Too Hot to Handle

by Jennifer Bernard

  She made a snuffling noise against his chest that he could interpret any way he liked.

  He laughed. “I know what you’re thinking, that it’s all your fault. I’d probably be thinking the same kind of things, but that’s because we’re so similar. Take it from your big brother, the one who should have handled all of this from the start, it is not your fault. Got it?”

  Slowly, she nodded. Maybe it wasn’t her fault, exactly. But she should have figured it out. “What made her want to come back here? Isn’t he still a threat?”

  “I think the fact that we were all back in Jupiter Point made her feel safer. But most of all, Mom was worried about you. She was worried that you were putting your life on hold for her, that you weren’t as happy as you could have been. She wanted you to be surrounded by family. Basically, she decided it was never going to be any safer than it is now. So she took a chance.”

  “And she couldn’t tell me all that?”

  Will’s strong arms surrounded her with brotherly comfort. “Not then. She wanted to put me in the picture first so I could set some precautions in place. Remember when you guys first came back and you were staying in that hotel? That was a test. She wanted to see what Dearborn would do, what he was up to. I wish she’d clued me in to her plans, but she didn’t. She really beat herself up over everything that happened after the Winter Ball. She blames herself for the whole thing, for Felix getting kidnapped, for Julie getting hurt, all of it.”

  Cassie mentally ran through all the events of the past couple of months. It all made sense, now that she had the missing piece of the puzzle. “Is that why she didn’t go to the ball? Because she was afraid the killer would be there?”

  “No, she intended to go. She thought it would be safe because so many people would be there, including all of us. But she had a last-minute panic attack and didn’t go. Apparently Dearborn knew she’d planned to go, because he was working security for the event. He lost it when she didn’t show up. And then all hell broke loose, but you know the rest of it.”

  She moved away from him and drew in a shuddering breath. She ran her fingers through her hair, as if shaking out the stress of all these revelations. “I thought I knew. Turns out I was mostly clueless.” She took another step away.

  “I’m sorry.” His deep voice followed her. “I’m sorry this is all hitting you now. And Cassie, I also need to thank you.”

  “Thank me?” For what, being a blind-as-a-bat babysitter? “What the hell for?”

  “The fact that I didn’t have to worry about you and Mom while I was raising Aiden. I did worry, don’t get me wrong. But I always knew that you had it covered. That I could trust you. And you never failed to keep in touch. Never. I mean, you were a kid, really. Most kids would have let it slide, forgotten now and then to pop a postcard in the mail. You never did. Not once. And the comfort that gave me, gave all of us, you just have no idea.”

  The truth was, Cassie had loved sending those postcards. Reaching out to her brothers, keeping them up to date on her life, was something she looked forward to every couple of weeks. “It was no problem,” she managed.

  “You have no idea how special you are, do you?”

  At that, she spun around in surprise. “Excuse me?”

  He grinned at the shocked expression on her face. “I knew it. You really don’t know how extraordinary you are. You kept Mom safe, you basically raised yourself, you got yourself educated, you found yourself a career. You’re a force to be reckoned with, Cassie, and don’t you ever think otherwise.”

  A fiery blush flooded her cheeks. “You’re just being a big brother.”

  “Yeah well, I’m proud to be your big brother, but that’s not why I’m saying this. It’s the truth, that’s all.” He took the accordion file of letters back from her. “So now, I’m hoping that you’ll let your big brother, who happens to be an ace private investigator, take things from here. This is my wheelhouse, sis. You did a fantastic job getting us this far. Dad would be so proud he’d be beating his damn medal-covered chest. Now it’s my turn, okay?”

  Her heart seemed to be beating at triple speed. “Okay. I mean, you’re right, I don’t know anything about catching a murderer. But…” She trailed off, not sure how to put her finger on the wild tumult of emotions tumbling through her. “What should I do?”

  “Enjoy yourself. Have fun. Whatever you choose, make it what you want. Not what you think is best for Mom,” Will said seriously. “Be free. Play. Do whatever you want. Build a life. If you want to roam the world, do that. If you want to stay here, please do that. Oh yeah, I nearly forgot. Do you feel like house-sitting for a few weeks? Hunter McGraw and Starly Minx are looking for someone to water their plants while she’s on tour. It’s a million-dollar home, so if I were you, I’d say yes.”

  House-sitting…that would mean living by herself for the first time ever. Away from the farmhouse, away from Mom. Alone in a million-dollar home. “Okay.”

  He nodded, then handed over a set of keys. “I was hoping you’d say that. They left a set of instructions on the kitchen counter.”

  She traced the hard metal of the key. “Why didn’t you offer this to Mom? Or to us, before she decided to go solo?”

  “I did. But she wanted you to have it. She thinks you’ll really enjoy it.” His smile faded. “Also, if Dearborn comes after her, she doesn’t want any more collateral damage. She’s struggling with a lot of guilt for letting you be part of her run-and-hide routine.”

