Easy Love

by Kristen Proby

  “I’d love to see it,” Kate says, and I immediately decide to take her out there next weekend. She’ll love it. “Maybe I can get my parents to come visit and stay out there. It would be right up their alley.”

  “Are they still in Ireland?” Savannah asks.

  “Yes, and they love it there. But I miss them.”

  “What about Rhys?” Charly asks, as Gabby and I set the table and Mama sets bowls and platters full of way too much food on the table as well. I still at Charly’s question and watch Kate.

  “He’s great. Busy. I haven’t seen him in a couple months.”

  “He’s adorable,” Charly says with a grin. “In a sexy, delicious kind of way. Is he available?”

  “This is Rhys we’re talking about,” Kate says with a laugh. “Who knows? But I was able to FaceTime with him last night, and he looks as great as ever, and still stubborn as heck.”

  So, she was FaceTiming with this Rhys guy.

  None of my business.

  “Boys!” Mama calls out the back door. “Dinner’s ready! Come eat these groceries!”

  Kate sits next to me at the table and smiles up at me sweetly, and I find myself returning it, despite this perpetual frustration I can’t shake.

  “You okay?” she asks softly.

  “Why wouldn’t I be?”

  “You haven’t said two words to me since I got here.”

  “Hello, Kate.” She narrows her eyes and tilts her head, but before she can ask any further questions, Sam and Declan join us and we all dig in. I glance up to find Charly watching Kate and me with a raised brow, but I shake my head, giving her the silent message to leave it be, and eat silently.

  Kate laughs, asking more questions about Gabby’s inn, Charly’s shop, and how Sam likes the second grade, charming my whole family. How has she been friends with Dec and Van for so long and I’d never met her before?

  Because you’ve been too busy keeping the business the way Dad wanted you to.

  “Eli, you’re more quiet than normal,” Mama says softly, watching me with shrewd eyes. “What’s going on with you?”

  I shake my head and wipe my mouth with a napkin. “Just the same old thing, Mama.”

  “Hmph,” she replies and glances around the table. “Why do I feel like I’m out of the loop here?”

  “You’re not,” I reply with a smile. “Work as usual.”

  “You work too much.”

  “Not you too,” I reply, and rub my forehead with the tips of my fingers. “I get this lecture from Savannah at least once a week.”

  “Well, you’ll be gettin’ it from me too. You’re my baby boy.”

  Oh, God.

  Kate smirks next to me and hides her smile behind a tall glass of lemonade.

  “I’m fine, I promise.”

  “He even took the day off yesterday,” Kate adds nonchalantly. Mama’s eyes widen as she looks between Kate and me.

  “He did?”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “How do you know?”

  Don’t say it. I lay my hand on Kate’s thigh, but she ignores me and says it anyway.

  “Because he was with me. He showed me around the French Quarter all day. It’s his fault that I’m now addicted to beignets from Café du Monde.”

  The table is silent for a few beats, then Mama clears her throat.

  “You went to Café du Monde on Saturday mornin’?”

  I meet her bright eyes with my own and nod. “Yes, ma’am.”

  “I’ve always wanted to see the French Quarter. It was amazing,” Kate continues, oblivious to the tension between us siblings. They’re all staring at me like I’ve grown a second head.

  Finally, in the innocent way that only a seven-year-old can, Sam speaks up.

  “Pawpaw used to take us there on Saturdays,” he says, and takes a bite of the corn on the cob, missing some pieces, thanks to the gap in his front teeth. “It was fun.”

  “That’s right,” Gabby says and runs her hand over her son’s hair.

  Suddenly, Kate lays her hand on my thigh and I glance down into understanding eyes, and it’s all I can take.

  “I’m sorry, Mama, but I just remembered that I have some work to catch up on.” I stand quickly and take care of my own dishes, then kiss her cheek. “Thank you for dinner. I’ll call you tomorrow.”

  “Eli—”

  But I don’t stop to hear what she has to say. I walk quickly to my car and peel out of the driveway. My heart is beating quickly, and for the first time in more than two years, I’m consumed with emotion.

