Kilty Pleasure by Shelli Stevens Page A

normal lovable Colin, and I have to say it’s become quite annoying.”
    He knew she was right, but getting called out on it only made him more irritable.
    “The truth is, I’m not really good company right now.” He stood from the lawn chair and grimaced. “I think I’ll just head home, if you don’t mind.”
    “Are you fookin’ kidding me?” Aleck shook his head. “We’ve not even eaten yet.”
    “Right, I know. Sorry.” And he was, but the more he thought about Hailey weaving herself back into Sarah and Kenzie’s lives, the angrier it made him.
    And sitting through a family dinner pretending he wasn’t a grouchy mess was only going to upset him more. Besides, he’d already tipped his hand.
    “Love you all.” He made the rounds, kissing the women on the cheek and clapping his brothers on the back. “Just drop Emily at my place tomorrow, Sarah.”
    “All right.” Her words were cheerful, but she looked upset that he was leaving.
    When he approached Aleck, the warning glint in his brother’s eyes made him almost flinch.
    “You’re going to see her,” his brother stated quietly enough to ensure they were the only two who heard it.
    Colin scowled. “The fuck I am.”
    “As you said last week, the fook you did. And the fook you will again.” Amusement swept across Aleck’s face. “You’d best be careful, little brother, or you’ll find yourself in a lot more than lust.”
    “I’m not going to see her,” he ground out softly.
    “Aye, you are.” Aleck turned his attention back to the burgers. “Just keep in mind what I said about remembering who you are, and you’d better not hurt her.”
    Colin tried to wipe the glower from his face as he slipped out of the backyard and walked to his truck, but his mood had already gone to shite.
    There was absolutely no way he was going to see Hailey tonight.
     
     
    “Well this is a surprise.” Hailey gripped the doorframe, but didn’t open the door completely. “Or, wait, not really.”
    Looming over her on the doorstep, Colin looked just as pissy and frustrated as he usually did when she saw him. And her heart was doing that same crazy marathon race it did every time she saw him now.
    “Can I come in?”
    “And if I said no…?”
    “Then I would’ve wasted forty minutes of driving and a bunch of gasoline.” He grimaced. “But if you’d rather I not, then I’ll leave.”
    Despite her better judgment and borderline foul mood, Hailey pulled open the door and stepped back inside, allowing to him enter. She couldn’t help but drink him in as he moved past her. In jeans and a T-shirt, he was so ridiculously sexy. Even sporting that scowl that she’d begun to associate with him.
    The scowling had to be rare, because he was more of the easygoing, nice-guy type. Or so she’d heard. Maybe he just scowled around her. Didn’t that just make her feel special? As if she were the only one seeing a Sasquatch or something.
    Smiling wryly at her own thoughts, she closed the door behind him. He didn’t even try and touch her as he made his way into her house.
    And I’m not disappointed by that fact.
    Okay, maybe she was a little. The last week had been nothing but scalding thoughts of what they’d done together. Right here on her floor.
    He must’ve been remembering the same thing because his gaze dropped to the carpet and his jaw went tight.
    “I’m here to talk.”
    It almost seemed as if he was telling himself more than her.
    “Talk?” She arched a brow. “Really? So this isn’t another booty call?”
    He glanced at her and the irritation on his face had vanished. The expression that had replaced it was almost startled, then changed to solemn. So much so that she shifted and lowered her gaze.
    “You were never meant to be a booty call, Hailey.”
    Yet he’d sure made her feel like one that night, whether he’d intended to or not.
    “Look, I get it.” Why she was trying to let him off the hook was beyond her comprehension. “We had this