Her singing sounded a lot better today than it had back then, when she’d bellowed along, dressed in a pastel frilly dress and pretending she was the princess on screen.

With a sigh, he relaxed, falling out of SEAL mode and into annoyed brother mode instead.

Why was she here and showering at his house, and with a strange vehicle filled with a butt load of stuff?

Shit. Had something bad happened between her and her husband? He liked Jasper. He’d hate to have to kill his brother-in-law for hurting his sister.

Loosening his grip on the club, he reached into his pocket and drew out his house key. Opening the front door, he stepped inside.

Intruder-scare aside, it felt good to be home in the land of free flowing Big Macs and reliable WiFi. Not to mention private bathrooms—which he was going to have again as soon as he determined why the fuck his sister was in his and got her out of it.

Zach leaned the golf club in the corner of the front hallway and looked around. Why did it smell like paint? That question was soon answered when he noticed the walls.

Why the fuck was the hallway a different color? And where was the carpet? He frowned down at the shiny wooden floors before his gaze moved on to the living room.

Where was the furniture? And where the fuck was his TV?

He might actually have felt better thinking he had been robbed. At least that was something he could get angry about. But this—this was worse because he had a strong suspicion about what was really going on here.

Amanda must have suggested a dozen times that he redecorate. He’d always said no. Then he’d deployed, leaving his nosy, annoying, untrustworthy sister alone for months with his spare house key.

Jaw clenched, he stomped across the gleaming wood of the empty living room and down the hallway. He resisted the urge to kick in the bathroom door and instead flung it wide with a force that sent it crashing against the wall.

“What the fuck did you do to my house?”

The blood curdling scream that came from behind the new shower curtain gave him a moderate sense of satisfaction.

Good. He was glad he’d startled her, because she sure as hell had surprised him.

“I swear, Amanda. I told you I liked my house just the way it was—”

“Zach. It’s not Amanda.” The tiny voice from behind the curtain halted his rant.

Brows drawn low, he reached for his cell phone to call the police.

Not that he thought he couldn’t take whoever was in that shower stall, but more because he wanted witnesses for his own sake. A woman who would break into a man’s house to take a shower might not stop there. What was to stop her from claiming Zach attacked her?

But wait. She’d called him by name, so he obviously knew her. Or at least, she knew him. With the screen unlocked and his fingers poised to dial nine-one-one, Zach said, “Who are you?”

“It’s Gabby.”

He was wondering who the fuck this Gabby could be, racking his brain for some memory of a long forgotten hook-up who could have gotten a hold of a copy of his house key, when she pulled back just the top of the curtain, while clutching the bottom closed.

She zeroed in on his frown and continued, “Amanda’s friend. From college.”

The dark hair. The big brown eyes. The oh shit expression on her face. It all brought the memory of the first time he’d set eyes on her back to him.

They’d played out this scene together before, only last time he’d been on the other side of that curtain.

“What are you doing in my house?” He lowered the cell phone, but didn’t put it away.

His next call was going to be to his sister to tell her to get the hell down here and get her insane friend out of his shower.

He’d only seen this girl—now a woman—a handful of times since that first meeting.

Somehow Amanda hadn’t outgrown her college friend and Gabby, like a bad penny, kept turning up at occasional major events in Amanda’s life that they both attended. He usually managed to stay out of her way, and she out of his.

He’d get through the party or family barbecue or whatever it was by ignoring her. He couldn’t ignore her now. And he was still waiting for an answer.

“Could you turn off the damn water? We’re in the middle of a drought.” He scowled.

She disappeared and did as told, then was back, but she still wasn’t explaining her presence fast enough for his liking.

“Amanda hired me to redecorate your place. As a surprise for you. I’m a designer now. Gabrielle Lee Interiors and More.” She paused, as if waiting for him to say something. When he didn’t, she continued, “You weren’t supposed to be home until next month. I’m not done yet.”

Oh, so now it was his fault for coming home early.