  What in the hell is wrong with me?

  And who the fuck is Rhys?

  This is all Kate’s fault. Before she showed up with her gorgeous green eyes and touchable red hair, I was fine, consumed by work. I had a routine that worked well for me, with no interruptions.

  Certainly no Saturdays spent in the Quarter and evenings listening to Dec’s gigs.

  I just need to get laid. That’s all there is to it. It’s been more than a minute since I last enjoyed the company of a warm, willing woman.

  Yes, that’s it.

  Before long, I’m back at my house, pacing through the silent, empty rooms, my phone in my hand, paging through my contacts list. I’m going to scratch this itch and get over it. Erase Kate from my mind completely.

  I pour myself three fingers of brandy, sit behind my desk, and thumb through my electronic black book.

  Ah, yes, I could call Amanda. She’s always fun. Tall, leggy. But she has strawberry blonde hair, and that’ll just remind me too much of Kate.

  I skip to the next name.

  Collette! I met Collette three years ago at a charity function. She’s smart as a whip and likes to be blindfolded. I grin, but then I remember that Collette has freckles on her shoulders, and that won’t do.

  Fuck.

  Fredericka. I haven’t seen her in a while. She’s curvy in all the right places with the best tits I’ve ever seen.

  Scratch that. Kate has the best tits I’ve ever seen.

  And I’ve never actually seen them.

  I sigh loudly and swallow the rest of the brandy, then smile when I see Stephanie’s name.

  Steph and I have had a mutually satisfying arrangement for the better part of five years. She’s long and lean with a runner’s body and an enthusiasm in bed that can’t be matched. She has jet-black hair and chocolate brown eyes with the whitest, smoothest skin I’ve ever seen. She’s not afraid to make noise, and she can suck a cock like no one else.

  Yes, I do believe I’ll call Steph.

  My thumb hovers over her name, but suddenly I see laughing green eyes smiling up at me as she gets her palm read, her face set in rapture when she first tasted the beignets. God, my dick throbs at the thought of what those eyes will look like when I’m buried so deep inside her I can’t tell where she ends and I begin.

  Motherfucker.

  I throw my phone across the room, aiming for the couch, so it doesn’t break, then pick up my glass and consider throwing that too, needing to hear the shatter of glass, when Charly’s voice comes from the doorway.

  “Sam would be impressed with that arm.”

  I whirl and glare at my sister. “What the fuck are you doing here?”

  “Well, I’m not here for your sparkling personality,” she replies, and plants her hands on her hips.

  “Look, I’m not really fit for company tonight, Char.”

  “Clearly.” She smiles, her hazel eyes softening, and I feel my chest loosen too. “You’re handsome when you’re pissed.”

  “Don’t try to charm me.”

  She tosses her head back and laughs, then plops down on my couch and rescues my phone from the cushions. “What did your phone do to you?”

  “Nothing.”

  “Wanna talk about Kate?”

  “Fuck no.”

  “Wanna talk about anything?”

  I glare at her and cross my arms over my chest.

  “That may work in the boardroom,
but it doesn’t work with me.”

  “You’re a pain in my ass.” I sigh and stare at Charly. She’s the second to the youngest, and I’ve been wrapped around her little finger since the day Mama and Dad brought her home from the hospital.

  “You love me.”

  I simply grunt and then cave under her hard stare and scrub my hands over my face.

  “You took her for beignets.”

  “Shut up, Char.”

  “I’m just saying, you haven’t had beignets since Daddy—”

  “I’ve had beignets since Dad died.”

  “Yeah, the ones you make your assistant go get for you. But you never go there.”

  I raise a brow and smirk at her. “I’m a bit too busy to just run out for beignets when the mood strikes.”

  “You know, I may not be the genius of the family, leading the family business into the new millennium, but I’m not slow, Eli.”

  “I’m sorry.” I close my eyes and pinch the bridge of my nose. “I don’t know what you want me to say.”

