Sugar

by Seressia Glass

  “I don’t plan to screw this up,” he answered, ignoring the twinge of trepidation her words caused. “If everything goes according to plan, you guys will be seeing a lot more of Siobhan.”

  “I hope so,” Lorelei said, leaning against him in her version of a hug. “Just remember, life doesn’t always go according to plan. We know that better than anyone.”

  He did know that, was painfully, perfectly aware that life didn’t always follow the plan. Not that he’d had much of one when he’d become his siblings’ guardian, a fact others had tried to use to wrest them away from him. Plans were the key to success, to survival. To achieving his goals. Siobhan was a goal that he very much wanted to achieve, and he’d plan and scheme and plot to make her his, no matter what life threw at him.

  * * *

  Dinner was a delicious, loud affair. Siobhan acted as Kyle’s sous chef as he prepared pasta with vegetables from the garden, topped with grilled chicken and served with crusty garlic bread that everyone dug into. The O’Hallorans held true to their Irish roots and kept Siobhan entertained with stories, most of them centering on Charlie’s parenting skills or lack thereof.

  After dinner they adjourned to the family room with slices of the strawberry cake she’d made. Finn challenged Charlie to a video game duel. Realizing it was a game she and Nadia played during their Saturday night hangouts, Siobhan convinced Lorelei to join her team and take on the boys. After spanking the boys in the best of two out of three, they switched to board games so Kyle could join in. Siobhan had never laughed so much in her life as she did adapting to the O’Halloran cutthroat method of playing.

  When they brought out the monster movie DVDs, Siobhan decided it was time to take her leave. “Guys, it’s been a great day. I think I’m going to take off now.”

  “Why?” Lorelei asked as a collective wail of disappointment went up from the O’Halloran boys. “Didn’t you bring an overnight bag?”

  “I brought a change of clothes in case we went to the beach,” Siobhan explained. “I wasn’t planning to stay the night, so I left it in the car.”

  “You should spend the night,” Kyle announced.

  “Yeah,” Finn echoed. “Stay the night. That way you’ll already be here for breakfast.”

  “Well, um, I . . .” Flabbergasted, Siobhan turned to Charlie for help.

  “I understand if you need to go, but we’d all like for you to stay. It’s late and you’ve got to be tired.” A lopsided smile curved his lips as he draped an arm over her shoulders. “Besides, this is a monster movie marathon night. The last one to fall asleep wins and gets their favorite breakfast made.”

  “We usually let Charlie win,” Finn piped up, “because he’s bad at breakfast.”

  “Finn!”

  “You burn oatmeal. Every time,” Finn said, tossing Charlie under the proverbial bus. He turned back to Siobhan to loudly whisper, “Charlie’s breakfast is us getting to pick out our own cereal.”

  “Who’s the best at breakfast?” Siobhan wondered.

  “Kyle,” everyone said in unison, and the middle brother ducked his head in awkwardness.

  “His blackberry pancakes are the best,” Lorelei added, “but the apple crumble thing is a close second.”

  “Blackberry pancakes and apple crumble too?” Siobhan grinned. “I need to taste this for myself. I promise not to steal your recipe for the café.”

  “So does that mean you’ll stay?” Charlie asked.

  Siobhan looked at their hopeful expressions and gave the only answer she could. The only answer she wanted to. “Of course.”

  “All right!” Charlie clapped his hands. “Before the marathon begins, I want everyone showered and in their pj’s.”

  Lorelei and the boys headed upstairs, leaving Siobhan and Charlie alone for the first time since she’d arrived. He turned to Siobhan and the private look he gave her brushed heat across her cheeks again. “I have shorts and a T-shirt you can borrow, sweetheart. Why don’t I go get your bag while you take a shower?”

  She bit her bottom lip. “I don’t know about this, Charlie.”

  “I do.” His hands settled on her waist, drew her closer. “I know I want to see you in my bed. I know I want the scent of you on my pillow, my sheets.”

  “The kids—”

  “Are a floor away,” he cut in. “Us being together in my bed is going to happen eventually. It might as well be tonight.”

