Tyla slapped her hands over the Marvel boy shorts she was wearing. They were really only her underwear and not actual shorts, so I guessed the warning glare she shot in my direction was for me to keep my mouth shut and not broadcast that to him. At least she was wearing a white camisole with them, which was more than she sometimes wore around the apartment in the mornings.
“Colton Gamble,” he said, introducing himself as he pushed away from the counter to step forward and lift his hand for a shake. “And you are…?”
“Colton Gamble?” she repeated dumbly, turning her attention sharply to me.
“Hey.” He grinned out his surprise. “We have the same name. Cool.”
She blinked, discombobulated by his strange wit first thing in the morning. Gaping at him another second, she returned her attention to me. “Who the fuck is Colton Gamble?”
“Ah,” he murmured with a knowing nod, not letting me answer. “I see you must’ve heard about the great and mighty Brandt Gamble. He would be my older brother.”
When Tyla whipped her attention to him and could only stare, he winked and trailed a hand down his body. “I’m the new, improved edition. Obviously.”
“Holy shit,” she whispered.
The bastard preened. “I know, right? And I don’t even work out that much.”
“O…kay,” I strained out, stepping forward and lifting my hands. I could only take him flirting with my roommate so far. “Colton was just leaving,” I informed Tyla as I propelled him back toward the living room. And oh my God, I was pushing against his chest, his very naked, warm, amazing chest.
As little electrical currents zapped up my arms from touching him, Colton sent me an irritated scowl, but I kept forcing him to reverse from the kitchen.
“I was?” he asked curiously. “But I didn’t get to meet your other roommate. I was kind of hoping she’d come strutting out in Superman or Batman panties. Hey, why didn’t you stroll in, wearing pajamas like that?”
“Because I’ve already showered and dressed for the day, which is what you should go home and do.” I picked up his T-shirt and hoodie off the floor and thrust them at him.
He gave them a disappointed glance before setting down his mug of coffee on a side table and pulling on the shirt first. Then the hoodie.
I had thought it would be a sad moment to see the last of his bare chest, but wowza, watching his arms lift before he shimmied into his clothes…art. It was pure art.
My mouth went dry. By the time he was shrugging on his jacket and pushing his feet into his shoes, I wanted him to take them all off again, just to watch him redress one more time.
“So…yeah. Catch you later.” He picked up his coffee and headed for the door.
Things inside me rebelled at his leaving, so I was trying to keep myself from saying anything—in fear I’d blurt out crazy shit, like I wanted him to stay—until I noticed what he was smuggling from my apartment as he opened the door.
“Hey, where do you think you’re going with my coffee mug?”
He paused and glanced back, lifting one eyebrow. “There were like a hundred coffee mugs in the cupboard.”
“Not insulated to-go mugs like that one.”
His eyes narrowed. Then he pointed at me. “If last night had gone the way I’d wanted it to, I’d be stealing more of your panties out of here instead of a fucking mug. Be grateful.”
Then he turned his back to me and walked off, drinking from my goddamn mug as the door fell shut behind him.
My mouth dropped open as I squeaked out my shock. The bastard had just stolen my favorite mug. And he’d insinuated that he’d wanted to fuck me last night.
Thank God I hadn’t known that then.
“Okay. What the hell?” Tyla demanded, making me jump and whirl around to find her gaping from the entrance of the kitchen.
I sighed and rubbed at a spot on the center of my forehead.
“He’s white?” she exploded. “Oh my God, why did you never say he was white?”
“Shh!” My eyes grew wide as I lifted my hands to hush her, positive Colton had to have heard her from outside the apartment, hell, probably from outside the building.
“What the fuck are you screaming about?” Sasha croaked as she stumbled into the living room, rubbing her eyes.
I blinked at her, stunned that she was wearing a Wonder Woman nightshirt. Colton had been so close on his guess that I briefly wondered if he’d peeked in on all of us sleeping this morning. But, no, he wouldn’t do that.
Would he?
The thought caused me enough pause that Tyla had time to blurt out, “Brandt Gamble is white!”
I winced. Right. We were still talking about that.
Sasha paused from scratching her shoulder. “Wait. What? You mean… Holy shit, that was Brandt Gamble on our couch all night?”
I groaned and closed my eyes. “No. Of course not.”
“That was his younger brother,” Tyla eagerly reported. “Colton Gamble.”
“Colton Gamble?” Sasha shook her head a second before her eyes grew big. “Holy shit.” She turned to me. “Wait. So…they’re only like half siblings, right? And Brandt’s much, much darker than him. Right?”
I opened my eyes and could only stare at my two friends before wincing out a helpless little shrug.