  “Say that you like Kate.”

  “It’s not a matter of liking her.”

  “Well, why are you here, alone, while she’s right next door, also alone? That’s ridiculous.”

  “Because she’s an employee, a friend of the family, and it sounds like she already has someone in her life.”

  “Yeah, an asshole of an ex-husband.”

  My jaw drops as I stare at Charly. “Rhys?”

  “What?” She frowns and shakes her head. “No, Rhys is her cousin. Her very hot, baseball star cousin. Daniel is her asshole of an ex.”

  I stand, circle my desk, lean my hips against it, and push my hands into my pockets. “What did he do to her?”

  “Oh, no, that’s her story to tell.” Charly shakes her head as she stands and crosses to me, wraps her arms around my waist, and hugs me tight. “Daddy wouldn’t want you to live like this, Eli.”

  I cringe, but don’t reply. No one was in that room with Dad and me right before he died. No one else knows what he said.

  What, exactly, he expected of me after his death.

  “I’m fine, bebe,” I reply, and smile reassuringly as she pulls away.

  “But you want me to leave now.”

  “No, you know you can stay here for as long as you want.” There are four women in my life that I’d do anything in the world for. My three sisters and my mother.

  Scratch that. Five. It seems Kate has wormed her way onto the short list.

  “I love you, big brother.”

  “I love you too, brat.” I grin as she laughs and walks back out of the room.

  “Get some sleep! You look like shit!”

  “Thank you!” I call just before the front door closes. She really is a pain in my ass. I pour three more fingers and let myself out onto the balcony, my eyes immediately turning to the left, and sure enough, Kate is sitting out with a glass of wine in her small, perfect hand.

  She turns her head, leveling me with a cool glare.

  “Problem?” I ask and sink into my chair. She’s sitting only a few feet away, with a simple wrought iron railing separating us. I could reach out and touch her.

  But I don’t.

  “Yeah, I think there is a problem,” she replies, as calmly as if we’re talking about the weather.

  “Would you care to share it?”

  She’s quiet for a moment, then sets her wine on the table beside her and turns to face me, and her green eyes, full of anger and frustration, take my breath away.

  “I promised myself that I would never again let a man determine the way I feel about myself. I wouldn’t play games. I’m worth more than that.”

  I raise a brow. “Agreed.”

  She laughs humorlessly and stands to pace around her small balcony.

  “You confuse the heck out of me! You were so fun and easy to be with yesterday. I actually thought we were…friends.”

  Friends. That particular word leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

  “And then I see you today and you barely speak to me, then run out on your own family dinner!”

  I stand and lean my hands on the railing, looking her in the eye. “I’m trying to keep my hands off of you, Kate.”

  “Oh, please.” She rolls her eyes and crosses her arms over her chest. “I’m not irresistible, Eli. Trust me, I know.”

  “You’re wrong. You’re practically family—”

  “I’m not part of your family.”

  “And I didn’t know if you were already taken.”

  “I wouldn’t have spent all day with you yesterday, not to mention let you kiss me the way you do, if I were taken.”

  “Is your divorce final?”

  This makes her pause. “Of course it is.”

  “And Rhys is your cousin?”

  She scowls. “Are you kidding me right now? You can’t be jealous of my cousin.”

  “Oh, dawlin’, it seems I’m jealous of my own fucking brother when it comes to you. I wanted to rip Dec’s arm off his body when y’all came in Mama’s kitchen today.”

  “Declan and I are friends!” She stomps away again, really worked up now, and I have to work to keep the smile off my face.

  My God, she’s magnificent.

  “Friends the way you and I are friends, Kate? Does he kiss you like I do?”

  “It’s none of your bloody business!” She points her finger at me and keeps railing. “You don’t want me anyway! I’m bloody divorced, and I have bloody male friends, and I’m not going to apologize about any of that to you!”

  “Come here,” I reply softly. She stops in her tracks and stares at me, chest heaving with temper.

  “No.”

  “I won’t tell you again, cher.”

