by Lori Foster
That made her choke out a laugh. “I thought for sure I’d—”
“What? Be strong and unshakable?” Ember emitted a long sigh. “Honestly, it’s nice to know you’re human. I mean, I’d have spared you if I could, you know that.”
Her hands fell away. Ember’s tone bothered her. “I know.”
“It’s just that I still crumble over hearing a baby cry in a store, even if I can’t see him. I turn into this giant well of misery. But you talk about Chuck, you’re told he’s back in town, the bastard texts you and you just roll on like nothing happened. Like it doesn’t matter.”
“It matters.”
She sighed again, this one more of a huff. “Right. I know. I’m still happy to punch him in the throat if you want.”
“I don’t think that’s necessary.”
“The thing is...the way you reacted makes me feel less like a weak emotional mess, because you’re one of the strongest people I know.”
Apparently Tash was right. Reaching out, Autumn caught her sister’s hand. “I’m no better at being strong than you are.”
“Ha. I’m the free spirit, remember? No one expects—”
“Don’t spout Mom’s nonsense to me. That’s all it is, you know? Nonsense. You don’t have to live up to her expectations.”
“You mean live down to them?” She squeezed Autumn’s fingers before releasing her. “How did I end up making this conversation about me?” Smacking a palm to her forehead, Ember said, “I’m sorry. Definitely wasn’t my intent. Now, about you—did Tash at least manhandle him a little?”
“No, of course not. He just jumped in and said the things I should have said, the things that stuck in my throat.”
“And? You reacted to that how?”
Heat crawled up her neck to pulse in her cheeks. It hadn’t been her best performance. “I stewed. I did the whole stupid silent-treatment thing, at least to him. Sadie and I talked, though. Then when we got back here, Tash acted like nothing had happened. He hugged me—in front of Mom and Dad and Sadie—and he kissed me! Do you believe the nerve?” She was still confused by that and didn’t know what to think. “He even stuck around to help get Dad and all of Mom’s supplies into the house.”
Sitting in the grass, Ember focused her gaze on Tash the turkey as he followed the hens around. “He’s jealous.”
Dropping down to sit beside her, Autumn said, “That’s not funny.”
“No, what’s not funny is that you are so damn oblivious.” Ember shook her head in pity. “The man wants you—in every way. Show some balls and ask him, and you’ll see I’m right.”
“I don’t have balls,” she argued, stalling for time to get her thoughts in order. She’d expected Ember to be as outraged by Tash’s behavior as she was.
Or had been.
Something.
The more she thought about it, the more it seemed...protective instead of intrusive. He’d not only thrown her a line while she was sinking, but he’d also commandeered the ship...and steered it right into Chuck.
“So grow a pair—figuratively, at least. Go right up to him, maybe when Sadie isn’t next to you listening in, because you know ‘little pitchers have big ears,’ and then ask him outright.” Ember leaned back on her forearms. “I dare you.”
Sitting yoga-style, her elbows resting on her knees, Autumn stalled. “I remember Mom saying that to Dad all the time. He’d be getting frisky and she’d say—not really in a whisper—that we were there listening and—”
They finished together, “‘Little pitchers have big ears.’”
“Not like we wanted to hear him telling her how sexy she is,” Ember pointed out.
With a shudder, Autumn added, “And that she had a great ass.”
They both snickered, equally disturbed and amused.
“But you know,” Ember said, “now that I’m older and not so geeked by the idea of my parents hankering after each other, I think I eventually want a guy like that—a guy who wants me all the time, whether I’m busy cooking, or sweaty from being outside, or—”
“Present,” Mike said from behind them.
Ember tumbled off her own elbows, floundered around and finally got mostly upright.
Uh-oh. Autumn watched her sister’s eyes narrow and her mouth compress.
“You were eavesdropping again!”
As if Ember wasn’t fuming, he sat down with them. “I saw you both out here communing with nature and decided to join you, but how could I have known you’d be talking sex?”
“Speaking of sex,” Autumn said before Ember could detonate. She nodded toward Tash the turkey. “He’s getting a little amorous with the hens, don’t you think?”
Ember looked, her eyebrows shooting up. “I think that feathered hussy is encouraging him.”
Mike wisely kept his mouth shut, but he did smile. “They’ll be fine. He might pursue and she might flirt, but they won’t mate.”
In slow motion, Ember and Autumn swiveled their heads to stare at him.
“What?” he asked, all masculine innocence. “My parents had a farm.”
“I didn’t know you had parents.” Ember frowned over the nonsense words as soon as they were out. “I mean, I realize you must, but you’ve never mentioned them or anything.”
Now Mike leaned back on his elbows, a man at his leisure. “Yeah, I have parents. I talk with them often, keep up on Facebook—”
“You have Facebook?”
Shrugging, he said, “Private, just for family. Overall, I dislike social media.”
Autumn and Ember shared a look, because they felt the same. Once, when their mother had considered joining Facebook, they vehemently discouraged her. The last thing either of them wanted was to see her obscene art posted for the world to view.
“Do you see your parents?” Ember asked.
“In person once or twice a year.”
A horrible realization hit Autumn. “Is that because you’re always working here?”
