“He’s a fucking professional, Cooper. He could have a foursome with me, Georgia, and Sloane, and you could quit talking to him entirely because you had your panties in a twist over the other adults in your life being consenting adults, he’d still strike out more batters than he lets on base next year, and you know it.”

Cooper shoves away from the doorway, retreating into my bedroom with a muttered, “Fine.”

“Not just fine,” I call after him. “Good. Trust is good, Cooper. And you know you can trust us.”

I don’t have to see him to know he’s twitching at my use of us instead of me.

Maybe I should be twitching at it myself.

Except it feels right to be in this together with Max.

Not that he has any clue we’re in anything together beyond a coffee date this morning that had more than a few smoldering looks from him making me feel completely naked.

Okay.

Yeah.

He probably knows we’re in this together.

If coffee meant he’s willing to risk pissing off Cooper to have a little off-season fling with me.

And I should probably examine what it means that I feel like I’m lying to myself about something here, but I don’t want to.

Cooper suddenly sucks in a breath and charges back into the bathroom. “Fuck,” he gasps.

“What?” I gape at him.

“You’re pranking me.”

I freeze.

I’m not, but if he’ll lay off, I would absolutely let him think this is another phase in our winter prank war.

In fact, that’s a brilliant idea.

Let him think it’s a prank until either I can prove to him that this was a good idea, or until it’s over and Max and I go our separate ways.

I don’t even know if it’s a good idea yet. But I know that if Cooper gets it in his head to interfere, even after our talk here, that everything with Max will be over regardless of what it could’ve been otherwise.

I smile at my brother. Surefire way to make him believe he has nothing to worry about. “Am I?”

“And we’re done here.” Grady appears in the doorway long enough to grab Cooper by the arm and haul him away. “Enjoy your bath, Tillie Jean.”

“Thank you, favorite brother,” I call back.

Yes, fine, I shouldn’t bait Cooper even more right now.

But he’ll snap out of it.

Max and I will do whatever it is we do.

The Fireballs will rock this season.

Cooper won’t freak out about Max and me, which would make Max freak out too.

And everything will be fine.

The door clicks shut again. I drift lower in the tub. Think about Max.

Think about Max sitting on my bedroom floor asking me to coffee.

Think about Max adjusting himself at Muted Parrot when he thought I wasn’t noticing what was happening south of the belt.

And then I decide I might’ve had enough of bath time, except I still need to sit in this water for at least thirty more minutes to make sure Cooper’s not coming right back.

Okay.

Plotting time.

I’m distracting myself from thinking about Max naked by plotting more pranks on Cooper.

Or trying to, at least, when a knock at my bathroom window startles me.

I shriek, slip, and grab the sides of the tub. “Hello?”

And then a sexy, smooth, rich-as-chocolate voice sneaks into the room. “Room in there for one more?”

27

Max

I am the worst kind of perv.

But in my defense, I’ve resisted wanting to have sex with Tillie Jean for years. So I’m a perv with self-control.

Until now.

Now, I’m a perv who’s run out of self-control and who just listened in while she told her brother to trust us.

Pretty sure that wasn’t just to piss him off either, no matter how he interpreted it.

“There is no way you’ll fit in this tub,” Tillie Jean whispers. She’s peering at me from her bathtub, her skin wet, her breasts hanging heavy and disappearing behind the side of the tub before I can see those gorgeous nipples again, her eyes dark and intrigued and hungry like she’s trying to imagine me naked. “Or through that window. The back door’s unlocked. I’ll meet you—”

“Stay.”

She starts to grin, and oh, fuck me, is that a promising grin. “I’m not getting dressed if that’s what you’re afraid of.”

“You use a bath bomb?” The wrapper’s still on her sink.

“Max Cole, are you addicted to Kangapoo bath bombs too?” When she drops her voice low and throaty like that, it doesn’t matter what she says. My brain short-circuits and I want her.

I want her.

But I need to focus. Focus, Cole. Focus.

Bath bombs. We’re talking about bath bombs. “No, I hate those things. They have glitter in the middle. Shudder.”

She squeaks, looks down, and then her gaze flies to me again.

I grin.

Yeah, I’m quoting her brother, so she should figure out pretty quick I listened in on everything. Also, if that bath bomb had glitter in it, she’d be all sparkly now, and she’s not.

God, she’s sexy.

“You are seriously hot when you tease me.” She crooks a finger and makes me wish I could fit through this tiny window over her toilet, and she sits straighter in the tub, but not straight enough for me to see her nipples. “Back door. Quick. Someone’s probably already spotted you, so flip the lock and shove a chair under it before Grady sends his goat over just for fun.”

“Stay,” I tell her again.

She slides a hand down her breast and smiles at me. “Like this?”

And if I don’t get in her house right now, the neighbors calling Cousin Chester to report a peeper will be reporting an engorged pecker too.

It takes me longer than it should to reach her bathroom, but I’m making sure no one gets in through any doors. Human, goat, or bird.

I’m also kicking off my shoes and dancing out of my socks as I go so that when I hit her bedroom, all I have left are my T-shirt and jeans and underwear.

The shirt’s gone before I skid to the corner to get into her private bath, where she’s pulled the shower curtain back and is positioned perfectly in the tub to demonstrate exactly how naked she is while still hiding her nipples and her pussy from view.

“Who’s the tease now?” I murmur as my cock surges.

Need to get out of these pants.

Need to get out of them now.

She crooks a finger again, and I am powerless to resist.

I trip over to the tub, fumbling with my button as I drop to the floor next to her. “You told Cooper to mind his own business and trust us.”

“I did.” She leans in and bites my lip, and fuck again. Why am I still wearing jeans? “I don’t think it totally worked, but I don’t care. Did it turn you on?”

“You turn me on.”

“We need rules, Max.” Her wet hand slides over my chest. “I don’t want to break your game.”

“Rule number one: I won’t let you break my game. Happy?”

She laughs, and fuck, how did I ever think I hated that laugh?

“I don’t think it’s that simple, Mr. Growly Bear.”