I was aching in so many ways, but his words slowly filtered through the haze. He watched me as it all clicked together. What was I thinking? My face started to crumble. “I’m—”

“Don’t apologize, baby.” He dropped a sweet, quick kiss on my forehead and then eased on his side. “Not allowing this is the fucking hardest thing I’ve ever done.”

I willed myself to pull it together, but my eyes stung and then filled with tears. When they spilled over, it didn’t have anything to do with Jase putting the brakes on my little sexual escapades. I was feeling what I needed to feel right then and there—sorrow, pain, confusion, and hurt. It all whirled together, forming a maelstrom of violent emotion.

Jase swept his arms around me, pulling me to his chest, his hand cradling the back of my head. He seemed to know why the tears came, and he held me to him until I tired myself out and slipped into the sweet oblivion that was nothingness.

We had to have slept for hours, maybe even sleeping half of the day away, because when I opened my eyes, faint sunlight streamed in from the window behind the bed.

And we weren’t alone.

What the . . . ?

The cobwebs of sleep cluttered my head as the rest of the room came into view. My brother stood at the foot of the bed, his mouth hanging open. The top of Avery’s red head appeared, and her wide brown eyes peeked over his shoulder. I blinked slowly. What were they doing here? Was I dreaming? Or having a nightmare?

A muscle popped in Cam’s jaw as his gaze moved down the bed. I looked down and my eyes widened. The comforter had been tangled around our legs in the middle of the night. My left leg was outside the blanket and was snuggly fit between Jase’s thighs. While I knew he had his boxers on, it didn’t look that way. Hell, we looked naked. My borrowed shirt had slipped completely off my shoulder and with the way I’d hogged all the blankets, it didn’t look like I was wearing anything and Jase’s chest was exposed.

Worse yet, I was half on top of Jase.

Holy shit.

I stiffened, my gaze meeting Cam’s. His blue eyes were on fire as he snapped his mouth shut. Avery popped out from behind my brother, looking like she was fighting a grin as she clamped her hands under her chin.

Jase’s arm flexed around my waist, tugging me closer. He turned his head, nuzzling my neck. He yawned, a deep rousing sound that echoed through the room. “What’s wrong, baby?”

I was speechless.

Every line in my brother’s body tensed in a way that spelled big, mothertrucker kind of trouble. “Baby?”

Jase stilled, but he didn’t remove his arm as he pulled his face out of my neck. He looked toward the foot of the bed and exhaled slowly.

There was a beat of silence and then Cam said, “What the fuck?”

Twenty-one

Things could not possibly get any more awkward.

“What in the fuck are you doing in bed with my sister?” Cam demanded.

Jase reached down casually and flipped the blanket so my legs were covered. “Well, we were sleeping.”

Cam’s jaw worked. “Naked?”

Whelp, this just got more awkward. Face burning, I started to sit up, but Jase’s arm was like a band of steel. “We’re not naked.”

“That’s good to know.”

Avery looked away, pressing her lips together.

“And we weren’t doing anything,” I said, and it sounded lame even to my own ears.

Jase glanced at me. “Now, that is a lie.” My heart stopped in disbelief as he sat up, making sure I still stayed covered, which was a good thing. I was pretty sure my shirt was twisted up around my breasts. “We weren’t doing anything right this moment and maybe not exactly last night, but we have done things. Things I’m sure you don’t want to hear about.”

Oh. My. God.

“Actually, I do want to hear exactly what things my best friend has been doing to my sister when I busted my ass to get back here after hearing what happened to Debbie.”

Avery placed her hand on Cam’s arm. “I don’t think this with Jase is any of our business.”

“No,” Jase said. “It is your business and we were going to tell you, but it didn’t happen.”

“Tell me what exactly?” Cam demanded, his hands opening and closing at his sides.

This was so not how I pictured telling my brother about Jase and me. Not while I was in bed with his best friend or when Avery stood in the corner, now looking like she would rather be standing on her head while getting a bikini wax.

“We’re together.” I cleared my throat. Couldn’t I have at least had time to brush my teeth before having this conversation? “Jase and I are together.”

My brother stared at me like I’d told him I was now dating his pet turtle. “Bull. Shit.”

“Excuse me?” I said.

“You are not with Jase,” he said, ignoring Avery when she reached for his arm. It was then that I noticed her left hand—her ring finger did not have a big old rock on it. “No girl is with Jase—not longer than a night or a hookup here or there.”

Jase stilled. “It’s not like that with Tess.”

My brother cut him a dark look. “That’s my fucking sister, Jase. This isn’t some fucking random girl. Don’t forget that I know—I know shit and you’re not getting my sister—”

“Whoa!” I shouted. “I’m not ‘some fucking random girl,’ and it’s different between us.”

Cam snorted. “Fucking Christ, Teresa, are you stupid?”

It literally was a nanosecond. One moment Jase was beside me, and the next he was off that bed, standing in front of my brother. Might make me a bad, bad girl, but I got a bit hung up on seeing Jase in his half-naked glory. The tight, black undies hugged the muscular curve of his ass like a glove. His thighs were perfectly formed, wide but not too much. The cords of the muscles in his back rippled and tensed, causing the knots of his tattoos that reached along his side and shaded into his back to move.

“Now, you can be pissed off at me all you want, Cam, but don’t get in her face. Not after what—”

“Don’t fucking step to me.” Cam got up in Jase’s face, and my stomach plummeted. I scrambled out from under the covers, tugging the shirt down as my brother’s face reddened. “That’s my little sister—”

“I’m not a kid, Cam! And you know Jase is a good guy, so stop being such an ass. We were going to tell you, but—” I gasped as I put my weight down hard on my right leg and my knee started to turn.

Jase whirled and started toward me. “Tess—”

“I’m fine.” I bent over slightly, placing my hand over my knee.

Cam cursed. “Look at what you did.”

“He didn’t do anything,” Avery said, her eyes wide. “Cam, I think we need to step out for a few and give everyone time to cool off.”

“I agree.” Jase gently pushed me down until I was sitting, which put me at eye level of his crotch, and this whole situation just got fucked up on a multitude of levels. “I think we both need to calm down.”

“Like I give a fuck,” Cam spat back, running a hand through his hair. He turned halfway, shook his head, and faced us. “How long? How long has this been going on?”

Jase straightened as he turned to my brother. “The first time I kissed her was a year ago—”

That was all he got out.

Like a speeding bullet, Cam shot forward. Avery shouted in alarm, and I lurched from the bed, but it was too late.

Cam’s fist connected with Jase’s jaw, spinning him back. He hit the wall with a loud curse and slid down, clutching his jaw. “Fuck,” Jase grunted.