LITMIR.BIZ

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and yet solid, just like her feelings for him.

      She pressed the white box to her heart and sighed. Her first jewelry gift from a man, and the man was Quinn.

      Einstein sniffed what she held and then laid his chin on her shoulder, his black eyes studying her. She ran a finger between his eyes and down his muzzle. “I have an admirer. He’s just too scared to admit it yet. Poor schmuck.” She giggled with glee and the dog licked her face. “Poor chicken shit schmuck.” The canine’s tail beat a happy rhythm on the bed.

      “Cassie? Six minutes and thirty seconds!”

      Her brother’s booming voice snagged the dog’s attention and he growled deep in his throat.

      She placed a hand on Einstein’s head. “Doesn’t that man know I have a hangover? Why does he have to yell?”

      The German shepherd woofed once. He bounded off the bed, charged to the top of the steps and barked as if he were saying, “Shut the hell up! Woman with a hangover up here!”

      “Six damn minutes! Einstein? Want some kibble?” Toenails jangled down the stairway. Evidently the canine’s stomach overrode being chivalrous.

      Cassie placed the gift from Quinn back on the nightstand and slowly sat, willing her aching body to cooperate. Just to prove Wolf didn’t scare her with his macho bossiness, she took ten minutes to shower, dress and put on her angel necklace. Although if she were honest, she had to move slower than normal to lessen the effects of the Westminster chimes gonging in her head—in triplicate. If she lived through this hangover, she’d never drink booze again.

      Wolf sat at Becca’s dining room table, his rigid body posture familiar. He was about to give her holy hell. His narrow-eyed gaze swept to her before he pointed to the chair next to him. “Tomato juice. Drink. Coffee. Drink. Fried eggs. Eat.”

      She pointed to him. “Mouth. Close.”

      “Don’t fu…play with me, Cassie. I’m not in the mood. You had no business doing shots and getting shitfaced.”

      A long-suffering sigh escaped. “I’m twenty-one. I can drink if I want.”

      He crossed his arms and assumed his faux-father bearing. “Being twenty-one also carries a passel of responsibilities, young lady.”

      Oh God, he was dragging out the “young lady” speech. She gulped the tomato juice and choked. “Holy hell, what’s in this?”

      “Two raw eggs, minced garlic, Tabasco sauce and a shot of whiskey.” He had the audacity to wink. “Hair-o-the-dawg. It’ll cure what ails ya.” He made a wiggling motion with his fingertips. “Drink up.”

      “Will I feel better or worse?” She forced down a little more and her stomach churned and clenched. Then she noticed his winking expression continued. She tilted her head and studied him. “What’s wrong with your eye?” His broad hand rose to cover it and she coiled her fingers around his wrist to yank it back. For a few seconds they played tug-of-war in the air until he relented and relaxed his muscles.

      She stood and leaned over him, peering closely at his face. “Wolf, your eye is swollen. It’s turning black and blue.” Her fingers lightly traced the curve of his face. “Your cheek is bruised and your bottom lip is split. Are these work-related injuries?” His silence was telling; so was the fact he wouldn’t make eye contact. “Were you in a fight?” This was so unlike her brother. “What on earth happened?”

      “Quinn’s fist and I had an intimate conversation.”

      “Quinn did this?” She collapsed in her chair and sipped more of the doctored tomato juice. “Why?” Quinn and her brother were close. Sure they teased, but never got out of hand with it. If either one needed help, the other one was there in a heartbeat.

      Wolf gulped his coffee and slung an arm over the back of the chair. “I was pushing him. Trying to find out his true feelings about you.”

      Her hand covered the golden angel pendant. “And?”

      He pointed to her eggs. “Eat those before they get any colder than they already have.”

      What had Wolf said to Quinn to set him off? Knowing her brother, if she didn’t eat, he’d never tell her. She shoveled in a couple of bites and washed them down with coffee. Just to be sure he’d answer her questions, she drank most of the god-awful tomato juice, gagging a time or two. She blotted her lips with the napkin and tossed it at him.

      Wolf snatched it mid-air, his normal smirk somewhat crooked since his cracked lower lip grew puffier by the minute.

      “Okay, I’ve done like you asked. Now, it’s your turn to tell me what happened between the two of you.” She hoped their friendship wasn’t ruined because of her. In some ways, Wolf and Quinn were as close as brothers.

      Wolf leaned back in his chair, the front legs rising from the floor. “I’ve always suspected how Quinn felt about you, but after the way he spoke to you yesterday, I wasn’t sure. Becca overheard him whispering some things to you after he’d put you to bed last night.”

      “What kind of things?” So Quinn had put her to bed. Had he taken off her clothes? No biggie, really. They’d gone swimming together before, so seeing her in a bra and thong wasn’t the end of the world. Perhaps with another man, yes, but not with Quinn. Still, what had Becca overheard him saying to her?

      “You’ll have to ask Becca.”

      She crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes at her brother. Damn, he could be so annoying. “If you know, why can’t you just tell me?”

      Wolf stood to retrieve the coffee carafe. He filled his mug and then topped off hers, before setting the empty pot on the table. “Because.” He slumped in the chair and brought his mug partway to his lips. “Conversations between a couple are private. You’ll learn that one day.” He slurped his coffee and shook his head. “Okay, sis, here’s the thing…” He ran a hand across the back of his neck and exhaled a long sigh. “Quinn turned in his notice this morning. He’s leaving the station, and Florida.”

      Cold fingers of panic clutched her lungs and wrung every centimeter of air from their spongy honeycomb confines. Leaving Florida? No, he couldn’t. Not her Quinn! “He what?”

      “He’s leaving. He’s freaking scared and he’s running. The man’s in love with you.” Wolf pointed to his face. “The fact he attacked me when I teased him about the guys at the station coming on to you after he leaves proves that. I wasn’t sure before, but I am now. The thought of another man touching you drove him freaking crazy.”

      Her index finger caressed her angel necklace. “Why move away? I don’t understand.” Maybe Wolf didn’t either. If she wanted answers, she needed to go to the source. “I’m going to his place. We need to talk.” A thousand things, like grains of sand, sifted through her mind. “I’ve waited on that man for three years.”

      “Three?”

      She stood, gathering her dirty dishes and silverware. “That’s right. I fell in love with him when I was eighteen, but I sensed the situation was hopeless. For one, he treated me as if I were too young. And number two, would you have allowed me to date him?”

      “When you’d just turned eighteen? Hell to the no. He’s seven years older than you, which might not be so bad now, but not then.” The sharp tone of his voice caused Einstein to whine.

      “Exactly. So, like a good baby sister, I waited until I turned twenty-one.” Meanwhile, she’d done the responsible thing. She’d earned her associates degree in business and then her cosmetology license. “If he thinks he’s getting away from me now, he doesn’t know how damn determined a Wolford can be.” She charged into the kitchen, began loading the dishwasher and spun to shake a fork at Wolf. “I will hunt that man down.”

      Her brother followed and placed his hands on her shoulders. “Listen to me, now. Something happened to Quinn in his past. I don’t know what it was,

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