Taking Him (Lies We Tell) (21 page)

“No it won’t.” Hunter picked up the pencil lying on the desk and did some quick sketching. “Not if you do it like this.”

Vin’s scowl didn’t lift. He hated to be wrong, understandably considering the time and effort he always put into planning things. But then again, that was why Vin was a good business partner, why they both worked so well together. Vin was the planner while Hunter coped with anything last minute or unforeseen. Such as a solar panel problem on the house Vin was in the process of building.

“Man, I hate it when you’re right.” Vin shoved his hand through his dark hair, the sun coming through the windows, catching the subtle coppery highlights of it.

Much darker than Ellie’s.

Hunter blinked, forcing his thoughts away from that particular path. He didn’t want to be thinking of Ellie. Not with her brother in the damn room. And definitely not when thinking of her always produced its usual effect—a giant freaking hard-on.

Vin muttered something, raking his hand through his hair again.

Hunter frowned at him. “What’s up? You’re even pissier than normal.”

“Nothing’s up. Just my sister about to leave the country for a few years. Nothing major.”

Something that felt like pain caught inside Hunter’s chest. He ignored it. “She’ll be fine. You know that, right?”

Vin’s hand dropped from his hair and picked up the pencil instead, tapping it on the table in an irritated manner. Then he said, “I know. But she’s still my little sister and I’m still worried about her. I spent years keeping our family together and now it’s breaking apart.”

“Things always change, Vin.”

“Fuck change.” The pencil dropped. “If the universe had any goddamned respect it should stay the same.”

At that point the door to Vin’s office opened and Ellie sauntered in.

And Hunter’s heart stopped. Like it had been doing all bloody week whenever she was near. Christ, he’d been late for work this morning because he hadn’t been able to keep his hands off her and yet now, only a few hours later, it felt like weeks since he’d touched her. She was like a drug—the more he had, the more he wanted.

It would have freaked him out if there hadn’t been a time limit on their affair. If she hadn’t been leaving in a few days. If his intense reaction to her wasn’t only because she was his first real lover and he had years of missing out to catch up on. In fact, far from freaking out, he’d thrown himself into the affair with abandon, losing himself in her. Obliterating the memories of Liz with her. She was his perfect escape, one he indulged in as often as he possibly could.

“Hey, Ell,” Vin said. “What are you doing here?”

“Oh, I was in town. Thought I’d come in and say hi.” Her gaze came to Hunter’s, colour stealing through her cheeks. “Hi, Hunter.”

Shit, she looked good. In a little black mini that grazed the tops of her thighs, a black mesh long-sleeved top with nothing underneath it but a bright red bra top, black-and-red-striped over-the-knee socks with her ridiculous platform boots. Insane clothing, yeah, but so fucking sexy. And all for him. Ellie had upped her game when it came to her clothes because she’d discovered he loved it. Got hard just looking at her in her sexy little gothic outfits. In fact he could think of several things he’d like to do with her when he got home tonight. Such as pushing up that little skirt…

“What do you think, Hunt?”

Hunter blinked, realising Vin was looking at him, expecting an answer to whatever question he’d asked. Shit, had his friend seen the way he was checking out his sister? He bloody hoped not. What he and Ellie had going on wasn’t something he wanted to tell Vin about. Wasn’t something he’d
ever
tell Vin about.

“Think about what?” he said, trying not to look at Ellie.

Vin rolled his eyes. “Mate, that bloody bandage currently masquerading as a skirt.”

Oh no, he didn’t want to look. Not again. “It’s fine,” he said, moving toward the door. “I gotta go.” Getting away seemed like a great idea at this point.

Vin’s eyes widened. “It’s ‘fine’? Are you serious?”

“Geez, chill out, Vin.” Ellie gave her brother a foul look. “When are you going to stop going on about my clothes? I’m twenty-five. I can wear whatever the hell I want.”

“Over my dead fucking body.”

