Free Touch & Go by Mira Lyn Kelly

the only way.
    Man,
why was it eating at him that Ford thought he looked at Ava like a brother would?
    Because the truth meant he’d betrayed the guy.
    They were adults. It wasn’t as though he’d violated some bro-code. If it had been ten years ago, then yeah, he’d have something to feel shitty about, but there had to be some statute of limitations on the promises a guy made to his friend about a little sister who was now completely grown up.
    Then again it wasn’t like he could really check without giving up details he held private. And either way, the damage had been done before he’d ever even thought about Ford or the promise he’d made as a kid. Besides, it would be a total bullshit move to clue Ford in to the fact that he’d shagged his little sister with zero intention of pursuing a relationship.
    Which, even as he thought it, sent a shaft of guilt through him.
    Another deep pull from the longneck and the last swallow washed down, tasting slightly bitter.
    Stupid. Because both Ava and he had wanted it. They’d agreed to it and gone into it with their eyes open.
    She’d needed it, maybe even as much as he had.
    Jesus,
the sounds she’d made before he even got inside her.
    The way her body clutched at him once he did.
    How responsive she was.
    How hot and wet and tight and—
    “You guys ready to head out?” Tyler asked, pulling Maggie up from the couch and into a quick kiss before adding, “The band’s going on in less than an hour.”
    —
Fuck.
What was he doing?

Chapter 10
    The club was dark, the band was loud, the beat hard and the rhythm just exactly the right kind of hip-loosening groove Ava needed to get lost in. Amid the throng, Maggie was dancing with Tyler, in that nobody-in-the-place-but-us kind of way only certain couples could achieve. Ford was nodding along to the song, his version of dancing limited to the occasional shifting of his weight inadvertently timed with the beat, while some redhead he knew through one of his commercial rental properties picked up his slack with moves that were free and fun and made Ava wonder if maybe this one could be a good balance to her brother. Tony had somehow infiltrated a circle of girls, half of whom seemed to be pretending he wasn’t there and the other half…well, at least one of them didn’t seem to mind.
    And then there was Sam.
    He’d stationed himself behind her, somehow maintaining at least six inches of space between them in a club that—thanks to the growing popularity of the band onstage—was packed in a solid press of bodies extending nearly to the door. It was weird, but when she looked back at him beneath the roving lights, he was giving her that “totally relaxed, everything’s fine with the world” smile that sometimes she didn’t quite buy.
    Maybe it was just that she wasn’t used to him sticking this close when they went out. Normally she’d be catching his eye from across the dance floor and over the shoulder of some buxom blonde. They’d reconnect before leaving, or a few hours later when he’d show up at her door freshly showered, wanting to kick back and watch a flick.
    She’d told him he didn’t need to stand sentinel over her on the outside chance Steven showed up, but Sam shrugged her off, and so she was trying to pretend that space behind her wasn’t driving her nuts with all its empty potential.
    The song ended and when the opening notes from the next crowd favorite kicked off, the place went wild, everyone pushing in a wave toward the stage so that six inches was swallowed up in a breath, and then there was just Sam hot against her back, one arm locking around her waist while the other braced against the surge of the crowd to stop their forward advance.
    “Hey, you okay?” he asked at her ear, the low rumble of his voice distinct against a background that had dimmed at first contact.
    “Fine. Good. Really.” She tried to swallow past the tight knot in her throat that was making her voice sound funny and