Would she be pissed enough to look to see if he was sitting there? He doubted if she would see him if she did. The overhang of the old garage Reno’s father used to tinker in before his and his wife’s deaths would hide the vehicle from the second story, and the lawn furniture directly ahead of Clint would shield him from the back unless she turned on the porch light.
He rolled down his window, listening as the front door slammed and lights flipped on through the house.
Why couldn’t he just leave it alone? he asked himself as he stared at the house. Joe Merino and Grant Samuels had promised to take watch out front on her tonight; it wasn’t like Clint needed to be there. Still, he couldn’t help himself.
He watched as the kitchen light flared and her silhouette moved through the room. Graceful, slender.
Clint leaned his arms on the steering wheel as he sighed wearily.
He hadn’t expected that steel core of defiance that lit her eyes tonight, and he sure as hell hadn’t expected his response to it. Morganna had been able to make his dick hard for eight years now. But she had never really tested his control until tonight. Tonight he had been close to taking her against the door of his apartment with no consideration for her comfort.
She moved from the kitchen, the light blinking off behind her. Minutes later, the light flared in her bedroom. Unlike in the kitchen, her silhouette lasted for only seconds before she closed the heavy curtains, blackening his view into the bedroom.
He leaned back in the pickup and stared back at the house thoughtfully. He was going to have to call Reno. Despite her accusation that he simply tattled on her for the hell of it, that wasn’t exactly true.
Reno and Clint had made a pact years ago. They knew their sisters and knew the trouble they could get into if left unattended. Both men swore the two girls, precious to them, would never lose themselves as so many other young women had.
The two men ratted to each other in the spirit of love and protection, Clint thought with a grunt as he pulled his cell phone from the holder at his hip.
Bullshit. If Reno wasn’t around as a buffer, then only God knew what Clint was going to end up doing to that sweet, hot little body of Morganna’s. And in doing so, he would end up breaking them both.
THE ISLAND OF OAHU, HAWAII
Raven answered the cell phone on the third silent vibration, casting a wary glance to the bathroom as she kept her attention on the sound of running water.
“Hey, Clint. What’s up?” she answered cheerfully.
Her brother’s number popping up on the caller ID couldn’t mean anything good.
“Hey there, Sis. How’s the honeymoon going? Have you killed him yet?” Clint’s voice was smooth, real smooth. It was a dead giveaway. He was madder than hell.
“Oh, like any other honeymoon.” She pretended indifference. “Lots of time in bed and a little sightseeing. Reno is balking over the snorkeling and doesn’t want to hike into a volcano. Go figure.”
“Go figure,” Clint muttered in return. “He wouldn’t be available for a quick chat, would he? Just to make sure he’s still living and all.”
Uh-huh, she believed that one.
“Is anyone dead?” she asked suspiciously.
“No,” Clint drawled carefully.
“Then you can’t talk to him. Every time you’ve called him in the past six months he’s gone running out of the house and hasn’t returned for hours. It’s my honeymoon. I am not coming home.” And she wasn’t going to let Reno make Morganna’s life hell right now.
Raven didn’t exactly agree with her friend’s decision when she joined the Law Enforcement Academy without telling Reno, but she supported her. Morganna needed an identity outside her brother, a life of her own, and if that was the life she chose for herself, then she had the right to live it.
Clint’s voice hardened over the line. “I’m not a fool, sweetheart. I know you’re blocking my calls to Reno. You know I’ll get there eventually.”
“Clint . . .” She bit her lip before sighing deeply. “We’ve all left Morganna. She’s alone now; you can’t expect her to live her life in a way that’s comfortable for the rest of us. If you can’t help her, and if she needs us, then she’ll let me know and I’ll tell Reno.”
She could feel Clint’s fury rolling over the phone line now.
“She’s going to get her ass killed, Raven. Some bastard nearly ran her over for her efforts in whatever the hell she’s involved in.”
Raven’s heart thickened in her chest. “Is she okay?”
“Do you care?”
“Don’t give me that, Clinton Mclntyre,” she hissed. “How many times have you been shot that I don’t know about? How many times was Reno hurt that Morganna and I were never informed of? Don’t you try to guilt me; just tell me if she’s okay.”
“She’s fine,” he snapped. “Now put Reno on the phone.”
“No.”
“No?” Male outrage filled his voice. “Raven, don’t make me fly out there.”
“And if you fly out here, who’s going to watch Morganna?” she pointed out. “If you think she needs protection, then protect her. Stop whining to Reno over everything. You just do it so you can avoid her, which really doesn’t make sense. If you don’t care anything for her, then why care what the hell she’s doing?”
Raven was sick of watching her friend eat her heart out over Clint’s stupid male pride. Morganna loved Clint until nothing or no one else would do, and despite Clint’s frozen seeming disregard, he did care. If he didn’t, he wouldn’t take such pleasure in driving Reno crazy every time he thought she was doing something wrong.
“Raven, this isn’t a game.” His voice roughened with his anger. “She’s going to get killed.”
“And you can’t help her?” Was she wrong about him? “Do you really have to worry Reno to the point that I have to cancel my honeymoon because you can’t do what Reno would do? Reno would have protected me. He wouldn’t have called you home, Clint.”
“Reno loved you, Raven.” He sighed. “He always has. There’s a difference.”
“And you don’t love Morganna? Even a little, Clint? Enough to give her just a little of what you would give a total stranger if you were on a mission? What happened to you, Clint, that you hate her so much?”