Someone To Watch Over Me - Book 1

Chapter Twenty-three

We get back late and are laughing as we come in the door. I quickly try to shush the boys, who have gotten a little out of hand, hoping they don't wake up the rest of the house.

"This is another reason I love my sister," Dillion whispers to Alex. "She's showed me how to enjoy life, with not a drop of alcohol."

"I had a blast tonight. Thanks, Tiger." He gives me a kiss on the cheek, "Good night."

"Thank you for my present," I say, hugging the package from the toy store.

"Hey now! No getting possessive. That doesn't belong to you. You are only a temporary caretaker until the actual owner arrives."

I give him a mock salute. "Yes, sir. I will take excellent care of your gift. I promise."

"You better. Good night, Alex. Glad I've gotten this chance to get to know you better."

"Yeah, me too," Alex says, reaching out to shake his hand. My brother reaches for it, but then pulls him in for a hug. Alex's obvious surprise makes me chuckle.

"Hey, your family now," my brother tells him. "Thanks for looking out for Tiger here. I owe you one."

Alex glances at me and smiles. My heart flutters and I catch Dillion looking at me.

That smug grin is back, so I wrinkle my nose at him, and he laughs before heading up to bed.

Bed!

That's right, it's time for bed, a bed I'll now be sharing with Alex. I swallow hard. "Shall we?" I say, gesturing to go upstairs.

"Ladies first," he says, mimicking my gesture.

I give a shaky smile and lead the way back to my room. I find my way easily in the dark, having had a lifetime of wandering this room. Alex, however, is not so lucky. I hear him bump into something with a painful grunt just as I turn on the bedside lamp.

"Mm mmm!" I see Alex with his lips pressed together and rubbing his hip. He must have bumped into my bureau.

"You okay?" I ask.

"Yeah, I should have waited until you turned on the light. I just followed you blindly."

"Just admit it, you'd follow me anywhere," I say, surprising myself with how flirty I sound. I blush at my own words.

He looks at me slyly and comes over to the other side of the bed. "I think that's safe to say. May I?" he asks, pointing to the bag that's on the bed.

I shake my head yes, not daring to utter another word at this moment, and he pulls out my brother's present for the baby.

"It really is an awesome gift," he says, holding up a little tiger cub stuffed animal. "I feel bad that I haven't gotten you anything."

"Don't be silly," I say, reaching out for the toy. Alex hands it to me, and I instantly hug it to myself. "You don't need to do something like that."

"I know I don't need to, Cat, but I'd like to," he says, as he reaches down for the bottom of his shirt to pull it off. His delightful abs are now showing and I stare for a second or two before I shake my head and ask, "What are you doing?"

He pauses and looks at me strangely. "Getting ready for bed?" he says hesitantly, probably wondering what he is doing wrong.

Of course, he wouldn't think it weird to undress in front of me. I've seen him in his boxers dozens of times, but it's still a little too much for me to handle. "Do you uh... do you own pajamas?" I ask.

He just grins and shakes his head no. "Is that a problem? If you prefer, I can sleep with my clothes on. I just get a little overheated at night, but if it makes you feel weird, I'll deal with it," he rambles.