Free Safe Love (Love Brothers #4) by Liz Crowe Page B

“I’ll talk to her,” he declared, squaring his shoulders for a
    moment before slumping and looking defeated. “Thing is, I’m not a hundred
    percent sure that she’s not doing the same thing with my little brother.”
    Margot blinked, combing her memory banks for any clue she
    might have caught and filed away. “Rosie and Aiden …” She bit her lip when his
    face clouded and his dark brows knit together.
    “I’m not a hundred percent sure but something about the two
    of them…oh fuck who am I to talk?” He glared up at her. Her heart raced. “Why
    did you come here anyway if you’re just gonna…leave?” His briefest of
    hesitations gave her all sorts of ridiculous, impossible hope.
    “Because we needed closure before I move away for good.” She
    heard the strength in her voice and wished she actually believed in it.
    “Ah, well, so glad I could provide you with your goddamned
    closure.” He used the word in such a way that it sounded as stupid a she felt
    for saying it. “Thanks for the fuck, doll. See ya ‘round.” He got up and walked
    calmly out of the kitchen, leaving her with her mouth hanging open and too many
    unsaid words choking her throat. Her feet moved of their own accord and she found
    herself standing in his bedroom doorway, watching as he tugged on a T-shirt.
    “You can’t throw that at me and then walk out of the room,”
    she said, using her best calm therapy voice.
    “Really,” he said, facing her and leaving her breathless
    with her newfound knowledge of his incredible body. “This from the woman who
    broke into my house in the middle of the night, sat waiting for me in my
    kitchen and then took what she needed from me, only to inform me that she’s
    ‘moving back to Michigan’, conveniently enough, after my daughter caught me in
    bed with her.”
    “I’m pretty sure I provided you with something you wanted.”
    Her face warmed as anger rose at his assumptions about what she’d done.
    You did want him, you shameless bitch, her inner nag
    reminded her. She shook her head.
    “Yeah, well, I’ll say it again: ‘thanks and see ya.’ I think
    you know where the door is, right?” He shoved past her, giving her a distinct
    whiff of seriously pissed off, yet turned on, male. She shivered and set her
    jaw against the urge that nearly blinded and deafened her to grab him and drag
    him into the bedroom so she could top the cocky asshole the way he really
    wanted her to.
    But he was right. She should go. Taking a long, hopefully
    calming breath, she walked into the kitchen and nearly plowed right into him.
    “Shit, get out of my way already.” She shifted to one side. He mirrored her,
    making her scalp tingle but pissing her off at the same time. “What?” She
    crossed her arms over her chest to keep from yanking him close.
    “I…” He stopped and put his hands on his hips.
    “Spare me your compliments. I know I’m good. Now please
    excuse me.”
    “Wait,” he said, holding out a hand. She moved out of his
    reach. “I don’t want to just…”
    She sighed and closed her eyes for a split second then
    opened them. “Listen, Antony, you don’t have to apologize or explain or
    anything. I did this. I initiated it on purpose. But I’m leaving, for good,
    because we can’t … do this again.”
    “I know.” He slumped in the kitchen doorway, looking so lost
    and miserable it killed her. “I asked Rosie to move the wedding up.”
    She frowned. “When did you do that?”
    “After that night at the hospital, remember?” He looked up
    at her, his face a mask of agonized panic.
    She felt herself sag so she dropped into a chair. “Oh,
    right. Shit.” She watched as he pulled the milk jug out of the fridge and took
    a long drink from it. The intense, overpowering desire to be here, with
    him—truly with him in this house and this kitchen—made her almost double over
    in pain. “Nice,” she said mildly as he emptied the thing and tossed it into