[Southern Arcana 3.0] Deadlock by Moira Rogers Page B

her, and she whispered a few blistering curses.
    “That bad, huh?”
    Julio. Something inside her eased, a tiny part of her that had been convinced her brothers had been under attack, as well. “You have no idea.”
    He stepped away from the door and met her halfway across the kitchen with open arms and a sigh of relief. “You scared the hell out of me.”
    “Gives me something to do.” Even as she pulled free of his hug, she was looking him over, making sure he was unhurt. “Are you all right?”
    “Only you would ask me something like that at a time like this, Carmen.”
    “I’m taking care of her.” Alec sounded a little defensive.
    Julio didn’t react visibly, but Carmen felt the spike of disappointed anger that lurked behind his smile. “Yeah, I know.”
    She probably smelled like Alec, and Julio’s first ridiculous assumption would be that she’d been taken advantage of. “Sit down, Julio. I made you an omelet.”
    “Carmen—”
    “Sit.” She moved without thinking, putting herself between her brother and Alec.
    He didn’t argue further, probably because he was afraid she’d take the plate away. “You got the stuff I left, I guess.”
    “Yes, thank you.” She bumped into Alec, and she had to stop herself from twining her fingers with his. Further proof she’d gone insane—he’d spent the last twelve hours confusing the hell out of her, and she still wanted to hold his hand.
    Alec shifted his weight, and his fingertips brushed her lower back in a barely-there touch as he addressed Julio. “Did you find anything out about what they did to her? Or the witch who did it?”
    Julio eyed them and shook his head. “There’s a little problem. Uncle Cesar doesn’t know anything about it.”
    Alec didn’t ask if he was sure, just bit off a curse and fisted his hand against her back for a brief moment. “What about your father?”
    “I think you missed the memo. Our dad doesn’t shit without permission.”
    “You sure?”
    Julio shoved a forkful of eggs into his mouth and chewed. “I’ll keep working on it.” He arched one eyebrow. “How’re things going here?”
    “Fine,” Carmen answered. Standing two inches away from Alec wasn’t going to ease the tension in the room, so she walked to the counter and busied herself with starting the coffee.
    As it turned out, nothing would ease the tension. They ate breakfast in near silence, with Carmen trying unsuccessfully to lure Alec and Julio into conversation. Instead, they stared each other down, her brother versus the man who’d touched her like a lover.
    She wanted to hit them both.

    When Julio had gone, Carmen dressed and tried to settle in to read a book Lily had packed for her. It turned out to be a Regency romance with a tall, dark hero the author described as stern and commanding, and the only thing Carmen could say was that at least the effort it took not to picture Alec in the scenes kept her occupied.
    She set it aside before the hero got naked, just in case.
    Sitting in the guest room wasn’t an option, so she wandered into the living room just before lunch. She found Alec stretched out on the couch, his bare feet propped up on the coffee table. He held a banged-up legal pad in one hand and a pen in the other.
    He looked up as soon as she cleared the hallway and smiled. “Feeling okay, still?”
    Her heart skipped, and she had to admit the dashing Regency-hero fantasy might have been safer than actually being near Alec. “Yeah, sure. I feel good.”
    “Wanna sit?” He nodded to the oversized chair across the table from him. “Kinda boring out here, I guess. Don’t watch a lot of TV and I don’t have internet.”
    She sank into the chair. “So what do you do when you have downtime?”
    For a second, he almost looked uncomfortable. “Uh, doesn’t happen that much.”
    From some of the things she’d heard, he probably spent more nights in women’s beds than he did at home, alone. “It’s good to stay busy.”
    His eyes