“I know, I know.” Marc stacked empty pizza boxes into a blue recycling box. “Just can’t stand the fucking mess.”

Duncan grinned. “That’s your problem.”

Lovey looked back and forth between them. Duncan was a slob, no doubt about it. Mom had pulled her hair out trying to teach him to clean up after himself. Apparently none of it had sunk in. Marc, on the other hand…seemed to have learned well. Or maybe he was a neat freak.

Nothing wrong with that. Not at all.

Especially when he looked that good while cleaning up.

“Okay, back to the topic at hand,” Duncan said. “You can’t stay here.”

Still watching Marc, Lovey saw his head snap up.

“I have to stay here, Dunc. Where else am I going to go?”

He cursed under his breath. “But I told you, there’s nowhere for you to sleep.”

“Uh…she can have my bed,” Marc offered.

Lovey beamed at him. “That’s so sweet of you.”

“She can’t have your fucking bed,” Duncan snapped. “Where the hell are you going to sleep?”

Marc shrugged. “Couch?”

“I’ll sleep on the couch.” Duncan gave a gusty sigh. “One night. One night only. After that, you have to stay in a hotel or something, Lovey.”

“I can’t afford a hotel!” She gaped at him. “D’you think my last job paid me multi-millions of dollars like yours does?”

“Quit throwing my money in my face.” He slumped into the couch with a scowl.

“I’m not throwing it in your face.” She blinked. “I’m just pointing out what should be obvious…my marketing job for Kleinheinz Cheese did not pay enough for me to be able to afford to stay in a pricey Chicago hotel indefinitely.”

“You have enough to rent an apartment, don’t you?” He narrowed his eyes at her.

“Um…I have a little money. I sold my car.”

“Lovey…”

“Duncan.”

They glared at each other in one of their famous sibling standoffs. She lifted her chin.

As usual, she won.

“Fine,” he muttered. “Stay here until you get on your feet. But it better not be long. And you better not be in our way.”

“Thanks, Dunc.” She smiled. “I promise I won’t be. You won’t even know I’m here.”

“Why do I doubt that?” Duncan shook his head.

She looked over at Marc and saw he was grinning at the counter he was wiping.

Cheese whiz, he was gorgeous! Even more so when he smiled. Earlier he’d been so straight-faced and serious. A little curl of lust warmed her inside.

“We need to get going.” Marc looked at her brother, the grin now absent. “Gotta get to the dealership.”

“Yeah. Okay.” Duncan gave her a narrow-eyed look as he rose from the couch. “I’m buying a new vehicle. Gotta go sign the papers and pick it up.”

“Oooh. What kind?”

“Land Rover.”

“Duncan! You can’t drive a truck in Chicago!”

“It’s not a truck, for fuck’s sake.”

She made a face. “If you say so. I’ll unpack and get settled in. Hey, could you pick me up a bed on your way home?” He bugged his eyes out at her and she laughed. “Kidding! We can do that tomorrow.”

“What about the stuff from your apartment in Madison? Where’s that?”

“Storage. I’ll get it shipped here when I find my own place.”

“You mean you actually do intend to find your own place?”

“Uh…yeah.” She gave him a “duh” look. “I can’t stay with you forever. Although, I could get some of the stuff shipped here…my bedroom set. And…” She glanced at his dining room full of weights. “You could use a dining table and chairs.”

“Fuck no. I mean…I’ll help you find a nice apartment.”

“Sure. As long as you don’t mind sleeping on the couch until I do.”

He groaned and she heard a laugh from the kitchen. She looked back at Marc and their eyes met. His gleamed with mirth and she felt that little kick of lust again.

He grinned. “Don’t think I’ve ever seen Army taken out so easily. This is hilarious.”

Duncan scowled. “Shut the fuck up, Duper.”

Her eyes met Marc’s and held again and she grinned back at him, trying (but failing) to ignore the flip of lust and attraction low in her belly. He looked at her long enough that she knew he felt it too.

Well, she certainly hadn’t anticipated something like this. She’d come to Chicago to move on with her life. Things with Richard had gotten serious enough that she’d been scared spitless; scared enough to break up with him, quit her job, pack up all her belongings, and run. She had a plan, figured there’d be lots of opportunities in Chicago, and was going to get right on that, first thing Monday morning. She hadn’t planned on living with a hot hockey player with a body that could turn a girl to a puddle of lust…but this was going to be fun!

Chapter 2

Marc chuckled all the way to the Land Rover dealership, annoying the hell out of his teammate and roommate.

“What the fuck is so amusing?” Army snarled.

“If she wasn’t your sister, I’d call you pussy-whipped.”

“Fuck off.”

Marc laughed outright. “Just never seen you so outclassed, dude.”

“Whatever.”

Marc smirked.

“What am I supposed to do?” Army demanded. “Turn her out onto the streets of Chicago?”

“Of course not. And she knew that.”

“She didn’t even tell me she was coming.” Duncan rubbed his forehead. “Christ. She quit her job. Just when she seemed to be settling down. Last I heard, she had a pretty serious boyfriend too. Guess that’s over.”

A boyfriend? Not fucking likely, the way she’d been looking at him. Marc shot Army a sideways glance as he drove. “She does this often?”

“Eh. She quits. She gets fired. She flits from one job to another like a fucking hummingbird. One boyfriend to another. This guy she was seeing actually lasted more than a few dates. Now all of a sudden she wants to move to Chicago. Jesus.”

“She’s young.”

“She’s not that young. She’s twenty-four. Only three years younger than us. She needs to settle down.”

Marc nodded. “Yeah, but think, man, we were on our own when we were teenagers, basically. We were playing and living in an adult world before we could even drink legally. Pro hockey makes you grow up fast.”

Army sighed. “Yeah. True. Heh. Especially you, Captain Codger.”

Marc rolled his eyes at the nickname. It didn’t bug him as much as it had at first. He knew the guys liked to jerk him around, but they did it with respect. And he’d earned the reputation of being serious and responsible, on the ice and off. That was him, and it was important to him to take his career and his responsibilities seriously.

Army shook his head. “I’ll let her stay for a while, but seriously, she’ll have to find her own place. Don’t worry.”

Marc shrugged. “I wasn’t worried.”

That wasn’t entirely true. Army’s little sister was smokin’ hot. At first Marc had thought his roommate had a hot chick visiting him and he’d been all Whoa, way to go, dude, but when he’d learned she was Army’s sister, he’d backpedaled fast. He couldn’t get out of there before she’d jumped up and rushed at him with a fucking dazzling smile, so goddamn gorgeous he couldn’t get his feet to move and could barely string two words together. Her smile was luminous, all white teeth and dimples and glowing face. Long, wavy red-gold hair gleamed in the sunlight and, fuck him, even though she’d been wearing clothes that covered her from chin to toes, her body was stellar—a soft blue sweater outlined high, firm tits and a small waist that curved into round hips. He couldn’t see her legs, but they were long, her snug black pants revealing slender thighs.

Shut it down, man.

She was Army’s sister and therefore waaaay the fuck off-limits.

And that was why he was maybe a little worried about her living with them. Just a smidgen worried. But hey. He was Captain Codger. He had no issues with self-control, self-discipline, or being responsible. He could easily ignore a hot babe living in the apartment with them. No problem. No problem at all.