“Loyalty?” Shep asked.
“In part,” Chase said.
Shep understood Chase’s hesitation but wondered if his brother did need a push. “Brody might take a few shots at you at first, but in the end, he’d forgive you if you made her happy.”
“It won’t happen.” Chase shook his head adamantly.
Shep examined his brother, the moonlight on his face showing the longing in the depths of his eyes. When Harper had come home from culinary school in Denver a few months back, she’d grown up, and Chase had noticed. “What’s the other reason?”
Chase gave a long-suffering sigh. “I refuse to be the reason she doesn’t follow her dreams.”
Shep immediately understood. Even Brody had been on Harper’s case, or so Chase had told him. No one wanted her to move back to River Rock after she finished culinary school. They all thought her skills in the kitchen were wasted in River Rock. Shep disagreed. He liked having Harper around. She was spunky and fun. “Chase,” he said sternly, hoping to get his brother to see sense.
“Leave it alone, Shep.” Chase swam off to the dock, and Shep watched as Harper turned and studied his every move. By the time he looked back at Chase, his brother was out of the water with a towel around his waist, heading back up to the house.
“Shep.”
His gaze fell to Emma, and she waved him over. He swam forward until he reached her, then he slid in behind her, wrapping his arms around her bare middle.
“Is Chase okay?” Harper asked.
Shep nodded. “He got cold.”
Obviously, Harper didn’t believe that for a second. Her brows furrowed, and then she glanced at the dock where Chase had left. “I’m getting a little cold myself.” She turned to Emma again. “I’ll meet you back at the fire?”
“Sure.” Emma smiled.
When Harper swam off, Shep spun Emma in his arms, bringing all her attention to him and putting his back to Harper to give her privacy. Emma wrapped her arms around his neck, legs around his waist, while he knelt on the rock, keeping them under the water. With her close again, blood rushed to his cock, hardening him to steel, as if he hadn’t already had her twice tonight.
Emma nibbled her lip and sighed.
Shep chuckled. “What is it?”
She cocked her head. “Do you think Chase will ever get over Harper being Brody’s little sister?”
Shep shrugged. “I can’t say.”
“Would you get past it?”
He leaned in, bringing his mouth close to hers. “If you were my good friend’s sister, you mean?” At her nod, he told it to her straight. “Nothing, and I mean nothing, would stop me from having you. But Chase is his own man, and he’ll do what he wants, on his terms.”
Emma laughed. “So, he’s just like his alpha, caveman brother, then?”
Shep slid his hand along the small of her back and lowered his voice, knowing she sensually reacted to that tone. “A caveman, you say?”
“Mm-hmm,” she all but purred, shifting her sex across his cock.
“Shall I act like a caveman, bend you over that rock, and fuck you right here?” he murmured against her lip.
“Yes, please.” She grinned.
He swam them around the large rocks on the edge, taking her to a private area that Nash wouldn’t see when he came back with Gus.
“Actually,” she said, when they reached that spot, “I have a better idea.” She gestured to the jagged rock behind him. “Go sit there.”
“Is this when you get dirty?” He climbed up to sit on the rock, his hard cock
standing straight up, the cool air tickling across his flesh.