Free The Morning After the Night Before: Love & Lust in the city that never sleeps! by Nikki Logan Page B

Sisters.’
    â€˜You’ve got one?’
    â€˜I’ve got several.’
    Izzy’s head came up. That was the first vaguely personal titbit she’d ever had about Harry. If you didn’t count knowing the size of his—
    â€˜Several?’ Alex said. ‘Jeez, I thought one was a handful.’
    â€˜Tell me about it.’
    And just like that Alex’s allegiance shifted slightly—just slightly—in the direction of the only other Y-chromosome in the conversation.
    Harry held out his hand to Alex, who had to drop his off her neck to shake it.
    That fact pleased Harry just a little too much.
    â€˜Looks like your sector is clear, Alex,’ Izzy cut in before the two of them could launch into the full brothers-in-arms thing. And, astonishingly, given Alex had probably been up all night doing whatever—or whoever—it was that Alex did while the rest of the world slept, that was true.Clearly, his years in the military had made him super-efficient at manual tasks. Or he had a heap of manly angst to work out of his system.
    Or maybe both.
    â€˜Give me another job,’ Alex urged. ‘Before I fall asleep.’
    She consulted her list. ‘We need an observation hide built.’
    â€˜A what?’
    â€˜Like a cubby house. But at ground level. For wildlife watching. Think you could manage a fast ’n’ dirty little hide?’
    â€˜I excel at fast and dirty.’ He looked directly at Harry. ‘Sounds like a job for two.’
    No! No, no, no …
    No together time. No ‘tell me about her childhood’ moments. Not that Alex’s knowledge went particularly far back. But he was more than capable of blurting out all her nowhood secrets, which was just as problematic.
    How infrequent her male visitors were. How broke she was. How she’d floated around the flat all the next day after their one night together.
    And the one after it.
    â€˜I’m sure Harry needs to stay with his team. This is a development day for them.’
    Blue eyes twinkled. ‘They’re doing fine without me hawking over them. I’d be happy to get on the tools for a bit.’
    Alex pushed upright. ‘That sounds like a man who’s built a thing or two.’
    â€˜Back home.’
    â€˜Australia,’ Alex announced, wandering off with Harry in tow. ‘Always wanted to go there…’
    Let the bromance begin…
    The only satisfaction Izzy got was from imagining the showdown between Poppy and Alex when she found out how abysmally he’d discharged this particular duty. Unless, of course, his real mission was to find out a heap more about their overnight guest. If that was the case he’d just positioned himself perfectly. That was the thing about interrogation. It often worked two ways.
    Harry loped behind Alex along the edge of the wetland—resplendent in a pair of beat-up old Levi’s, boots scuffing the sodden turf like some kind of outback cowboy—but he turned back long enough to toss her a troublemaker’s grin.
    The player is about to get played, methinks.
    Lord knew what Harry would do with concentrated access to her life.
    Ugh.
    Mud splattered up and out as she slammed her pitchfork into a thick clump of watery weeds and she took particular delight in stabbing it deep into its core. The perfect tool for venting her suspicions about Harry’s motives.
    And though she had a lot to vent, there were, conveniently, tonnes of the stuff choking the little wetland. She twisted the fork to loosen the root mass, lifted it free of the water and plunged it down again, and again, deep into the weed clump’s heart.
    It wasn’t Harry, but it would vicariously do.
    * * *
    Half an hour in Alex Spencer’s company, and Harry already had a good idea of what Izzy’s childhood must have been like and how it must have shaped her. Not that Alex was talking out of school; Harry practically heard the point at which the guy