  That took some of the sting out of Cassie’s hurt and anger. But if she thought about it too much, she might get angry all over again—because she’d been in the dark about exactly what they’d been running from.

  She inhaled a deep breath and let it out with a sigh. “Well, thanks for filling me in, Will. You’re going to find that guy, right?”

  “Of course we are.” He gazed at her steadily. “You know something, Cassie…Dad’s murder affected all of us in different ways. It turned me from a law student into a surrogate parent. I didn’t allow myself to feel angry and search for his killer until Aiden was off to college. So maybe this, right now, is Mom graduating.”

  She peered up at him, amusement filling her like helium. “You’re saying I’m an empty-nester?” She twisted her face into that of a crotchety old lady. “Kids these days, they get those crazy ideas in their heads from YouTube and SnappyChatty. Back in my day, we could entertain ourselves with a mop bucket if we had to.”

  Will let out a deep rumbling laugh. “You still got it, kid. You used to make me roll on the floor with those voices of yours.”

  She gave him one last impish smile, then, on impulse, stepped closer and threw her arms around him. “I remember how you used let me ride on your shoulders when we played badminton.”

  “We tried just about every sport there is, didn’t we?”

  “Yeah, that was Ben’s doing. He’d see some game set in a store and pester Mom until she bought it. How do you think we ended up with a croquet set?” She drew away. “Wait, do we still have that?”

  “We do. We played last Christmas with the teens at the shelter.”

  She kicked up her heels in a little dance of glee. “That was the only game I could ever beat you guys at. Oh, it’s on! I’m calling it right now. Big Knight family croquet challenge of doom.”

  “Does that mean you’re staying?” he asked quickly.

  She paused in her dance, frozen in a goofy position while she contemplated.

  Finally, she shrugged lightly. “At least until I beat some Knight brother ass at croquet.”

  16

  When Kevin had first moved to Jupiter Point, he’d imagined that he and Holly would be spending lots of time together as they got used to their new town. In the past, that was how it had been. When he’d first left the Air Force, he’d lived off his savings for three months so they could get used to each other.

  But this time was different, maybe because Holly was older now. She was spending time with her new friends, and enjoyi
ng her new volunteer position at the observatory. When she was at home, she tended to hole up in her room with her homework and her earbuds.

  She was developing a whole independent life, he realized. Right under his nose. And yet, out of his reach.

  It was unnerving, to say the least.

  But it had one big benefit. Free time.

  And what better way to use that free time than by calling up Cassie to see how she and her mom were doing? Of course, he could ask her at work. But what fun would that be? He wanted to be able to say things like…

  “So, it took about three showers to get the sand out of my balls. And we didn’t even spend any time on the beach. How does that happen?”

  “Poor baby. I guess that’s the chance you take when you walk on the wild side. Maybe you’re not cut out for ocean-based sex.”

  “It’s okay,” he said quickly. “I can take it. Sand rash, shark bites, bring it on. It was all worth it.”

  She chuckled on the other end of the line. It was a Thursday night, and Holly had gotten special permission for a weekday overnight so she could work on a lab project with one of her friends. So there he was, alone in his waterfront loft, staring out the floor-to-ceiling windows at the starry night sky. He’d turned the lights off so he could get the full effect, and as soon he did so, he thought of Cassie.

  Naked under the stars.

  Then again, a lot of things made him think of Cassie. That list was a lot bigger than the list of things that didn’t make him think of her.

  Better get back to the original purpose of his call. “How is your mom doing?”

  “Fine, as far as I know. I haven’t seen her. But Will has.”

  “Oh yeah?”

  “Yes, she filled him in on some facts about Matthew Dearborn.”

  He waited for her to say more, but she didn’t. “And?”

  “I’m still trying to process it all.”

  The forlorn note in her voice tugged at his heart. What was it about Cassie that made him want to curl his body around her and shield her? She was tough and independent, she didn’t need a man to protect her.

  But it wasn’t about that. It was something else. Something that had nothing to do with toughness.

  “Come over here, you can tell me all about it,” he said impulsively.

  “Are you an expert on confusing parents?”

  “Not at all.” He stretched out on the couch, making himself comfortable. “My parents are completely ordinary in every way. I learned everything I know about dysfunction from my ex-wife.”

  “Okay then.”

  He laughed, wondering if he’d scared her off. “Hey, I told you I wouldn’t lie. Things between us were a mess. The main thing I learned was that I don’t want that kind of relationship.”

  “Or any kind, right? Didn’t we determine that the other night?”

  To be honest, he wasn’t sure what he wanted anymore. Except that he hadn’t been alone with Cassie in two days and he missed her like crazy. “If we were in a relationship, I wouldn’t be lying here alone on the couch staring at the stars. I’d be with you in a bed somewhere, avoiding shark bites.”

  “Are you sure about that? Maybe I bite.”

  “I do remember a little nibble on my biceps,” he teased her.

