“You suck.”
“Yep. Also, be warned—Kyle is sleeping in the guest bedroom downstairs, so you’ll be sharing a bathroom with him.”
“What? Why can’t he stay in the guest bedroom upstairs? He’s your friend, Hank, not mine.”
“Because I already have someone staying with me.”
Celia’s bloodshot eyes narrowed. “Who?”
“My girlfriend, Lainie.”
“Yeah, right. Since when do you have a girlfriend?”
“You answer my question about where you were last night and I’ll answer yours.”
Another mulish look.
Hank grinned at her. She was so damn easy to tease. “I’ll introduce you to her later. Now git before I change my mind and find something worse for you to do than mope as you ride around in the truck.”
“You really do suck.” She flounced past him and roared off.
“Nicely done,” Abe said behind him.
“Thanks. Think she’s got a boyfriend she’s hiding from us?”
“Maybe. She’s at that age.”
“She’s past the age, bro. Most of her friends are already married. Hell, she’s only two years younger than you were when you got hitched.”
“Don’t remind me,” Abe said.
“Fine. Where we workin’?”
“Section over by the bluffs. It’s a two-man job, so I’ve been saving it special for when you got back.”
“You suck,” Hank shot back, and Abe laughed.
When they returned hours later, Lainie was sitting in a patch of sunshine on the front porch. Alone. Had she and Kyle already f**ked like bunnies while he’d been out sweating like a pig? Jealousy surged through him.
You’ve no right to it. Lainie has all the control in this situation, so buck up and deal with it or you’ll just piss her off.
Besides, she was his tonight. All night. Any way he wanted her. By the time Hank reached the steps his smile for her was genuine. “All rested up?”
“Mmm-hmm. I’ve been out admiring the scenery and the solitude. Gorgeous place you guys have.”
“Thanks. We like it.”
Her gaze lingered on his upper thigh. “How’s the leg?”
Sore as hell. “Fine. Is Kyle up?”
“I haven’t seen him.”
Good. “You hungry?”
“Starved.”
“I’ll hop in the shower and then rustle up something to eat.”
“If you point me toward the kitchen, I can fix lunch.”
Abe ambled up. “Tell you what. Hank tells me you’re a med tech.”
Lainie nodded.
“How’s about you check his leg, because he’s been favoring it all damn morning, and I’ll figure out what to feed us.”
Abe. What a f**king traitor.
“I knew you were lying.” She drilled him in the chest with her index finger. “Get your butt in the shower. And after that I’m looking at that leg.”
“Lainie—”
“Move it or I will drop your pants right here in front of God and everybody.”
“Promise?”
Lainie made a threatening noise and pointed to the house.
“I’m goin’, I’m goin’.”
He cuffed Abe in the back of the head as he walked past him.
A shower helped loosen some of the kinks, but his thigh boasted a bruise the size of a hoof. He wrapped a towel around his waist and crossed the hallway to his bedroom.
Lainie was perched on the end of the bed waiting for him. “Oh, good. No clothes will make it much easier for me to examine you. Towel off. Now.”
Cursing, Hank stood in front of her and released the towel. For some stupid reason heat rose up his neck.
He heard her sharply inhaled breath. “Damn, Hank, talk about a serious contusion.” Her fingers trailed over the swelling. “The whole muscle is sore?”
“Yeah.” One muscle in particular wasn’t sore at all, but it was leaping for her attention.
“You should ice it down. Sit on the bed and I’ll be right back with an ice pack.”
Hank started to argue, but she’d already sailed out the door.
Lainie cut through the living room to the arched doorway she assumed led to the kitchen.
Abe stood at a center island, chopping lettuce. The knife stopped midchop. “Something I can get you?”
“A plastic bag and a towel. Hank needs to ice down his injury if he expects to work tomorrow.”
“No problem.” He rooted in a drawer, passing her a gallon-sized Ziploc and a frayed hand towel. “Ice is over there.”
She scooped several handfuls into a makeshift ice pack. When she looked up, Abe was staring at her. His eyes were a steely gray, not a deep blue, but had the same intensity as Hank’s.
She stared back at him with equal curiosity. Definitely a family resemblance, which would be more pronounced if Abe shaved off his goatee. The brothers were roughly the same height, but Abe appeared rangy and compact, whereas Hank was bulkier and broader. Both men were total cowboy hunks in every sense of the word. She’d rubbed elbows with the best of the best in her line of work, so that was really saying something.
“Anything else?” Abe prompted.
“Umm. No. I’m just gonna get this to him.” Yikes. Abe and Hank both had that don’t-waste-my-time attitude down pat.
Lainie hesitated outside Hank’s door. Icing his injury wasn’t the only way she intended to soothe him. When he’d shuffled into his room in pain, his c**k fully erect—both proud and begging—something inside her fragmented. The woman, not the med tech, had the urge to pacify her man.