  “Doesn’t it seem too fast, though? I just met your family and I’m already spending the night!”

  “Too fast for who? Our timetable is ours. We do what’s right for us, not anyone else.” He cupped her cheeks, his intense gaze capturing and holding hers. “I’m not asking you to run through the house naked. I’m not even asking for sex, though I wouldn’t turn it down. I’m asking you to sleep in my arms in my bed so that you’re the first thing I see when I wake up in the morning.”

  His words slayed her. She wrapped her fingers around his wrists, needing to touch him as he touched her. “God, Charlie, how am I supposed to be strong enough to say no to that?”

  “You don’t want to say no.” He grinned with satisfied triumph. “You don’t want to go, and I don’t want to let you go. So, you’re staying and we’re having breakfast in the morning then spending the afternoon at the beach. Sound good?”

  Her resistance melted, as it always did in the face of his determination, his charm, his everything. “It sounds perfect.”

  He kissed her then, a slow, soft kiss that had her clutching his shoulders to keep to her feet. “Been needing to do that all day, goddess,” he whispered against her lips. “Do you know how hard it’s been to keep my hands off you?”

  “I have a pretty good idea,” she replied, feeling the ridge of his erection pressing against her belly. “Are you sure staying over is a good idea?”

  “It’s the best idea I’ve had all day.”

  “It wasn’t your idea,” she pointed out, “unless you put the others up to it. Did you?”

  “Nope.” He shook his head for emphasis. “As much as I wanted it, they came up with that pile-on all on their own.”

  “Fine. I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt this time. Which way is the master suite?”

  Charlie led her back to the main room, then past the stairs to the back of the house, pausing just inside a set of double doors. “See? Nice and private. The linen closet is just inside the bathroom door. Should be some spare toothbrushes in there too. I’ll be right back.”

  She stepped deeper into the suite as Charlie left. It was much like Charlie’s personality, bright and warm and comforting. A king-sized bed sat beneath a wide window, draped with bedding in shades of blue. The furniture was contemporary and functional dark wood. A low-slung chair sat beside a large window, a book open on its seat. A desk and chair were tucked into one corner. Pictures festooned the wall above the desk, photos of Charlie and his family, most of them at the beach surfing, sunning, or playing in the sand. Several shots depicted an older smiling couple who must have been their parents. In every picture the O’Hallorans seemed to be enjoying life to the fullest, laughing, playing, loving one another. These pictures were probably what drove Charlie, what served as his inspiration and his motivation.

  She crossed to the master bath, closed the door, then braced herself against the sink, lowering her head and breathing deep. Emotions roiled inside her, struggling to break free, but she forced them back one breath at a time. She couldn’t let them out, couldn’t let Charlie and his family get the wrong impression if she suddenly burst into tears.

  Family. Charlie had a loud, laughing, loving family. Something she had always dreamed of, even growing up. Something she’d hoped she’d have with Mike and Colleen. Charlie and his brothers and sisters had it, had that easy, loving, boisterous camaraderie. Their closeness was obvious, their affection for each other undeniable. They were what she’d always thought of when she thought of family.

  She wanted it. God help her, she wanted what they had
. No. She wanted to be a part of what the O’Hallorans had with each other. She wanted to be part of their family. She wanted to work in the garden with Kyle, play video games with Finn, and talk boy stuff—but not Charlie stuff—with Lorelei. She wanted more days like this, hanging out and happy with people who were glad she existed, who were happy to see her.

  Her shoulders bowed beneath the weight of a crushing, biting loneliness. She missed her family. Missed her parents, missed Mike and Colleen. Missed being part of a family even though it had been built on a lie, the lie of how they thought she was. They had loved her when she was high, when she’d used drugs to cope, and once that truth had been revealed, they had stopped loving her. They hadn’t loved the recovered, clean her, which made her wonder at times if they’d truly loved her at all.

  Composing herself, she pulled open the bathroom door only to jump as she spotted Charlie sitting on the edge of the bed, waiting for her. “Oh, you’re back. Did you let up the top on the car?”

