sexy as hell wrapped in the sheet with sleep in her eyes. Her lips were still swollen from all their kissing last night.

Noah sobered. “It’s not you I’m afraid of right now. It’s the new master of the house over there.” He put up his hands. “Don’t worry, Kerry, I’m leaving. I’ll, um, get the coffee started. Is there anything else you want? Eggs, bacon, juice? You, um, want to keep your strength up.”

“Go. Now,” she said to them all, and finally Jesse and Kerry were alone once again.

Jesse immediately leaned in and kissed Kerry on her bare shoulder. “I’m so sorry about that. My brothers are the worst. They shouldn’t have done that and made you feel uncomfortable. I’m going to individually and collectively kick their asses.”

Kerry shook her head, then looked at him with eyes more serious than he had expected. There was no trace of the soft, sensual eyes from last night, and he was instantly missing them. “Don’t worry about what Noah said or about what happened between us last night.”

Jesse frowned. What was she talking about, don’t worry? Who was worried?

“I am definitely not the master and don’t think of myself as any sort of mistress of this house. What happened between us was lovely, but I know what it was. It changes nothing. I won’t hold you back, and I won’t cling to you.”

He blinked, her words not quite registering.

“Don’t you want me?”

Kerry looked at him and smiled. “What do you mean, don’t I want you?” She reached out and touched his chest, then leaned forward and kissed him. When she pulled back, she licked at her lips. “If what we did last night is any indication, then of course I want you.” Then she patted his thigh and grinned. “Now come on. Let’s get going, because if we’re up here for any longer, I’m afraid your brothers will be back.”

Jesse watched as Kerry got up, slipped into a robe and headed out and down the hall to the shower. When she was gone, he slammed his head back against the headboard. Hard. She didn’t want him. No, she wanted him, but not the real him. She knew the real him. The piece-of-shit, no-good, can’t-be-depended-on, lacking him. And she had decided he was only good for a temporary fuck and she’d get that and move on. Jesse nodded his head. He couldn’t blame her. Kerry was no dummy.

She’d been in his life long enough to know the ropes, and if he were her, he’d do the same. He got up from the bed with heavy legs and an even heavier heart. He pulled on his boxers and proceeded to strip the bed, taking Damian’s moderately good sheets with him. Oh well, the way he saw it, he had maybe a few good weeks with her left. He might as well do what he could to make the best of them before she said goodbye forever.