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see if she was up for an occasional friends-with-benefits arrangement. Now he wasn’t sure he ever wanted anyone but him even looking at her.
    Get hold of yourself, Brody. You just met her. Remember what happened the last time you let your guard down. Go slow. And for fuck’s sake, don’t tell your brothers about her.
    When he was sure he was steady enough to control himself, he found his way back into the living room. Kasey was lying exactly where he’d left her on the couch, skin flushed with the aftermath of passion, a siren smile playing on her lips.
    “So,” she said, with a teasing note in her voice. “Is this your idea of the Welcome Wagon?”
    He burst out laughing. “All that and a sense of humor, too? I think I hit the jackpot.”

Chapter Three
     
    With one foot on the wooden rail of the porch Sky used his other foot to slowly move the porch swing back and forth.
    “Almost seven at night,” he mumbled. “Where the hell is she?”
    He looked across his lawn to the darkened windows of Kasey’s house. Granted they’d never actually set a real date, but still in all the time he’d spent watching her, Kasey had never come home this late.
    When the sound of a car engine reached his ears Sky’s heart sped up. As the only two houses at the end of the street the vehicle had to be Kasey finally coming home. He stood, not caring if he looked like a fool, to get a better look. Maybe she’d been avoiding him, maybe she’d had second thoughts after he left last night.
    After he’d taken her on the couch they’d moved their activities to the bedroom or at least attempted it. With her sweet naked body in his arms Sky hadn’t been able to resist touching her. One thing led to another until an hour later he’d used up another condom and had a serious case of rug burn on his knees. But it had been more than worth it to hear her screaming his name and coming around his cock.
    He’d scared himself with this overwhelming need he had for her. The last woman he’d felt even marginally this attracted to walked out on him when the stress of erratic hours and potential danger grew too much for her. While he wasn’t sure where this thing with Kasey was headed, Sky knew he didn’t want to lose her before he had a chance to find out. That’s why he’d shown her his driver’s license instead of his badge last night. When he got to know her better he’d tell her about his job in the homicide division.
    The sound of a car approaching grew louder, too loud to be his sexy neighbor’s little hybrid compact. With a sinking realization he knew who the vehicle had to belong to. Sure enough a large black truck pulled into his driveway less than a minute later. The driver’s side door opened at the same time as the passenger’s and two large, very familiar-looking men stepped out.
    “Hey,” the first of the two called out while grabbing bags from inside the truck. “Think you can bring your tired crippled ass over here. We brought food.”
    “Not because we wanted to.” The second man spoke around an armful of grocery sacks. “A certain blonde threatened us with bodily harm if we didn’t check up on her poor hurt baby.”
    The last comment had the two men cracking up with laughter as they hauled their burdens up the porch steps.
    Sky grunted and got to his feet. “I’ll be sure to tell Mom thanks for sending you two yahoos over here. I do have food here, you know.”
    His youngest brother, River, snorted as he disappeared inside the house. “Tell that to Mom. She thinks we did something horrible to make you leave the house.”
    Reed laughed. “I keep trying to tell her we’d kick River out before you, but you know how she is.”
    Sky did know. His mother had a backbone of steel and the heart of a melted marshmallow. To put in forty years as a cop’s wife and then raise three sons only to have them pick up the badge? Yeah, his mom was a warrior in her own right. Still he resented her for sending his brothers