An obnoxious tapping noise began along with the Christmas carol, although it wasn’t even remotely in rhythm, and Will happily took another sip of beer. This was great. Perfect, even.

Jenna, apparently, had other ideas. She was on her high heels and moving toward the back door before he could stop her.

“For God’s sake, someone should put that hyena creature out of its misery.” She jerked open the back door, and it was quickly apparent that the hyena comparison was strangely apt.

He’d seen wild Brynn, he’d seen stuffy Brynn, he’d seen fancy Brynn…

But he’d never before seen disheveled Brynn.

And she was breathtaking.

Her clothes didn’t match, only one tennis shoe was tied, and there wasn’t a speck of makeup on her face. Adding in the fact that there was just the tiniest line of blonde roots starting to peek through the new dark. Something he’d thought he wouldn’t see until the apocalypse.

“Whatcha doin’ here, neighbor?” he drawled.

Brynn’s intense scrutiny of Jenna made it pretty clear what she was doing there, but he wanted to poke at her all the same. Clearly, he should have considered this route earlier. Will hadn’t invited Jenna to stay with him with the intent of giving Brynn a jolt, but he should have. There was nothing like another woman to spur a female into action.

And he’d been waiting a full week for something to spur Brynn.

He’d assumed it would be her hormones. But…jealousy worked too.

Without warning, Brynn turned wild blue eyes on him, and had he not been sitting down, he would have taken a step backward.

“Oh, you know, just came for some coffee,” she said in a slightly manic voice.

He gave a cocky smile, even as he watched her warily. “Sure, help yourself.”

But Brynn had already spun back toward Jenna as she stuck out a hand. “I’m Brynn. Will’s…”

She broke off completely, and Will hated that he was practically holding his breath to hear what she filled that gap with. Boyfriend? Lover? Friend?

“I know who you are,” Jenna said in her usual husky voice. “We’re practically related.”

Brynn’s head snapped back a little in surprise, and her study of Jenna was more curious than confrontational.

Too bad. Will had a feeling he’d just had a near-miss on a really hot catfight.

“Oh my God,” Brynn said as she met Jenna’s eyes. Eyes that she should now be registering as familiar. “You’re Gray’s sister.”

Jenna shot a finger pistol at her. “You got it. My brother and your sister are hitched.”

Brynn let out a low moan before reaching up toward her disheveled hair. She dropped her arm almost immediately, as though realizing it was too late to save her hair. And her dignity.

Still, he had to give her credit. Instead of slinking off, she straightened her shoulders and took a deep, steadying breath.

“Sorry about that,” Brynn said with an embarrassed smile. “None of this would have happened if Sophie and Gray had gotten married normally with bridesmaids and whatnot instead of eloping in Vegas.”

“Yeah, clearly it’s Sophie who’s to blame for this situation,” Will said blandly.

Brynn glanced over her shoulder at him, and though there was a remnant of heat there, she mostly just looked confused.

He started to crack, just a little. He’d wanted her to learn how to come to him and to learn to ask for what she wanted. But perhaps he was expecting too much from a woman who didn’t even know what she wanted.

“You’re staying here?” Brynn asked, her voice still wary, as she turned to Jenna.

“Yeah, Gray and Sophie don’t have an extra bedroom, so Sophie asked Will to put me up for a few days. I actually think she tried to ask you first, but…”

“But I wasn’t picking up my phone,” Brynn said with a little groan.

Jenna shrugged.

“Well, welcome to the neighborhood,” Brynn said too brightly. “If you need anything, I’m just next door.”

Will barely registered that Brynn was no longer in his house before he saw her streaking across the lawn like a tattered little bunny.

Jenna headed toward the fridge. “I think I will take that beer now. And not that I want to get in the middle of any of this, but some advice from a woman…if you don’t go after her right now…”

But Will was already moving toward the door. He paused briefly, and turned to Jenna just as she popped the cap on her beer. “Look, I hate to go all soap opera on you, but if you could keep this kind of quiet…”

Jenna held up a hand. “Trust me. I don’t even know what I’d say.”

And then Will was moving toward Brynn’s house, automatically stooping down to pick up the stupid little fake rock in her backyard where he knew she kept her key. He’d bet his life that she’d have locked the door to wallow in her embarrassment in solitude.

He let himself in the back door without remorse, and was slightly surprised not to find her eating peanut butter out of the jar, or scarfing chocolate chips, or whatever it was that women did for comfort.

Will moved quietly toward the stairs, smiling a little when he heard the distant sound of water running. Of course Brynn Dalton wouldn’t wallow in embarrassment with sugar or booze or dairy products. She’d hop in the shower to wash the embarrassment away.

She’d left the door open, and the vast amount of steam revealed that she liked her showers piping hot, just like he did.

He had the fleeting urge to pull back the curtain and mime stabbing motions. How often did a horror-movie buff come across the opportunity to surprise a woman in a shower à la Psycho? Somehow he didn’t think that would help his cause. At all.

Instead he silently lowered himself to the toilet seat as he mulled over what to say.

Want any company in there?

Jenna’s just a friend.

Why don’t you want anyone to know about us?

But he wasn’t playing his cards until he could get a peek at hers. So instead he simply said, “Hey.”

He braced himself for a scream. Maybe a bar of soap flying at his head. But instead there were so many beats of silence that he thought she must not have heard him.

“I thought I locked the door,” she said finally.

“Yeah, about that…You know the fake rock trick only has a minute chance of working if it actually has other rocks to hide among. A lone rock sitting next to your flower pots is pretty much carte blanche for burglars.”

“Or cheating perverts.”

He raised his eyebrow at that. “Now hold up a second. If I were a pervert, I totally would be sneaking a peek at the nakedness behind that curtain. And as for cheating…don’t you have to be in a relationship for that?”

He leaned forward, resting his forearms on his thighs as he waited for her to respond.

Finally he heard the curtain slide open, and Brynn’s face emerged, sulky, dripping wet, and painfully pretty.

“Are you sleeping with her?” she asked.

He could have punished her. Perhaps should have.

Instead he shook his head.

“Are you planning on it?”

He shook his head again.

Brynn licked a bead of water from the corner of her mouth as she pushed dripping water away from her face. She glanced at the ground. Glanced at him.

“Wanna come in?”

Will didn’t have to be asked twice. It was only after he’d shucked his clothes in record time, and was in the process of worshipping every inch of her wet body, that a nagging thought crept in.

She’d never answered his question about them being in a relationship.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Never kiss and tell. Not even to girlfriends.

—Brynn Dalton’s Rules for an

Exemplary Life, #27

I still can’t believe you’ve been having this whole delicious crisis without me,” Sophie said as she pulled her cheesy spinach dip out of the oven.

“That was kind of the point,” Brynn muttered as she wrestled with a wine cork.

Sophie grabbed a carrot stick and dunked it in the dip before jabbing it in Brynn’s direction. “But you dyed your hair. And your pants are red.”