Once she unclenched the handles, she spun on me. “You know what?”

“I am sure you’ll tell me,” I drawled as I looked down at her. Hands itching to slide a finger over the edge of her top.

“For your information, I am not here by choice. And I am not in the mood for more of your bullshit.” Despite her irritation, I saw a flash of sheer exhaustion behind her eyes. It was just a second, like she was putting her weapons and armor down for a moment before barreling back onto the battlefield. Everything in me responded to that glimpse of vulnerability. I wanted to cocoon her from anything that would shadow even for an instant the radiance of this woman.

“Rocco’s sister had an issue in her apartment,” she explained, running a hand over her forehead. “A pipe broke and it flooded. She and the baby need a place to stay for a couple of weeks while that gets sorted. Rocco and Julia’s place is comfortable enough for three, but definitely not five.”

She sighed and took a step back from me; I had to restrain myself from reaching for her.

“I’m happy you’re here too, Alba.” I went for a teasing tone, because in the mood she was in, trying to coddle her was bound to piss her off.

“You fucking wish, Theo.” I expected her to launch into another round of insults, but instead she turned in a slow circle, giving me a 360 view of that delectable body of hers.

“We should be able to do this without me wanting to kill you,” she whispered, as she bent over to look at a book on the coffee table. I managed to keep my groan inside as I took her in. Images of palming that perfect peach as she rode my dick almost made me black out.

“We need to set up some ground rules,” she announced as I peeled my eyes off her ass. Before I could ask what exactly she meant, she lifted one hand, index finger in the air.

“First rule, you need to cover this up.” Further explanation as to what “this” was came with a wave of her hand in the vicinity of my torso. “Seeing you half naked all the damn time is no longer part of my job description.”

I almost laughed because for all that she’d seen me come out of the pool every morning for years, her eyes still did that moony, crossed thing every time they landed on my pecs. She liked what she saw... I knew that. She knew that. My mission for the next few weeks was to figure out if it was more than detached appreciation.

“I was working out.”

“Have you ever heard of this new invention called a T-shirt?” God, that smart mouth made me hard, every fucking time.

“So I can’t walk around shirtless in my own house?”