“Seth, I didn’t mean—”

His cell phone took that moment to come to life, blaring what even she knew was AC/DC’s “Big Balls”. Why he’d chosen that as Brian’s ringtone, she didn’t know and didn’t dare ask.

The mood shattered as Seth answered the call. Macy inwardly cursed Brian’s timing and refocused on the long road ahead, tightening her grip on the steering wheel, heart thudding dully. Despite her exhaustion, suddenly she’d never felt more awake.

She needed to get a grip, so maybe Brian’s timing wasn’t so bad after all. Seth was in the middle of a family crisis. Now wasn’t the time to add her conflicted emotions to his turmoil, no matter how they begged for her to express them. She would be there to comfort him until her friends came, and then she would leave and let him deal with his grief. When he came back, maybe they could pick up where they left off.

Her body still tingled with aftereffects of last night’s sex marathon, and being in this car, with its backseat, was no help. At all. No wonder she was frazzled. She’d probably never be able to ride in this vehicle without thinking of that first encounter many months ago.

The very fact she’d met up with him that night was telling—the first crack in her cautious outer shell. She still didn’t know what had come over her, but when she ran into him at the sushi bar and he asked if she wanted to hang out later, her “yes” had been immediate.

Loneliness? Boredom? Maybe both, maybe a lot more. Candace had just begun messing around with Brian, Sam had Michael, and Macy had…no one.

Nothing had happened, at least not that night. They’d only talked. She hadn’t lied to her friend when Candace grilled her about it a few days later, but she’d tried damn hard to hide the disappointment she’d felt—disappointment she tried to talk herself out of. As bad an idea as the whole thing was, she hadn’t been able to help herself. Surely this edgy, razor-witted, dangerous-looking guy had more in mind for her than hanging out.

As it turned out, it hadn’t taken long for him to show her.

She glanced over at him now, found that he’d finally settled down after hanging up with Brian and appeared to be dozing with his hood drawn over his head. Good. She let the memories of their second meet-up engulf her.

The way he hadn’t kissed her mouth. She’d gone in for the move first—imagine that—and he’d grasped her chin and grazed the side of her neck with his lips…oh, those lips…before scoring lightly with his teeth. She would never, could never forget that. It had been so disconcerting and wildly erotic for him to deny her the taste of him when she was starving for it. He’d had her without another modicum of effort.

After that one intensely vivid moment, the rest was a blur of pleasure. Of desire trumping dignity. Probably good that she couldn’t recall the exact things he’d gotten her to say or the positions he’d had her in so he could get to her in the cramped confines. The degree of difficulty had only made it that much hotter.

He gave her the best sex of her life. But that wasn’t something they could build a relationship on. It should be a perk, not the foundation.

Things like this, though. Being there for each other through crises. Caring. She had no doubt she could call him for anything and he’d be there, even before today. That’s what it was all about, right? And they had that going for them too.

She didn’t want to end up like Raina. That thought terrified her more than anything. He could be making the girl sound worse than she was, but Macy had witnessed the crazy firsthand, and she seemed ruined over him. When he was done giving Macy all the addictive sex she could handle, would he then cut her loose too? Would he stick by her if they faced something major and life-changing?

“Having her back” for a favor every now and then was a damn sight different than having it forever.

She wanted forever with someone. She was ready for forever. Please, God, don’t let me be wasting my time.

Chapter Sixteen

“Oh, what the f**k.”

Seth’s voice yanked Macy from a fitful sleep…if what she was doing could be called that. She never could get comfortable or relaxed enough in a car to fully achieve it. Whatever the case, he startled her so that she was upright and wide awake almost before the final k left his lips.

By all appearances, it was early afternoon, and he was nudging the GTO to the curb on a quiet-looking street lined with quiet-looking houses. They had made it to his sister’s, presumably. And he wasn’t happy.

“What’s wrong?”

“That.” He pointed through the windshield at the shiny black Tahoe with Texas plates parked in front of them. “That is my sorry motherfucker of a brother.”

“Oh. You didn’t think he’d come?”

“Why the hell would he? He hasn’t done shit so far; why start now?”

“Well…” At a loss and a grave disadvantage, Macy fumbled for something encouraging to say and gave up. Nothing her sleepy brain could conjure would magically undo what appeared to be years of animosity. “I’m sorry.”

“I can’t believe Steph didn’t give me the heads-up he was here.”

“Maybe she didn’t think you’d come if she did.”

“I wouldn’t have. I’d have at least gone straight to the hospital like I wanted to in the first place. If she’s got some kind of family reunion kiss-and-make-up shit in mind, she can hang it up.”

Here was an angle she could take, maybe. “You’re her brothers. She needs you both. Whatever’s in the past, put it aside for her and your grandmother. You all need each other now.”

“I need that ass**le like I need—”

“Yes, everyone knows that. Listen to what I said, please? Am I not right?”

He hadn’t killed the engine yet. He could still dart away and avoid this altogether…for now, at least. He’d have to face it sooner or later. She could see the calculations going on behind his eyes. And the pain. Maybe leaving right now would be for the best. She didn’t like it, but the last thing she wanted to get caught up in was drama in an unfamiliar family. Sam and Candace were only a couple hours behind them, maybe three. If Seth’s driving away right now would keep the peace until her friends could get here and rescue her, hell, she should be all for it.

“Whatever you want to do,” she told him quietly.

He deflated. His brief nap had invigorated him enough that he’d seemed okay when they swapped driving duties at the state line, but now she watched the lingering exhaustion take hold of him, absolutely sapping what remaining energy he had left. Reaching up, he turned the key off. Everything about the motion seemed like a slow defeat.

What could be as bad as that? What was waiting for him in there?

“Maybe you should clue me in a little?”

“Macy, I honestly don’t have the strength right now. You’ll find out soon enough.”

Adequately mystified, she turned her attention to the pretty white frame house beyond the small but meticulously landscaped yard to their right. As she watched, a blonde woman stepped out onto the porch with a toddler on her hip, waved and descended the steps. The same woman from the pictures at his house.

Seth popped open his door, and Macy followed suit, getting out and trailing him up the walkway. She stood without speaking while he and his sister embraced as best they could around his nephew—who was adorable—and then stepped forward into Seth’s reach when he turned back and held his arm out toward her.