“I’ll go,” Chris said, tossing back the covers. He swung his long legs out of bed, grabbed for a pair of boxers and pulled them on, half-hopping across the room, his hard-on making it difficult to pull them up. He cursed and disappeared out of the bedroom.
Kassidy bit her lip and looked at Dag. He smiled. “It’s okay, baby.” He stroked her hair off her face. “Don’t worry, I’m sure it’s nothing.”
She cast a worried glance at the alarm clock. “It’s almost noon,” she said. “I didn’t realize how late it is.” The blinds on the window kept the room nice and dark for lazy late mornings. If they wanted to keep Chris, the morning man, in bed, they had to keep the room dark.
Voices carried from the door down the hall, Chris’s and a feminine voice.
“Shit!” Kassidy sat bolt upright. “It’s Hailey!”
Dag’s brows shot up.
“What the hell’s she doing here?” She started to scramble out of the sheets, but he grabbed her wrist.
“Chris’ll get rid of her.” He fucking better get rid of her.
“But, what if… I don’t know why she’s here.” She turned her pretty face to him, squinting, mouth turned down.
He sighed. “Yeah. Go see.”
She was just getting out of bed when he heard steps in the hall. He turned his head, expecting to see Chris telling her Hailey was there, but his heart slammed to a stop when he saw Kassidy’s sister appear in the open door.
Just as Kassidy climbed naked from the bed in which he was lying, also naked.
Chapter Fourteen
Kassidy froze. Well, first she froze, icy and motionless. Then fiery heat swept over her naked body as she stared into her sister’s eyes.
Hailey looked as shocked as she did. Chris appeared behind her, dressed in his plaid boxers, his hand in his hair, mouth open.
Hailey’s eyes shifted to Dag, and Kassidy didn’t even need to turn around to know exactly what she saw—his long, lean and very naked body only half covered by the sheets, his hair rumpled, his jaw morning sexy with a dark growth of beard.
Her heart crashed into a rapid beat. She opened her mouth but nothing came out. Chris pushed past Hailey and grabbed Kassidy’s robe, strode toward her and shielded her from her sister, handing her the robe. She took it automatically, her face burning, breath coming in shallow little spurts.
“What the hell is going on here?” Hailey finally asked. She turned dark eyes to Chris with a long, appraising look, then back to Kassidy, and the corners of her mouth kicked up. “Kassidy. Well, well, well. I cannot believe this.”
What could she say? Helplessly she tied the belt of the robe and looked at Chris, then back at Hailey. The words “it’s not what it looks like” came to mind, but that was such a lame cliché and so patently untrue. It was totally what it looked like.
“Why are you here, Hailey?” Kassidy finally managed to get some words over her tight lips. “It’s not like you to be out so early on a Sunday.”
“Yeah. I know.” She shrugged. “I came to see if you were going over to Mom and Dad’s today. I’ll go with you.”
“Jesus. You could’ve called first.”
“And missed this?” One eyebrow arched. “Are you kidding me?” She folded her arms across her chest and leaned against the doorframe, eyes moving over both male bodies.
“Hailey. This is…” She swallowed. “This is private.”
“Oh yeah.”
“I mean…don’t tell anyone…” Oh god. “Especially Mom and Dad.” She tried to keep the panic out of her voice because it never failed, if Hailey knew something was important to her, she didn’t want her to have it, and if Hailey knew Kassidy didn’t want her to do something, she’d do it for sure.
Please, Hailey, she begged inside her head.
She shrugged and straightened. “Are you going over there or not?”
“I actually wasn’t planning to today.”
“What? The good little daughter isn’t going over to check on her injured mother?”
“I’ve been there almost every day for the last two weeks. Dad’s there with her today; I think they can manage one day.” Then she frowned. “What do you need me there for? Go over by yourself. You haven’t even been once.”
“Yeah.” Hailey’s eyes fell away from Kassidy’s and her mocking smile disappeared. “I’ve been busy. I guess I’ll do that.”
Kassidy led Hailey out of the bedroom, with a roll of her eyes at Chris and Dag over her shoulder as she did so. She took her straight to the door.
“Not offering me coffee, even?” Hailey asked, amusement shading her voice. “I guess you’re anxious to get back to…whatever the three of you were doing. In bed.”
“Hailey.” Kassidy’s insides churned. “I…” Once again she didn’t know what to say. She’d been caught. In the act. Flagrante delicto—was that the term? In a scandalous liaison with Chris and his best friend. She wanted to believe she didn’t care what Hailey thought of her, and she’d wanted to be the bad girl for once, but the sad truth was, she was so invested in being the good girl that this threat to her pristine reputation threw her way off balance. “Please don’t tell Mom and Dad.”
Damn. She didn’t want to say that again. She had a feeling that telling Hailey not to do that would send her straight to their house with shocking tales of their older daughter’s sexual escapades.
Hailey just laughed. “See ya later, Kass.”
And she was gone.
Kassidy stayed there in the foyer for a few long moments, head leaning on the wall. Visions of Hailey driving straight to Mom and Dad’s, the shock and horror on their faces when she told them what she’d discovered, had her stomach heaving, her mind reeling, and oh hell, her body still pulsing with unsatisfied lust. But her hunger wasn’t about to be slaked as she heard Dag and Chris behind her, and when she turned, they’d emerged from the bedroom fully dressed, both of them wearing identical sheepish expressions.
That mood had been killed.
She sighed. “Well, shit,” she said.
Chris walked over to her and pulled her into his arms. “It’s okay, Kass,” he murmured.
“Who cares what she thinks?” Dag asked, although his eyes were shadowed. “It doesn’t matter.”
It didn’t matter to Dag what people thought. He just did what he wanted, the rebel bad boy. But it mattered to her.
Although the idea that she’d shocked Hailey gave her just a tiny little triumphant thrill. “I just…even if I don’t care what Hailey thinks about me, what about all the people she’s going to tell? Mom and Dad will die.” And she did care what they thought about her.
“She won’t tell them,” Dag said with confidence.
She looked at him. “Why do you say that? You don’t know her. That’s exactly the kind of thing she would do.”
“It would hurt your parents more than it would hurt you,” Dag replied, taking a step nearer to rub her shoulder.
“Except Hailey doesn’t care about our parents,” she said. “In fact, one of her goals in life is to make them miserable. And I doubt she cares that much about me, either.”
“She can’t be that bad.”
He didn’t know her. Kassidy took a deep breath. She wasn’t sure she’d tell her parents, either, but the thought of it was enough to have her insides churning furiously.
“Well, there’s nothing you can do,” Chris said, always practical. “If she tells them, we’ll deal with it. I’m with you, sweetheart, you know. If I have to face your parents and try to explain what’s happening here, I will.”
She regarded him with warm gratitude, knowing this had to be huge for him too. The one who always followed the rules and did what was right…if he had to face her parents and try to explain this all, he’d be dying. She tried to smile as she said, “Maybe you could explain it to me, first.”