Free Bare It All by Lori Foster

Reese knew that wasn’t his point at
all.
    “I’m saying she’s too quiet, and too proper.” Rowdy took a seat
again, and Cash abandoned Reese to join him. “She’s also putting on a brave
front, almost like she’s been doing it so long she doesn’t even realize it
now.”
    No kidding. He’d figured that one out on his own. “What do you
know of it?”
    “Only that it bothers me.”
    So Alice hadn’t confided in Rowdy either? Good. He wanted her
to trust him first and foremost, not any other man. “Don’t worry about it.”
Reese took his clothes to the closet. “I’ve got it covered.”
    “Somehow, Reese, I don’t think you do.”
    Reese was ready to take him apart, but Alice reentered with
forced cheer.
    “Where are my manners? Rowdy, would you like something to
drink?”
    “No,” Reese said, “he doesn’t.”
    Confusion tripped her up. “You already asked him?”
    “No.”
    Alice frowned at him.
    Rowdy just smirked. “I’m good, Alice, thanks, anyway.”
    Before Alice could protest, Reese asked him, “So, you saw
Logan? He’s doing okay?”
    “He’s surly and complaining that Pepper keeps trying to shove a
pain pill down his throat.”
    “He isn’t taking his meds?”
    “The antibiotics, sure. But the pain pills make him sleepy, so
he’d rather suffer the discomfort. Thing is, if he so much as flickers an
eyelid, Pepper can’t bear it. She wants to ‘comfort’ him.”
    Imagining that, Reese grinned. Like him, Logan wasn’t big on
being coddled. It emasculated a man, especially a man who wanted to do the
coddling. “I can see why that’d make him surly. At least he has a reason to stay
in bed.” Then, just to tweak Rowdy, he added, “With Pepper.”
    Rowdy slanted him a look. “If Alice weren’t present, I’d tell
you what to do with that sentiment.”
    That seemed to startle Alice out of some heavy-duty
daydreaming. “What does it matter if I’m—”
    He pushed to his feet. “I don’t want to singe your ears,
hon.”
    “Oh.”
    Hon? Reese collected her to his side again. “I was going to
check in with Logan today, anyway. Maybe I can run some interference for him.”
And thinking that gave him an idea.
    He looked down at Alice. “What do you have planned for the
day?”
    “Nothing much. I finished my work while you were—” she waved a
hand at the couch “—sleeping. I thought I might give Cash a bath.”
    The dog flattened his ears, slunk off the couch and went behind
a chair.
    Bemused, Alice watched him. “Maybe instead I’ll make a run to
the grocery.”
    “Is there something you needed?”
    She bit her lip. “I have a sweet tooth.”
    Somehow, the way she said that felt like an admission. Reese
saw the same confusion he felt mirrored on Rowdy’s face. “I do, too.”
    “Me, three,” Rowdy said.
    “Jelly beans are my favorite.” She looked at both men.
    “Chocolate ice cream,” Rowdy said without hesitation.
    Would he ever understand her? Reese wondered. “I’m up for
anything, but I especially like caramels, and warm peach pie is always
good.”
    “Mmm, sounds delicious,” Alice agreed. “You’re both in such
great shape, you can probably eat anything you want without worrying about
it.”
    “You’re slim,” Reese told her. “Surely you don’t—”
    “Diet?” She shook her head. “No. But I’m bad, I use food as...”
Her voice trailed off.
    “Comfort,” Rowdy finished for her. “Pepper does the same thing.
She says the worst for her was the evenings. But instead of a few jelly beans,
she’d binge on an entire pizza.”
    Alice smiled over that. “I go through a bag of jelly beans a
week. Sometimes two bags.” She tipped her head at Rowdy. “Your sister is really
beautiful.”
    “Yeah, she is,” Reese agreed. “Logan is a lucky guy.” Reese
paid little attention to what he said. He was too busy trying to figure out
Alice’s thoughts. Was she making some sort of female-inspired comparison? He
hoped not, because Pepper Yates