“Shit.” Cade glared at her, then down at Olivia, who had her face buried in his neck to muffle the giggles. “Fine. Olivia, this is my younger sister Tatiana. Tatiana, this is Olivia. Try not to scare her off.”

Olivia dug a finger into his ribs, and when he twitched, slipped neatly out of his arms. “It’s nice to meet you,” she said with a smile. “Would you like some pancakes?”

“It’s nice to meet you too, and yes, I would.” Tatchi crossed to the breakfast bar and sat on Cade’s stool.

He shoved her off again. “Get out of my seat.”

“Mature,” she said mockingly, and stuck her tongue out at him as she slid onto the next stool.

“Mature,” he drawled.

“Here you go,” Olivia said, and laid a plate with the last two pancakes on it in front of his sister.

“Thank you, this looks great.” Tatchi reached for the syrup. “So, how long have you known my brother?”

Olivia resumed her seat on Cade’s other side and picked up her fork. “About a year and a half.”

Syrup shot across the countertop as Tatchi whirled to stare at Cade. “You’ve been dating for a year and a half and didn’t tell anyone?”

Cade grabbed the squeeze bottle out of her hands before she could get the floor all sticky. “No, we’ve known each other for a year and a half,” he said, and set the syrup out of her reach. “We’ve been dating for a week.”

“Oh.” Tatchi swiped her finger thought the puddle of syrup on the counter and sucked it clean. “First sleepover, and you made her cook?”

“How do you know I didn’t make it?”

“Because it involves more than three ingredients, and none of them are canned beans.”

“Jesus Christ,” Cade muttered, and went to the sink for a wet rag.

“Mom’s going to be thrilled,” Tatchi said silkily, and beamed innocently when Cade glared at her. “What? You don’t think she’d be interested to know you’re seeing someone?”

He glared at her and mopped the counter. “She’d be equally interested to know where you are right now, wouldn’t she?”

Tatchi’s eyes narrowed. “You wouldn’t.”

“Try me.”

“Interesting,” Olivia mused, and the siblings stopped glaring at each other to look at her. She gestured between them with her fork. “Is this what most sibling relationships are like?”

“Like what?” Cade asked.

“Mutually assured destruction.”

“Pretty much,” Tatchi said with a grin, and started eating again. “You must be an only child.”

“Stop interrogating my girlfriend,” Cade told his sister.

“Girlfriend, huh?” Tatchi pursed her lips and eyed her brother, looking so much like their mother he had to bite his tongue to hold back a grin.

Her eyes narrowed suspiciously. “What?”

“Nothing,” he said blandly, and filed the observation away to use at some later date, when she was being really obnoxious.