He crossed his arms over his chest. “That doesn’t explain why you’re in my shower.”

“Yeah, I know.”

Zach leaned back against the doorframe. He could wait as long as is took but he wasn’t leaving until he had a proper explanation.

“I lost my apartment and I haven’t found a new one yet. It was only going to be for a few weeks.”

His eyes widened. “Are you kidding me? You were just going to squat in my house until I got back?”

“It wasn’t going to be exactly squatting. I was going to work here, day and night, to get everything done in time.”

“And sleep here. And shower here,” he added.

“Well, yeah.” She finally raised her eyes to meet his. “I’m sorry. I just wanted it to be nice when you got home.”

“Oh, I see. You’re doing it for me.” He shook his head. “You were bad news then and you’re still bad news now. I warned Amanda about you. She obviously didn’t listen.”

A spark of anger flamed to life in her eyes. “I am not. You never gave me a fair chance. Never tried to get to know me. You should know Amanda wouldn’t be my best friend if I were as horrible of a person as you think I am. And I don’t even know why you hate me so much. Just because I walked in on you in the shower when I thought it was Amanda? So what? Boo hoo, big bad SEAL had his privacy invaded. What were you doing in my shower that day anyway? Huh?”

Something about her trying to look intimidating while clutching a shower curtain had him smiling, and then outright laughing.

This kind of shit only happened to him. The guys weren’t going to believe it when he told them. It was too crazy.

“Oh, man.” He ran a hand over his face, controlling himself enough to speak. “Look, I’ve been traveling for three days. I’m tired, hungry and a little punchy. I want a cold beer, some hot wings and then I wanna sleep in my own bed.”

He had a bad feeling his bed might no longer be here, but he’d deal with that later, after the naked crazy chick was out of his house.

“I’m going out,” he continued. “I expect you to be gone when I get back.”

She bit her lip and didn’t answer.

“What now?” he asked, afraid of the reply.

“All of the stuff from my apartment is in your garage. I can sleep at Amanda’s tonight, but I can’t get everything out until tomorrow.”

He looked skyward, seeking patience. “Fine.”

“Zach.”

He’d already turned to go when her voice stopped him.

“Yeah?” He planted his hand on the doorframe but didn’t look back, waiting for whatever she had to say.

“Don’t be mad at Amanda. She just wanted to do something nice for you.”

“I didn’t ask her to,” he reminded.

“I know. I told her it was a bad idea.”

Now he did turn to look at her. “Did you?”

“Yes.” Gabby tipped her head in a nod. “But she insisted.”

Score one for the crazy chick. Even she knew redoing a man’s home while he was away was a hugely bad idea. Too bad Amanda didn’t listen.

“Will you let me at least finish the house?” she asked.

That was the last thing he wanted.

His knee jerk reaction was to put everything back the way it had been before his sister and her crazy college roommate had meddled with it. But he had a feeling that ship had passed.

Likely his grandmother’s old carpet was in a landfill somewhere. He’d see the old wallpaper he’d grown up with had been painted over or stripped.

He evaluated the situation and decided the absolute last thing he wanted was to have to finish redecorating his damn house during his leave. But he at least wanted to have some say in finishing it. It was his house.

Gabby and Amanda had created this mess. He should let them finish cleaning it up. They’d already destroyed his memories and his grandmother’s home as he knew it.

She was still waiting for an answer when he drew in a breath.

“Fine.” He didn’t want her to think she was off the hook, so he added, “We’ll talk in the morning. There’s going to be some ground rules.”

“Okay.” Her relief was visible as she nodded and clutched the shower curtain. “Thank you.”

Christ. Now she was looking all doe-eyed and grateful. He didn’t want that either. “Don’t thank me. Just finish this shit and get the fuck out of my house as soon as you can.”

He saw her expression wilting from his words. Good. Maybe now she’d finish even faster. Hate and fear—both powerful motivators.

His job done there, he turned and closed the door behind him. He needed that beer now more than ever.