“What?” she asked without sitting up. “Everything okay?”
Her eyes, now more alert but still simmering with need, searched over his face.
“Sorry.” Stack stood and turned his back on temptation. “I need to book.”
He heard the rustle of sheets and the rush of air behind him. Vanity’s arms came around him from behind, her breasts to his back.
“No.” She squeezed him more tightly. “Nooooooooo.”
Smiling at her forlorn wail, he brought her around in front of him. “If I had any other choice, no way would I budge.”
“Then why?”
“Something’s come up, and I’m needed elsewhere.”
Now more subdued, Vanity hugged him as if trying to offer comfort.
But, yeah, being naked with her sort of obliterated any chance of him feeling soothed.
“That was Armie?”
“Yeah, and he sends his apologies.” With that he stepped away to find his pants.
Which meant he’d have to hit up the hospital in a freaking tux. Shit.
From behind him, he heard Vanity moving around the room. “If it’s that important, then I guess it’s a good thing you didn’t ignore it.”
He turned in time to see her headed to a drawer. She lifted out silky little panties and stepped into them. Wanting to groan in frustration, Stack sat on the side of the bed and pulled on his socks. “Believe me, I would have if it hadn’t been the signal.”
“The signal?”
“Yeah. You know we all help out in the community, right? Well, we each carry two cell phones, and when something’s up, we use the cell that we’ve set with a special ringtone to alert the others. That was from the emergency cell.”
“With a special ringtone.” Excited, she grinned as she hooked on a matching bra, then slid it around and adjusted her breasts in the cups.
Mind boggling.
While pulling on a shirt, she said, “So it’s like a bat signal.”
“What?” Watching Vanity dress was a huge distraction, slowing his own progress.
“You know. Like on Batman. Do-do, do-do, do-do, do-do, Baaatman.”
“No,” he told her flatly, a little insulted, a little turned on, a lot in a hurry. “Not like a bat signal.”
“Sure it is.” She stepped into skinny jeans, then jumped a few times—God save him—to get them up.
He had no idea why she was getting dressed, but the way the girl bounced was enough to keep him hard.
Lowering her voice comically, Vanity spoke like an announcer. “The town needs you, the signal goes out, and you guys...” Dropping the theatrics, she asked, “What? Congregate and plot out formation or something?”
“You’re poking fun.”
Letting her finger and thumb almost touch, she said, “Just a little bit.”
“I wanted to fuck you so bad.”
Instead of being insulted, she propped her hands on her hips and gave him a look. “Instead, you kept messing around.”
“Giving you screaming orgasms.”
She softened. Harking back to the idiotic joke about him being a wolf and how ladies reacted, she said, “At least I didn’t howl, right?”
Mocking her, he said, “Little bit.”
She laughed. “Well, I wouldn’t want to ruin your rep.” Now decently covered, she sat on the bed beside him and pulled on socks. “So what’s happening? A street light go out? Lady’s cat stuck in a tree? Somebody have a flat tire?”
“No, smart-ass.” Is that really what she thought they did? If so, he wouldn’t correct her. Soon enough she’d find out that, with Cannon’s leadership, they’d become watchdogs for the neighborhood. Together they’d run off drug dealers, stopped extortion, helped family-run businesses stay open, and secured the safety of the young and the elderly. Being honest, Stack told her, “But if that happened, we’d help if we could.”
“Of course you would.” She looked beneath the bed, found ankle boots and, sitting on the floor, pulled them on. “So what’s going on then?”
He eyed the boots with curiosity. Why the hell was she getting dressed? “My mom collapsed.”
Her face fell. “Oh, God, Stack.” Scrambling back to her feet, she said, “I’m so sorry!”
She looked sincerely, deeply sorry. Huh. They hadn’t yet slept together, she’d never met his mom, but she cared all the same. “My sister called while we were in the shower. When she couldn’t reach me, she called Armie.”