Ruined (Barnes Brothers #4)(71)

“Don’t you want to know why Marin and I think you’re a dumb-ass?”

Zach thought he probably didn’t want to know. Especially if it had Abby mad at him. “Well . . .”

Not giving him a chance to finish, she came up behind him and leaned in, her lips just an inch from his ear. Abby was a tall woman and with the heels she’d worn, it put them just about eye to eye. He’d told her earlier that he planned to turn her around and put her over the couch the second they got home. She’d gotten pink in the face and told him she’d hold him to it. Now he was thinking he might be sleeping on the couch—alone.

For a week.

“You didn’t close the door all the way, baby. Some people heard that man-to-man talk you had with Sebastien. Including me . . . and Marin.”

Zach closed his eyes, squeezing them shut so hard he saw starbursts of color behind his lids. “Son of a . . .”

“Bastard.”

He jerked his head around and saw Sebastien standing just a few feet away.

“Aw, hell.” Tipping his head back, he stared up at the ceiling. Then, because there wasn’t much to be done for it, he refilled his whiskey and tossed it back. He considered having another because this was going to hurt. Sebastien’s hands were almost the size of dinner plates nowadays and he had plenty of muscle to back those hands up.

But he didn’t. Setting the glass down with a decisive clink, he turned to Sebastien and held out his hands at his side. “Come on, then. Get it over with.”

Abby made a derisive snort as she came around to stand between them, looking from him to Sebastien.

“Seb . . .” she began.

Zach cut her off. “It’s cool, Abby. I probably deserve it and it will make him feel better.”

“No.” Sebastien was the one who spoke, his voice gentle, deceptively so. “It won’t.”

He turned around and walked off.

Abby sighed and looked at Zach. “You’re almost right, Zach. I think you do deserve it. But it won’t make him feel better. Marin left.”

Zach’s mouth fell open. “She . . . what?”

Abby turned and walked away, leaving him there. He didn’t see the smile curling her lips. He felt bad, which she figured was what he needed—for a little bit. Marin had already texted her and told she’d be on her way back soon.

She had no idea what her friend was up to, but she’d seen something in Marin’s face when her friend looked at Sebastien.

Zach hadn’t quite figured it out yet, but he would. The man she married wasn’t an idiot. Willfully blind, maybe, but not an idiot.





Chapter Eighteen




Where are you?

He’d sent Marin the text maybe ten minutes after the mess with Zach, and it had taken her twenty minutes to text back. During those twenty minutes, Sebastien had figured one thing out.

Marin wasn’t at the house any longer. That brilliant deduction was made upon discovering the absence of the rental car. He’d kept from texting her again, waiting until his temper cooled, because he didn’t want take his anger out on her—Zach’s hard head would be better.

Her answer had just now popped up.

About ready to head back. See you soon.

He almost texted her again, but held off.

He didn’t know why she’d left. Okay, it had something to do with what she’d heard. He didn’t know what she’d heard, exactly. Quite a bit had been said. He didn’t know how much she’d heard.

Hopefully she’d tell him.

He might have to rethink his decision to hit Zach, but for now, he was staying exactly where he was, right on the porch that faced out over the road.

Keelie and Zane had no neighbors.

The beautiful house was set back from the road on an isolated piece of land and it made it easy to see when somebody was coming.

It took a little more time to ascertain that the vehicle coming maybe a half hour later was the Corvette he’d rented. She drove it like a pro and he couldn’t help but smirk as he recalled the dry remark she’d made about the overtly “phallic-ness” of the car—or something to that effect. Apparently she knew how to handle penis symbols.

He was on his feet as she turned down the drive and walking toward her when she pulled the car into the empty spot at the end of the U.

He opened the door and without waiting for her to say anything, he caught her chin and kissed her, rough and desperate, one arm going around her waist while he pushed the other into her hair. They were both breathing harder when he ended the kiss. “Where in the hell did you go?”

“I . . . um . . .” She paused and licked her lips. Her lashes lifted up and the lambent heat there made him want to kiss her all over again.

He almost did, but he made himself stop before he could. “Well?”

“I decided to go shopping. Sometimes a girl just gets that urge, Seb.” She turned away and reached back into the car.

His eyes dropped to her butt and the way the long, skinny skirt drew tight against her curves. He didn’t touch. At least not until she was facing him again, and then he rested a hand on her hip, searching her eyes. They were bright, glinting with a hot light. But he knew Marin—despite what some * brother of his might think. She wasn’t mad, but she was up to something.