He tossed a clover at her. “No, hon. It’s just that they’re in California and I’m here and it’s a long trip. Remember I was off four days last Christmas? I flew home then.”
“But...” She felt worse and worse. “You should have taken at least a week.”
His gaze went to Ember. “I miss this place when I’m not here.”
Whoa. That look was so scorching, Autumn wondered why her sister didn’t go up in smoke. Ember looked a little shell-shocked by it, too. Her lips parted, she drew a breath...then gathered herself.
Sitting straighter, Ember made a rewind gesture. “Go back.” She cleared her throat and drew another bracing breath. “You have parents, so any siblings?”
“A brother. He’s in Arizona, but usually when I visit California, he does, too. I have a sister-in-law who’s terrific, and two nephews who think I walk on water.”
Ember gawked.
Autumn wasn’t much better. Never, not ever, did Mike talk about his past. He’d showed up one day after seeing their Help Wanted sign, and the rest was history.
“By the way,” he said to Autumn, “your truck now has air. Sorry it took so long. I had to order a few parts.”
Ember did another rewind. “So your brother is happily married?”
“Ten years now.” He stared at her with enough heat to make Autumn blush, though Ember just took it in stride. “Why is that so shocking?”
“Because you’re such a—a...bachelor.”
“Whew.” Grinning, Mike pretended great relief. “Wasn’t sure what insult would come out of that pretty mouth, but that’s not too bad.”
Ember punched his shoulder, pulled back in surprise at what she’d done and grumbled an apology.
Mike asked, “For what?”
“Punching you.”
He cocked an eyebrow. “You punched me? When?”
/> That got him another punch, accompanied by a shove, which made him laugh as he went off balance. He grabbed Ember to him and kissed her.
Since he was on his back, Ember sprawled over him...and didn’t look like she minded.
Ummm...again, Autumn felt like a voyeur. She tried to look anywhere and everywhere that didn’t include her sister and Mike, but that took her gaze to Tash the turkey, and he was turning out to be a horny little guy, his tail feathers spread, his head low as he cozied up to a hen.
Quietly, she got to her feet, ready to tiptoe away.
Hearing her, Ember freed herself from Mike. “Wait.”
Misunderstanding, Mike said, “Okay.”
“I meant Autumn, not you.”
He rose to one elbow, the heat in eyes shifting to something else, something just as intimate and maybe anticipatory. “Yeah?”
Ember patted his firm midsection, lingered a moment, then pulled her hand away. “You just need to pause for a bit until we straighten out a few things. But before that...” Turning her face up to Autumn’s, she said, “Let’s get Mike’s opinion.”
Oh. Dear. God. Gasping on a sharply indrawn breath, Autumn exhaled with, “Don’t you dare—”
“Tash wants Autumn,” Ember blurted, “don’t you think?”
There it was, thrown out for Mike and the chickens and Tash the turkey to hear. Autumn considered throttling her sister.
Until Mike said, “He’s got it for her bad. Why?”
* * *
Mike took in the smug satisfaction on Ember’s face, and the pink mortification on Autumn’s, and wondered what he’d been drawn into.
Another of Ember’s no-holds-barred, well-intentioned assaults on her sister? Apparently.
One thing was certain: Autumn didn’t want to talk about it.
Equally certain: Ember would, anyway.
She might assume otherwise, but he actually liked that about her—the way she did and said whatever she thought was right, damn the consequences. That facet of her personality often embarrassed Autumn, but since Tash had been around, Autumn...bloomed. A dumb word, but it worked.
Autumn had always been incredible—incredibly sweet, incredibly smart, incredibly caring...and incredibly sexy, too.
She just hadn’t known it. Based on things Ember said, Autumn had always been quieter and more contained, but clearly Chuck had done a number on her, making her even more withdrawn.
Now with Tash around she’d loosened up, and good thing, because Ember so obviously loved her sister and wanted the best for her, thus this new, direct attack.
“What I don’t understand,” Mike said, considering both sisters before settling on Autumn, “is why you don’t already know that.”
“He made a deal with her, that’s why. A stupid deal that—”
A thick clump of dry grass hit Ember in the chest, then small pieces of attached earth slid down into her shirt.
“You...” Nostrils flared, Autumn searched for words but found none. She looked both hurt and furious and it made Mike uneasy.
“Autumn—” he said, ready to reassure her, to try to smooth over the antagonism.
At almost the same time, she said, “I told you, Ember. Only you. In confidence.”
He watched, enthralled, as Ember frowned, then lifted the hem of her shirt, trying to shake out the dirt and blades of grass.
“I know,” she mumbled, pretty much pretending he wasn’t there, a fascinated observer, as she bared her stomach and flapped the hem of her T-shirt in a way that promised—but never quite delivered—a glimpse of her breasts.
In another culture, based on how it affected him, it might’ve been considered a mating dance.
Decidedly unaffected—by his attention and her sister’s ire—Ember explained, “But I want you happy, Autumn, and all this ridiculous denial won’t do the trick.”
Yeah, a lot of the missteps Ember made were well-intentioned. He knew it, and he presumed Autumn did, as well.