  “I did.” He didn’t smile. “Are you okay? I didn’t hear water running. I thought maybe we gave you food poisoning, or family overload.”

  “Don’t you dare suggest the food was anything other than excellent. Kyle did a terrific job on the meal.”

  “He’ll be relieved to know that.” His gaze searched hers as he rose to his feet. “So it’s the family overload, then?”

  “No, not in the way you mean.” She buried her face against his shirt, curving her arms about his waist. “I really like your family. Thank you for inviting me over and letting me meet them.”

  “No, I’m the one who should be thanking you. You have no idea what you did for Kyle today. For all of them, and for me. I’ll never be able to repay that.”

  “Then it’s a good thing I’m not asking you to repay anything.”

  He tilted her chin up to kiss her. Though slow, there was nothing gentle and everything hungry about the way their mouths melded, the way her body responded to his. His hands slid down to cup her buttocks, pressing her against the ridge of his arousal. Drunk with desire, she tightened her hold on him, heedless to everything but this man and what he did to her.

  With a reluctant groan, Charlie backed away from her, unhanding her one finger at a time. The blue of his eyes gleamed brightly with unsatisfied hunger, his need for her so obvious it left her lightheaded.

  Without taking his eyes from her, he backed into the dresser, opened a drawer. “Shirts. Shorts are in the drawer beneath.” He sucked in air through his nose. “I’m gonna go jerk off in the upstairs shower.”

  “Charlie!”

  “Taking the edge off is the only way I’m going to be able to get through the movie marathon,” he told her, his tone unrepentant. “When you fall asleep, I’m bringing you back in here. I’m going to shut and lock my bedroom door for the first time in eight years. Then I’m taking off your shorts and putting you in my bed, right where you should be. Even if I don’t get to make love to you tonight I want to feel you against me, here in my space.”

  Her body heated. “Who needs wine when she has you?”

  He gave her that wicked grin that promised nothing but good times ahead. “You think I’m intoxicating?”

  “You certainly aren’t modest.”

  “You wouldn’t want me if I were modest. You also know that I don’t need to brag, because I deliver.” He winked at her. “If you need me to, I’ll be happy to remind you.”

  She exhaled deeply as he sauntered through the door. It was going to be a long night.

  TWENTY

  Siobhan looked up from making a smoothie as the bell tinkled over the café door. Lorelei breezed in, fresh and summery in shorts and a billowy, blousy top, looking as hippie as her name. “Hey, Lorelei. Are you here for lunch or you just stopping by?”

  “Hey, Siobhan.” Lorelei leaned against the counter. “I’m just stopping by for a little bit. Can I have a green tea lemonade?”

  “Of course.” Siobhan passed the smoothie to the salesclerk Rosie, then gathered the tea ingredients. She darted another look at Charlie’s sister. “Something on your mind?”

  “No.” The young woman shook her head, then sighed. “Yeah. How did you know?”

  “You’re biting your lip,” Siobhan pointed out. “What’s up?”

  “Charlie’s birthday is coming up,” Lorelei announced. “He usually doesn’t like us to make a big deal about it but I thought since you guys are dating we could have a party, invite some people over.”

  Siobhan considered it as she poured a fifty-fifty mix of green tea and lemonade into a shaker. “A party sounds like a great idea. Not a surprise party though.”

  “You’re right. Big bro’s not too keen on surprises. We’ll just tell him we’re having a cookout at the O’Halloran homestead, but invite everyone at Charlie’s office and your friends from the café.”

  “I suppose I could do that.” The time she spent with Charlie got better with each passing day, and it was made even better by the time she spent with his family. That first weekend she’d gotten up early, not wanting the kids to find her still in bed with Charlie, as silly as that was. Kyle had been in the kitchen, already, starting coffee and his signature blackberry pancakes. They’d spent a companionable time making breakfast together, the delicious aromas bringing everyone else to the kitchen. When it came time to take her leave, they’d been as reluctant for her to go as she’d been to leave.

