No Regrets (Bomar Boys #1) by Jess Bryant Page A

body was clean. He was standing shirtless in the hallway and there was only one visible tattoo that she could see. She was still shocked by the one word imprinted on his flesh, curious as to when he had gotten it, and why, but it was still only one small tattoo. On the other hand, every visible inch of Colt’s arms were covered in ink.
    Strange, but her first thought was to question if they’d done it on purpose to differentiate themselves. They’d always secretly hated when people confused them for one another, as if they wasn’t their own person, as if they were interchangeable. They weren’t, not even close.
    Her second thought was that Colt being covered in beautiful yet foreboding artwork wasn’t surprising at all. Art was the only area of school he had ever excelled at to her recollection. She remembered him curled over his desk, etching designs into the wood tabletop and getting detention for it even though the forest he’d designed had been intricate and eerily beautiful. His wrist had a similar forest, done in ink, with ominous black birds rising up his forearm, hinting that he had drawn his own tattoos.
    “Well…” Colt turned back to her and winked when he caught her staring, “Clearly I missed a lot last night. Who wants to fill me in?”
    “Nobody. What are you doing here?” Cash growled.
    “Uh, I live here?”
    “I told you to stay elsewhere last night.”
    “I did. It’s morning.” Colt’s grin only grew.
    “I told you I had a guest.”
    “Calling her a guest is a little like calling Decker a dad. It sounds nice but it just don’t feel right does it?” Colt chuckled. “Besides, guests usually stay in a room. She’s on the couch. That makes her fair game.”
    “Colt. Don’t.”
    Ignoring his brother, Colt stood up and leaned over her. She didn’t even have time to think about cringing away from him. She wasn’t sure if she would have given the chance because he simply brushed his lips against her temple as he spoke softly, just for her to hear.
    “Welcome home sweetie. He missed you.” He winked again when Cash growled behind him.
    “Don’t touch her.”
    “Possessive.” Colt chuckled as he moved away, “Some things never change.”
    “Protective.” Cash cleared his throat, as if the mention of his clearly possessive behavior embarrassed him, “She’s hurt and she doesn’t need you crowding her and making her uncomfortable.”
    “Yeah, I was gonna ask about that.” Colt retreated to the kitchen and propped the fridge open, “Who are we killing for damaging her pretty face?”
    Just like that, with a few words, her tension over seeing Colt again eased. Of the two of them, he’d always been the more easy-going one. Not that she would call him relaxed, not by a longshot. If Cash was quiet and moody then Colt was loud and volatile.
    His moods might be unpredictable but no matter what he was feeling, he had no problem expressing it. If he was happy, he smiled. If he was pissed, he scowled. He wasn’t as difficult to read as his twin. He said what he meant. He meant what he said. She’d never wondered where she stood with Colt and she didn’t have to now.
    She was back. He’d accepted it just that easily. Just like that, she was one of them again, someone to take care of, because that was what the two of them did. They took care of each other. Things changed and people changed but that never would.
    “His name is…”
    “Not important.” She spoke over Cash, shooting him a warning look, “Neither of you are killing anyone. I took care of it.”
    Colt grabbed the milk out of the fridge and paused in the middle of lifting it to his lips, “You took care of it?”
    “Yes.”
    “How?”
    “I knocked him out.”
    Cash gaped, “You did what?”
    “I take it you knew nothing of this?” Colt raised an eyebrow when his twin scowled, “Yeah, I don’t know why I thought you two would’ve spent the night talking.”
    “Careful.” Cash warned.
    “Just saying…”