Tension coiled in the air between the two of them and it looked like there was going to be another sibling battle. Probably a major one considering the shitty mood Vin was in.

“Come with me, sweetness,” Hunter said quietly. “Vin’s not the best company right now.” Probably better to separate them before either of them said something that couldn’t be taken back. Vin and Ellie didn’t often fight, but Hunter was well aware that there was resentment on both sides—resentment that could boil over into something nasty if they weren’t careful. Not the best going away present for Ellie. Or for Vin.

“I’m fine,” Vin growled.

“You’re not. And I’m out of here.” Ellie came toward Hunter, and he pulled the door open for her.

“I’ll be there in a second,” Hunter said, making sure his gaze was firmly on his friend and not on checking Ellie out as she passed him, the flower scent of her almost making him forget her damn brother was still in the room.

“What?” Vin demanded after Ellie had gone. “I can’t switch off years of protecting her like that. I have a problem with her slutty skirts, okay?”

“It’s not the skirt.” He didn’t bother making it a question. He knew it wasn’t.

The other man straightened, chucking the pencil he was holding back down on the desk. “No. It’s not. She didn’t come here to see me. She came here to see you.”

Hunter kept his face completely expressionless. “What makes you say that?”

“Oh, come on, man. You didn’t see the way she looked at you?”

Ah, shit. “She always looks at me like that.”

“I know. And I’m getting pretty sick of it too.”

Hunter stared at his friend, a weird shock going through him. “You’re jealous.”

Vin scowled. “Of course I’m jealous. I’m the one who’s her brother, not you. It should have been me watching her grow up, spending time with her. But it wasn’t, was it? It was you.”

What could he say to that? Nothing. Because it was true and they both knew it. “You did what you could with what you had at the time. What was right for her. Besides, you couldn’t leave her alone. That would have been worse.”

“You know what? That doesn’t make it any bloody easier. Especially when she’s leaving the country and seems more interested in seeing you than me. She’s staying with you for Christ’s sake. I didn’t even have anywhere for her to go when she needed it.”

The acid guilt already burning a hole in his gut burned a little deeper. Not helped by the fact that he already knew that when he left Vin’s office, he was going to take Ellie back to his house. And that when they got there he was going to pull up that sexy little skirt of hers and drive himself inside her.

“Vin—” he began.

“No.” Vin cut him off, looking back down at the plans on his desk. “I’m not in the mood for platitudes. How about you piss off and leave me alone.”

Yeah, perhaps that was the best thing all round.

Hunter didn’t protest, pulling shut Vin’s office door as he left.

In the hallway outside, Ellie waited, leaning against the wall with her arms folded. “What’s his problem?” she asked as he came out. “He’s been grumpy all bloody week and it’s getting boring.”

“You came here to see me, didn’t you?”

She went pink. “No. Well…uh…okay, yeah. Crap, was it obvious?”

“Yes.”

Ellie looked down, biting her lip. “Shit. Does he suspect?”

“That’s not the problem. The problem is he’s jealous.”

“Jealous? Of what?”

“Me. Spending time with you.”

She frowned. “Why?”

“Why do you think? You’re leaving the country in a few days. He’s going to miss you.”

“Oh.” She chewed on her lip a little more. “I guess I should spend some time with him, right?”

“You sound like you don’t want to.”

“No, I do. I’d rather…” She broke off. Her gaze remained on the floor, but he could see the flush deepen in her cheeks. And he knew the part she’d left unsaid.

I’d rather spend it with you.

This would be the moment to end it. To ease his guilt. To stop getting between her and her brother. But although the words were there, waiting to be said, he didn’t say them.

He was a selfish bastard and he wasn’t ready to give her up. Not yet. He had a few more days with her and he’d take them, to hell with the consequences.

“I think I might go home,” he said casually. “Want a lift?”

Ellie raised her head, the blush still burning in her cheeks. “Well, taking the bus is kind of a drag.”

