“It’s none of Dawg’s business.”
“Janey’s vulnerable, Alex.”
“Crista, are you here to warn me out of Janey’s bed?” He frowned back at her. “Because if you are, then I think I’d rather visit with Dawg. I can hit him if he pisses me off.”
“Which is why I’m in here instead of Dawg,” Crista pointed out.
“And it’s the reason why you can trot your little butt right back out there with him,” he told her. “For Christ’s sake. I wouldn’t tell you if I was sleeping with her. It’s none of your business. Do I question you about your sex life?”
It was bad enough that he knew she had one. And even worse that she had one with one of the wildest men in the county.
“Well, she’s not cooking for you, so obviously you’re not exactly in her good graces.” Crista laughed back at him. “So I don’t have to worry about Natches castrating you and ending the Jansen line forever.
Right?”
Alex stared back at her broodingly.
“You’re not going to sleep with her, right, Alex?”
Sleeping wasn’t exactly what he had on his mind. “I wasn’t making any hard and fast plans in that direction,” he finally said, sliding past the question. “Stop interrogating me before I call Cranston and let him know how damned good you are at it.”
She was still watching him worriedly. “I talked to Janey this morning.”
His brow arched. “Oh yeah?” Exactly how close were Janey and Crista?
“She hedged, too.”
Alex ignored her and walked back to the coffeepot, where he refilled his cup before turning back to stare at her.
If there was one person in this world that Alex allowed himself to love, then it was this woman. His baby sister. She was everything that was good and right in his world. Damn if he wanted to hurt her, but she was poking her nose in too deep here.
“I don’t want you and Natches to fight,” Crista told him firmly. “I wouldn’t be happy, Alex.”
He set the coffee cup on the counter and tightened his lips. “Fine. I’ll castrate Dawg. Since sisters are all off-limits here, I think I’m about due my pound of flesh.” He nodded to the bulge of her stomach. “A lot of years overdue, Crista. Dawg didn’t exactly do you any favors when you were eighteen, but I let him live.”
A shadow of pain crossed her face. The night she had spent with Dawg when she was eighteen had resulted in another pregnancy. A child she had lost. It had nearly destroyed her, and caused her to leave home for almost eight years.
The fact that Dawg had been too damned drunk to even realize what the hell he had done hadn’t mattered. The son of a bitch should have kept his head enough to leave her alone. But Crista had been an adult. Alex had raised her to be an adult. And as angry as he had been over it, in some ways, Alex had known the other man cared more for her than he had let on.
“You’re fourteen years older than she is,” Crista finally said hesitantly. “Janey hasn’t had a chance to live yet, Alex.”
“Enough.”
“Alex, I know you,” she said softly. “I can see it in your face. Something’s going on, and I’m afraid it could end up hurting all of us.”
“Only if Natches decides to make me his business.” He stared back at her implacably.
“Janey’s his business,” she warned him. “I heard him and Dawg talking, Alex. He’s not stupid. He knows something’s going on.”
“Crista, go home with your husband.” He picked up his cup and moved to the sink, rinsing it out before laying it in the bowl. “Take care of Dawg and that little niece or nephew of mine and stay out of this.
Natches and I can deal with each other without your interference.”
“You’re all my family now, Alex,” she whispered, hurt filling her tone. “I know you and Natches both.
He’s just got Janey back in his life. He’s like a father with her. He’s already so full of guilt that he couldn’t make things easier for her that it eats at him. And we both know you’re not in love with her. If you have an affair with her and walk away like you always do, then you’ll deserve the fight he brings you.”
“Crista, go home.”
He wasn’t fighting with his pregnant sister, and he damned sure wasn’t going to let the anger building inside him erupt against her. When the hell had the Mackays decided he had nothing more to do than use a tender, vulnerable virgin and then toss her aside like garbage? When had his own f**king sister decided to go along with it?
“Alex . . .”
“Do you think I haven’t tried to stay the f**k away from her?” The words tore from him as he faced her, watching her eyes widen in surprise. “Do you think I got up one morning and planned to have a king-sized hard-on for that woman, Crista? What the hell is in your mind? Since when do you take me for some bastard that doesn’t give a damn who he hurts?”
Her lips parted. “You are sleeping with her?”
“I’m not sleeping with her, Crista,” he bit out. “Do you want me to swear I’m not going to sleep with her?”
She breathed out slowly. “Could you?”
“Not in this lifetime.” He shook his head, knowing it was only a matter of time. “And Natches will just have to deal with it if it happens. Won’t he?”
She stared back at him in surprise. “Are you . . . in love with her?” she asked hesitantly, then grimaced at the scathing look he tossed her. “Ah yeah. Forgot. Love doesn’t exist for Alex Jansen.” Then she grinned. And that grin was enough to make a smart man run for the hills.
Unfortunately, Alex was too pissed to be smart. It was bad enough the Mackays thought he was some bastard without morals, but his sister?
“Crista. Look. I have things to do, and making my pregnant baby sister cry isn’t one of them,” he assured her in irritation. “So why don’t you go home with your husband, and stop worrying about Janey.”
Her expression, surprisingly, brightened. She straightened from the counter, walked around the room,
and before he could stop her she grabbed his wrists and burrowed against his chest.
Hell. He hugged her. Because she was his sister and she’d got him used to her hugs while she was still in diapers. Sometimes he even missed them.