Lending her a hand in the explanations, he sat up and patted Autumn’s knee. “Tash has it bad—and so do you. Whatever deal you did or didn’t make, I can promise you, he wants more.”
After one last scowl at her sister, Autumn eyed him, gauging the accuracy of his statement. After visual resistance, she gave in to a nervous nibble of her lip. “You’re sure?”
Mike took great pleasure in saying, “Thousand percent.”
“How do you know?”
“I’m a guy?” When she appeared unconvinced, he nodded with more certainty. “I’m a guy.”
Autumn threw up her hands. “Well, whoop-de-do. You think that makes you more observant or smarter or—?”
“I know how guys think,” he said, interrupting her tangent. “I have insight, right? I know hunger when I see it.” He flicked the end of her nose. “You do, too, if you’d just trust yourself.”
Mouth screwing to the side, she folded her arms and grumbled, “I am not your little sister.”
Meaning it, he replied, “I’d like it if you were.”
Ember scowled at them both. “Hello? Third person here and she’s not invisible.” She nodded at Autumn. “If she’s like a sis, where does that leave me?”
“Definitely not related.” He’d decided to open up with Ember, to let her know his background, what motivated him, what he wanted out of life, in hopes that she would soften toward him...and maybe open up a little in return.
Night after night, thoughts of her crowded his brain until he couldn’t concentrate on anything else. The way she laughed, how she scowled, the look of her body in his wet T-shirt while they swam, the taste of her mouth...the hurt in her eyes that he’d caused.
That one really ate him up.
More and more each day he sought her out. Far too often their exchanges ended in an argument, but he knew it was his fault.
In trying to be different from the hordes of guys constantly chasing her, he’d blundered, and now he needed a chance to correct things.
If he didn’t have her soon, he’d go nuts.
What happened here this morning, having her pull him in as backup, felt like progress. In fact, he moved to sit closer to her, even brushed some grass off her shoulder.
And she let him.
Yup, definitely progress.
“Don’t be mad at her, Autumn.” He braced his hand behind Ember in an almost embrace. “Your sister recognizes Tash’s interest, too. God knows she’s had plenty of experience with guys looking at her that way.”
Ember’s chin lifted. “The way you look at me?”
“Exactly.” Using that as an opening, he brought his palm to the small of her back, traced up her spine, and when she didn’t object, he hugged her into his side. “That would be the look.”
Autumn’s gaze zipped back and forth between them. “Huh.”
“It’s obvious, right?”
“With you two, sure.” She glanced out at the yard. “It’s even clear on Tash the turkey.” Her dark gaze came back to his. “But Tash the man is different. He’s motivated by other things.”
“His daughter,” Mike acknowledged. “That’s the biggie. New home, new job, too.” He coasted his palm over Ember’s back, down to her hip, without looking away from Autumn. “Yet he made time for you. Says something, don’t you think?”
Ember cleared her throat. “Well, Autumn? Tell him about the deal.”
Autumn shot her another I’ll-smack-you-later look, then heaved a sigh. “Tash set up this...mock relationship? See, Sadie likes me—”
“Of course she does.”
“—so it’s a way for her to visit with me more.”
“Uh-huh,” he said with a lot of blatant doubt.
“It works for me, too, because if Chuck knows I’m in a relationship, he should leave me alone, right?”
That sent a li
ttle fire up his spine. “Has he been bothering you again?”
Once more, before Autumn could say a word, Ember jumped in, rattling through the details of Chuck and the diner and Tash telling him off.
Score one for Tash.
“Yeah,” Mike said, his tone dry, “that sounds like Tash faking a relationship.”
Autumn’s mouth opened...then closed.
Ember grinned. “Right?” She elbowed his ribs in a show of camaraderie. “You see, Autumn? The man is totally in to you.”
“Totally,” Mike agreed, hugging Ember closer so she couldn’t gouge him again with that weapon she called an elbow.
“Then why the no-sex rule?”
The... He blinked at her. “Come again?”
“She can’t,” Ember said, her grin cheeky, her eyebrows bobbing. “No sex means she can’t even come once, much less a second time.”
Hearing words like sex and come from Ember’s lips did profound things to him, made him stare at her mouth and think things he shouldn’t—at least, things he shouldn’t think about right now, with Autumn not just the topic, but close by.
He looked at Autumn.
She put her face in her hands.
He settled on Ember, since at least he could see her. “Seriously, there’s a rule?” Damn it, he still sounded stupid, but it was a stupid rule. “You’re kidding, right?”
“Tell him, Autumn.”
“Why?” The question was muffled behind her hands. “You’re so chatty and everything.”
This time, though, when Ember was ready to speak, Autumn snapped up her head. “Tash assured me there would be no sex.” Embarrassment burned her face, but she continued. “He said he doesn’t have opportunity with Sadie out of school and...” Eyes widening, her words trailed off.
“And?” Mike prompted. He wanted to hear whatever other idiocy there was so he could discount it. He knew Tash. He liked him.
The guy was not stupid, so it couldn’t be his stupid rule.
Autumn’s eyes sank shut. “And I told him ice cream was better than sex.”
“What the hell kind of ice cream are you eating?”