“Come with me then. I have room on the back of my bike.”

She smiled, half shy, half naughty. “Are you sure you have your keys with you?”

“My keys?”

“Yeah. I wouldn’t want you to leave them behind.”

Where the hell was she going with this? He patted the pocket of his jeans. “No, they’re right here.”

Her smile lost the shyness, becoming wholly naughty. “Oh, are you positive? I’d better check. Just in case.” She gave a quick glance around the reception area—which was empty—then stepped up close to him and slid one hand into the pocket of his jeans.

He went very still, his body instantly responding as her fingers explored. “You’re not, by any chance, copping a feel are you, sweetness?” he murmured. God, she was going to be the death of him.

Ellie’s eyes widened innocently. “Me? I would never—ow!” The smile faded. “What the hell?” She pulled her hand sharply from his pocket, holding something in her fingers. A drawing pin.

A crease appeared between her brows. “Why have you got a drawing pin in your pocket?”

Hunter willed his muscles to stay relaxed. She wouldn’t know what he used it for. To her it was just a drawing pin, nothing more. “I have no idea. Must have put it in there by accident.”

“There’s blood on it. Did you—”

“I’d love to stay and chat about drawing pins, sweetheart, but aren’t there are other things you’d rather be doing?”

Her frown vanished. “Good point.”

Keeping his movements unhurried, Hunter took the pin from her hand and stuck it back in his pocket. “Then what are you waiting for? After you, sweetness.”

Chapter Twelve

Okay, so she knew Vin had a problem, but right at this point in time, after a couple of hours in Hunter’s bed, Ellie couldn’t bring herself to care. She only had a few days left with Hunter and dammit, she’d take what she could get when she could get it.

Sitting on his workbench in the garage, wearing nothing but one of his T-shirts, Ellie gave a small, happy sigh. Crazy as it was, she rather enjoyed watching him fiddle with his motorbike. She’d been talking to him about her game app idea while he was busy doing something with a bit of metal. He didn’t say much—he never did while she talked—but she knew he’d listened. Had even asked her a couple of interesting questions that had got her thinking off on a tangent about something else. Another, bigger idea.

She swung her legs idly, watching him, trying not to think about her idea because really, she didn’t have the time to concentrate on that quite yet. Not when she had him to look at.

He was crouched down by the bike on his haunches, wearing only a pair of jeans. And bloody hell, he was hot. The denim pulled tight across his butt and thighs. His back bare, his tattoo sweeping across his shoulders and down his spine. Black feathers on brown skin.

She gave a little, delicious shiver, her fingers itching to trace it yet again. That afternoon she’d spent a good ten minutes indulging her weird obsession with it. Hunter had just lain there while she’d run her fingers over him, not saying a word and yet letting her touch wherever she would. Questions had filled her head as she’d done so. Why had he gotten it? Why wings? How long had it taken? Had it hurt? But the questions had remained unasked. Silent in her head. She couldn’t ask him. The weight of what had happened to him rested between them and something told her the wings were part of that.

The moment—all the moments she had with him—had been too precious to break with silly questions. And she was still too scared to ask.

Vaguely annoyed with the direction of her thoughts, Ellie leaned back on her hands, studying him as he began to place the bit of metal he held into the bike’s innards. He was careful, precise. She’d watched him working on a building site often enough over the years to know that when he worked like this, he gave it his full attention, not letting his mind wander.

“So, did you ever want to be a lawyer?” she asked idly. “Like your dad?”

His careful hands didn’t falter. “No.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t like lawyers.”

“Oh?”

“Dad.” The short, clipped word held a world of questions all on its own.

Ellie bit down on them. Of course. The thing with Liz would probably have coloured his relationship with his father whether his father knew about it or not. God, that woman should be shot. Hunter seemed to think it had been all his fault, but how culpable could a sixteen-year-old boy be when pestered for sex by a thirty-eight-year-old woman?