  Three weeks later, she was coming to think of the O’Hallorans as hers, as her family. Charlie and the boys had surprised her by showing up at her place before the car show and giving her vintage Falcon a complete detail before they all headed to the event. Finn had grinned his way through the entire show.

  They’d even fallen into a routine for the last couple of weeks in which Charlie stayed over on Friday nights. On Saturday mornings the whole crew showed up at the café for lunch then they all either headed to the beach or a movie or back to the O’Halloran home to hang out. They capped the weekend with a big Sunday breakfast before Siobhan left to meet up with Nadia to plan the café’s menu. It was the best routine of her life, and she enjoyed every minute of it.

  “A party would be nice for Charlie,” she said, pouring Lorelei’s drink over ice and placing it on the counter. “As long as it’s low-key. He’s been putting in some serious hours, considering that most businesses around here are slow for the summer.”

  “I know.” Lorelei paid for her drink. Siobhan liked that the girl didn’t assume it was on the house. “That’s the main reason I want us to throw him a party. It’ll give him a chance to chill. I’d also like to invite Stephen.”

  Siobhan raised her eyebrows. “And Stephen is?”

  Lorelei answered through her straw. “A really nice guy that I’ve been seeing.”

  “I think we need to move this conversation to a more comfortable area.” Siobhan made her way around the counter and sat down with Lorelei in a pair of plush chairs with a small table between them.

  Siobhan folded her arms and regarded the younger woman wearing the all-too-innocent expression. “So you think by giving Charlie a birthday party and inviting friends and coworkers over he’ll be forced to be nice when you spring your boyfriend on him. And you think that if I’m involved or organize it, he’ll be more accepting.” She shook her head. “Have you met your brother? The man’s got a serious protective streak where you guys are concerned.”

  “I know, but I’m eighteen now. I can vote. I have a driver’s license and a job. I’m going to college in like a month. I should be allowed to have a steady boyfriend and a later curfew.” She blinked puppy dog eyes at Siobhan. “Can’t you talk to him? He’ll listen to you.”

  “Oh, no you don’t.” Siobhan held up her hands to fend off Lorelei’s request and a rising panic. “I don’t have a say in how your family does things. Don’t go putting me in the middle of that.”

  “But—”

  “But nothing. You’re still living at home and Charlie’s paying your tuition
. That means that you’re still under his rules. Charlie’s the head of your household and he’s done a damn good job of raising you by himself. Considering how all of you have turned out, I’d say his rules aren’t so bad.”

  “They aren’t, but he still treats me like I’m ten!”

  Siobhan knew Lorelei was only ten when their parents died. “I know, sweetheart, just as you know there’s a good reason why he sees you like that.”

  “Yeah, I know, but still . . .” Lorelei pouted. “You could have a say if you wanted to. You mean a lot to him. He would listen to you.”

  Lorelei’s conviction warmed Siobhan’s heart, but she wasn’t about to let her private hopes color her perception, or give in to Lorelei’s wants. “What makes you think that I wouldn’t agree with Charlie?”

  The younger woman’s eyes widened with surprise. “You don’t think I should date either?”

  “I didn’t say that. If that’s what you want to do, though, you need to approach your brother as the adult you say you are and not the kid who just complained to me.” She smiled to reduce the sting of her words. “Your brother is a show-don’t-tell kind of guy. You have to show him that you’re an adult.”

  Skepticism underscored her features. “How am I supposed to do that?”

  “For starters, don’t spring your boyfriend on Charlie at his birthday party.” Siobhan arched a brow until Lorelei nodded. “Tell Charlie about your guy tonight over dinner. Ask if you can bring him to dinner soon. Honestly though, if this guy is really boyfriend material, he would be picking you up at your house for dates.”

  “I’ve been meeting him over at my friend Tamryn’s house,” the younger woman mumbled through her straw.

  “Lorelei.”

  “I know, I know!” The young woman had the grace to look sheepish. “I just really like him, you know? I don’t want Charlie to scare him off or tell me not to date him.”

  “Then you need to be up-front with your brother. He’ll appreciate the honesty. Besides, has he ever denied you anything really important?”