“I am not even going to ask what you are doing.”
She looked at me upside down with a cheery twist of her lips. “It’s some new form of Pilates.”
“Says who?” I asked, rotating my head.
“Me,” she stated, her long blonde hair hitting the ground.
And that explained enough.
She did a handspring off the couch, flawlessly executed, and landed on her feet. “I was just going to come find you. I have this great idea for your hair…” She lifted pieces of my boring hair while nibbling on her lip in thought. Her creativity scared me.
I had been here a week, and I was ready to take my chances next door at my smoke-permeated house. If this was what it was like having siblings, then I was glad to be an only child. The first few days had been like an extended sleepover, but now Lexi was always in my stuff. Privacy was not a thing in the Winters’ household. Travis was constantly harping me to hang out and play Xbox with him. Chase and I never had any alone time because there was always someone around. Go figure.
Maybe Mom was underhandedly responsible for our lack of alone time. Regardless, it was driving me batty. We were living under the same roof and I was having Chase withdrawal. It made no sense. You think I would be sick of him, not his cousins.
Currently, I was dodging Lexi’s attempts at a makeover. Not how I wanted to spend my Saturday, being Lexi’s real life Barbie doll. She was relentless, but so was I when I wanted to be.
“Can I take a rain check?” I asked. “I’m actually looking for Chase.” I also didn’t want to hurt her feelings. We were living together, sharing a bathroom; I wanted to stay on her good side—no demon.
She regarded me closely before her perfectly pink lips twisted into a devious grin. “I’m sure you are,” she said in a voice that implied something sinister.
I gave her a screwy look. “I’m not sure what that is supposed to mean.”
“I imagine that with your weirdo bond you should be able to track him down. But tomorrow…” she wiggled her navy blue nail at me “…you are getting a much needed transformation. No ifs, ands, or buts about it.”
And that was a problem for another day. “You got it,” I assured her, crossing my fingers behind my back.
I took the stairs two at a time in my rush to get away from Lexi’s beauty clutches, but mostly I was in a hurry to see Chase. We were going to spend the whole damn day together even if I had to deadbolt his bedroom door and barricade it with a dresser. I wanted a solid day, undisturbed with some quality lip locking.
Was that too much to ask for?
I stepped into his bedroom—big, filled with bold color and the gleam of rich furniture, and clean as a whistle. Chase was in the alcove, with his shirt off and his back glistening in a light sheen of sweat. Shell-shocked, I watched as he worked the muscles in his arms, doing some kind of tortured pushup. As if he needed to workout.
My mouth watered.
Ay caramba!
There might have been drool, and my mind definitely turned into a puddle of mush. Any embarrassment that might have been there initially was momentarily forgotten. It felt like I had just been shocked with a bolt of lust. My whole body was buzzing as a shaky gasp of surprise escaped.
His pierced brow shot up. “Are you going to just stand there and slobber?”
What a shameless ass. Leaning on the burgundy wall for support, I knew it wasn’t long before my knees gave out. “As a matter of fact…I am.” That sounded way more breathy than was intended.
Damn him.
He smirked. Pushing to his feet, he grabbed a white towel and wiped beads of sweet from his brow, pieces of dark hair were plastered to his face. I would have given anything to be that towel. “How did you manage to avoid both of my cousins?” he asked.
I blinked. “What?” Did he say something? I couldn’t take my eyes of his abs. Not when I was dying to touch—taste. Abs that yummy had to be scrumptious. And oh so distracting.
His grin widened.
On wobbly legs, I took a step forward and another, unable to stop staring at the trail of dark hair that dusted below his belly button and disappeared into his waistline. My brain was on a one-track mission. “Can we not talk right now?” I asked when I was standing close enough to feel his heat.
Starting from the top, I ran the tip of my finger down his chest, watching his eyes flash. Seeing him affected by my touch made my blood spiked. And just like that, I was all over him.