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By Root 497 0

a frustrated sigh. Ian was damn lucky he hadn’t hauled off and hit him. But that was his brother Thorn’s style. Thorn was known for his moody, ready-to-knock-the-hell-out-of-you temperament. At least, that had been his attitude until he’d gotten married. Now Tara had unruffled Thorn’s feathers and the last few times he’d seen him, Thorn had actually been easygoing. Marriage had certainly made a happy man out of Thorn, as well as his brothers Dare and Stone. Storm found it downright sickening. He’d also been curious as to why his brothers were smiling all the time. As far as he was concerned, they weren’t getting anything at home that he wasn’t getting out there in the streets.

Or were they?

“I can’t believe you just sat there calmly after I called you a liar, so it must be true,” Ian said, taking another sip of his beer.

Storm rolled his eyes. “I just don’t feel like knocking the hell out of you right now Ian, so back off.” What he preferred not to let his cousin know was that he had pretty much hit on the truth. For the time being, Jayla had ruined him for other women and he couldn’t understand why. He certainly hadn’t ever been intimate with her and he never ever intended to be. And yet, here he was bored to death at the sight of these half-clad dancers, while the thought of Jayla taking off her clothes made him break into a sweat.

“Want another drink, cuz?”

He glanced over at Ian. What he wanted was to go back to the hotel and call Jayla to see what she was doing. “No, I’ll pass. When will you be back in Atlanta?”

Ian leaned back in his chair and smiled. “In a few weeks. I promised Tara I’d be in town for that charity ball she’s working on. Why?”

“I’ll check you out then.” Storm stood and tossed a couple of bills on the table. “I’ll let Uncle James and Aunt Sarah know you’re doing okay.”

Ian nodded. “And for heaven’s sake if Mom asks if I was with a woman when you saw me, please say yes. With your brothers getting married, she’s starting to look at us kind of funny.”

Storm grinned. His mother was beginning to look at him and Chase kind of funny, too. He glanced around the room before turning his attention back to Ian. “I guess I can tell her that and not feel guilty about lying, since this place is full of women. I’ll just leave out the part that the woman you were seeing was naked.”

Ian chuckled. “Thanks, I’d appreciate that.”

Storm turned to leave.

“Hey, Storm?”

Storm turned back around. “Yeah?”

Ian met his gaze directly. “I know it’s just a temporary thing, man, but whomever she is I hope she’s worth all the hell you’re going through.”

Storm frowned, opened his mouth to give his cousin a blazing retort that no woman was putting him through hell, changed his mind and turned and walked out of the club.

Jayla heard the phone ring when she had finished toweling herself off and slipped into the plush hotel bathrobe. She quickly left the bathroom and picked up the phone on the fourth ring. “Hello?”

“How was your nap?”

Jayla frowned. The last thing Storm needed to know was that she hadn’t been able to sleep, thanks to thoughts of him being surrounded by naked women. Each time she’d tried closing her eyes, she saw women, taking off their clothes, heaving their breasts in his face, skimming panties down their legs and giving him an eyeful of all their treasures. She’d even heard there were some women who were bold enough to sit naked in a man’s lap if he tipped her well enough.

“My nap was fantastic,” she lied. “How was the entertainment at the club?” she asked then wished that she hadn’t.

“It was definitely interesting.”

Jayla’s frown deepened. A part of her wanted to slam the phone down, but she had too much pride to do so. Besides, she took great care of herself and thought she looked rather decent, in or out of her clothes. As far as she was concerned, there was nothing those women who’d stripped off their clothes had on her other than that none of them was Adam Cole’s daughter.

“I called to see if you’re free later.”

She rolled her eyes upward. So they were back to that again. “Dinner, you mean?