  She narrows her eyes and steps closer. “You don’t get to talk to me like—”

  Before she can finish, I cup her face in my hand and brush my thumb across her soft cheek. Her skin is smooth and simply irresistible. I lean across the railing and stop my lips from covering hers by just a breath.

  “Say fuck, Kate, it’s okay.”

  “I don’t swear,” she whispers. “I have enough Catholic guilt as it is.”

  “Just this once. I won’t tell.” My lips are tickling hers as I talk, and I feel the shiver run through her. She licks her lips and swallows thickly, and I’ve never been so hard in my damn life. “Say it.”

  “Fuck,” she whispers, and I crush my mouth to hers, kissing her with all the pent up frustration and need that I have inside me. I push both hands to the nape of her neck, holding her still as my tongue tangles with hers, then lick to the corner of her mouth to tease.

  She moans, gripping onto my forearms, but not pushing me away. I want to be in her arms. I want to wrap my arms around her and pull her into me and lose myself in her.

  I want to strip her bare and feast on her.

  But I pull away, gently caressing her face, tucking her auburn hair behind her ears, keeping her gaze caught in my own.

  “Say goodnight, Kate.”

  “Bad idea,” she whispers, still gripping my arms with all she’s worth.

  “Maybe not such a bad idea,” I reply hoarsely. But not tonight.

  “Eli—”

  “Say goodnight, Kate,” I repeat and back away when I’m sure she has her feet under her.

  “Goodnight, Kate.” She presses her fingertips to her mouth and watches me with wide green eyes for a long moment, then turns and walks into her loft, locking the door behind her.

  Chapter Seven

  Kate

  It’s too hot in here. I jerk my right leg out from under the covers and roll to my left side, staring into the darkness. I swear I can still taste Eli, but it’s been hours since that crazy kiss on the balcony.

  He confuses me unlike anyone I’ve ever met, including Daniel. It’s clear that he’s attracted to me, and let’s face it, it’s reciprocated. But he’s fighting it as if he’s almost afraid of it.

  How could he possibly be a
fraid of me?

  And, honestly, it’s probably for the best that he fight it, and I should be fighting it too. I’m only here for six weeks, tops. I love his siblings as if they were my own, and sleeping with Eli could make things awkward.

  Although, things seem to be awkward already, so that’s probably not a great argument.

  Now I’m too bloody cold.

  I pull the covers back over me and roll onto my back, staring at the ceiling. A car drives by outside, sending light and shadows over the walls, and then my phone pings next to me.

  I frown and reach for it. Who the heck is texting me in the middle of the night?

  I’m thinking of you.

  Eli.

  I bite my lip and reply. Why are you awake?

  A moment later, he responds with: Because I’m thinking of you.

  And now I’m too hot. I whip my covers off me, but before I can reply to him, he sends another message. Did I wake you?

  No.

  Why are you awake?

  I shrug, even though he can’t see me.

  Dunno.

  His next message makes me smile. Do you need anything?

  I shake my head and answer. No.

  Are you only going to give one word answers?

  I laugh. I have lots of words for you, but for now? Yes.

  It takes a minute for his response. Long enough for me to get too cold and then too hot and too cold again.

  Okay, then just listen. I enjoy making you smile. Your smile slays me. You taste sweeter than any beignet, and I want to spend more time with you tomorrow after work.

  I sigh, suddenly way too warm, and it has nothing to do with the temperature in the room, and everything to do with this confusing man.

  Are you trying to charm me?

  I bite my lip as I wait for his response.

  Maybe.

  I giggle and turn on my side. Now he’s giving me the one-word answers.

  It might be working. What do you have in mind for after work?

  I grin and bite my lip as I wait for his answer. I have many things in mind.

  Oh, flirty Eli is so fun!

  I look forward to hearing about those things.

  Meet me on the balcony?

  I want to say yes, jump up, and run out there to see him, just for a few minutes, but instead, I take a deep breath and reply with: No, thank you. Say goodnight, Eli.