Mitch walked up behind her and put his arms around her waist, his nose nuzzling the side of her neck. “Let’s not worry about any of that for now, okay? Let’s just enjoy what we’ve got going at the moment.”

“Yeah. Okay.”

His lips grazed her neck, and Sissy’s eyes crossed.

“Mitch, I’ve gotta go.”

“They went to get food and drinks. Ronnie says I’ve got at least half an hour before they get back. And we both need to shower.”

Without another word, Mitch picked her up and carried her to the shower, seeming to enjoy—and ignore—Sissy’s squeal of protest.

Mitch slammed the pillow over his sleeping brother’s face and then pressed it down using the weight of his body. Bren’s arms flailed wildly, and Mitch laughed like a mental patient until his brother pushed his hands against Mitch’s chest and shoved.

Landing in a chair halfway across the room, Mitch only had a second to take a breath before his older brother was out of bed and coming after him.

“Shit.” Mitch took off, making it downstairs and through the hall. But he never did make it through the front door before his brother grabbed him by the hair, yanked him back, and then slammed him forward into the wall.

When his ears finally stopped ringing, Brendon had him pinned to the ground, his big, fat face hovering over Mitch’s.

Mitch heard his brother make that distinctive sound. “Don’t you dare spit on—you motherfucker!”

Ronnie Lee sat up, lowering her sunglasses to the tip of her nose. “Please tell me you didn’t give him the boundaries speech.”

“Of course I did.”

“Make that stupid square with your hands, too?” Dee grumbled, searching through the cooler for God knew what.

“The visual helps. You know men are more visual than women.”

Ronnie pushed her sunglasses back up her nose and stretched back out on the lounge chair. “Why do I bother with you?”

“Because I’m one of the few people who tolerates your bullshit.”

“Good point.” Ronnie readjusted her bikini bottoms. She never knew how to just settle and relax. She constantly fidgeted. It drove Sissy nuts sometimes. “I guess he agreed.”

“Of course he did.”

Dee, who burned pretty easily in the sun, slathered on more sunscreen. “What do you mean, ‘of course’?”

“Because he knows a little of me is better than none at all.”

“Not really an insecure gal, are you, Sissy Mae?”

Sissy thought a moment before shaking her head. “Nah.”

“Is it my imagination,” Ronnie cut in, “or is Mitch getting bigger?” When Sissy raised an eyebrow and Dee stared, Ronnie quickly shook her head.“I don’t mean that! I mean in general.”

“The way he’s been eating, he should be getting bigger.”

Dee tugged down her baseball hat to shield her face. “He’ll keep Gil away.”

Sissy’s eye twitched. “Are we back here again?”

“Who can forget their first?”

Sissy sighed at Ronnie’s wistful tone. Since she’d fallen for Brendon Shaw, Ronnie Lee had shown a girly side to her personality Sissy was none too fond of.

“You did,” she countered.

“I didn’t forget him. It was Greg.”

Dee shook her head. “No, it wasn’t.”

“It was too.”

Sissy sat up, readjusting her bikini top. “No. Greg ‘oh God, please make me’ Tremble was your first orgasm. Larry Crenshaw was your first lay. He, however, did not get you off. Thereby, he was quickly forgotten.”

“I remember my first,” Dee added for no apparent reason. “I yakked all over him and his backseat.”

“And I remember my first because you heifers won’t let me forget him.”

“You know what really worries me?” Ronnie chewed her lip for a bit. “I worry about what he’s going to do. You don’t seem to grasp your true value to the power-hungry wolf.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Remember all those rumors about your momma and daddy’s mating?”

“Yeah. But it’s all bullshit.”

“But Gil is too stupid to know that.”

“You think he’ll try and force a mating?”

“I wouldn’t put anything past him. Of course, I’ve never trusted or liked him.”

Sissy hadn’t thought about that. Forced matings were rare with most of the wolves, but Smiths were known to do them from time to time. In fact, there were tales of Smith wolves who’d died trying to force a mating on a strong female. And most wolves wouldn’t try it with Sissy, but if Gil was desperate enough…

“I’ll watch my back.”

“Good. That’s all I want,” Ronnie said, pulling a beer out of the cooler. “That wasn’t so hard now, was it?”

“You and Sissy kind of shot out of the bar last night. Everything…okay?”

“You mean, did we fuck like horny wildebeests last night?”

“A simple ‘everything went fine’ would have been sufficient, ya know.”

“Yeah, but not nearly as fun, bruh.”

The brothers stood next to each other, staring into the open refrigerator.

“Do you feel like cooking?” Mitch asked.

“Not really. You?”