  “Oops. Sorry. I must have been really carried away because I don’t even remember that.”

  Damn right she’d gotten carried away. He’d never forget how she looked coming apart in his arms. “I liked it. I liked everything about that night. I haven’t stopped thinking about it since,” he ended softly. “Which seems like kind of a problem.”

  Silence from the Cassie end of the phone. He’d noticed that she could talk about sex just fine, but when things veered into the emotional side of things, she got skittish.

  “You know where I stand,” she finally said. “And you’ve got Holly to worry about.”

  “I do. Or at least I did. I barely see her anymore, she’s got ten jillion friends here in Jupiter Point. She’s always busy. She actually has a life, unlike other members of our family.”

  “Where is she tonight?”

  “Spending the night at a friend’s house. Some project they’re trying to get done for tomorrow. She gave me her friend’s cell, her friend’s parents’ landline, both of her friend’s parents’ cell numbers. And of course, her phone. And I still feel abandoned.” He put an extra dose of pathetic into his voice, hoping to play on her pity.

  “Poor baby,” she repeated. Ha! It was working. “It’s too bad we can’t take advantage of the opportunity with some meaningless, casual, land-based sex.”

  He winced, his cock responding to her use of the word “sex” in a completely predictable manner. “Now you’re just trying to torture me.”

  “Is it working?” she asked cheerfully.

  Yes. All too well. He touched the bulge lifting his cotton sweatpants and groaned out loud.

  “I recognize that sound. It’s a sex groan.” Her voice filled with laughter and, he was pretty sure, lust. “I remember it very clearly from the other night. What are you doing right now?”

  He rubbed himself again, needing to relieve some of the tension coiling in his cock. “Lying on the couch, like I said. Just an innocent, lonely boy, alone on the couch.”

  “With his penis.”

  His erection expanded with another big surge of blood. It was a good thing he was lying down. “Yeah, it pretty much goes where I go. So what are you doing? Give me a visual here. Are you naked? I picture you wearing nothing but starlight.”

  “Well, as a matter of fact, I just got out of the shower. It’s a super-fancy one, too, at this place where I’m house-sitting. It has multiple showerheads. My whole body is tingling.”

  He groaned again.

  “There’s that sound again.”

  “Yup, that’s my Cassie sound. My ‘turned on by Cassie’ sound. My ‘Cassie drives me crazy’ sound.”

  She was laughing now, her delight radiating through the phone. “I have my own sound, do I? I’m honored.”

  “You should really hear it in person. It’s even better.” He made it again, low in his throat, a rumble of lust and desire and Cassie-want.

  “I have, remember? I liked it. A lot. It made me feel sexy and beautiful.”

  “Which you are. You don’t need a sound from me to tell you that.” His slid his hand under his pants and met familiar hot skin. For a lot of years, he’d relied on his own hand to satisfy himself. It was safer that way, less disruptive to Holly. He’d used various sexy images to inspire himself. But now he had a real-life memory replaying itself in his head, and it starred one woman only. Cassie Knight.

  “But I like thinking that you see me that way, that’s all.”

  “Never doubt that. So you just had a shower, are you wearing a towel? A bathrobe? Naked? Is your hair all loose and wet, or is it wrapped up in one of those turbans?”

  “Wait one second here,” came her laughing voice. “Wouldn’t this be considered land-based sex?”

  Why did she have to keep mentioning sex? Groan.

  “No, because it’s all happening over the phone line,” he said. “That’s like, just air. It’s air-based sex. We never talked about air-based sex. No rules about that.”

  She burst out laughing, the waves of amusement crashing over him as if they were back in the ocean together. “Air-based sex? I didn’t know there was such a thing.”

  “It’s another loophole.”

  “You’re crazy.”

  He was, when he let himself be. But it had been so long since he’d allowed that side of himself to come out. It was the side that had led him into wild times in the Air Force, that had pursued Sylvie. The side he’d grown out of. Or so he’d thought.

  “Is that a bad thing, to be crazy? Because you might as well know that about me from the beginning. I know you can’t tell from the outside, but I have this wild and crazy streak that only gets activated in certain situations. Like when the woman I’m lusting ov
er tells me she just got out of the shower.”

  “So now we’re talking both water- and air-based sex.”

  “That’s right. We’re swinging both ways now.”

  She laughed again…actually it was more like she hadn’t stopped laughing since they began this absurd conversation. “Well, if you really must know, I’m half dressed.”

  “Which half?” he asked quickly. “It’s all in the details.”

  “My lower half is dressed. When I got out of the shower, I put on a pair of baggy terrycloth shorts that are so old they’re practically see-through. And by the way, if you want me to embellish this at all, you’re going to have to cough up a dinner or something.”

  “Yes to dinner. No to embellishment. Don’t need any. Those see-through shorts are totally working for me.” In fact, his breathing was already coming faster, his hand moving up and down his shaft.

  “I mentioned that they’re old and baggy, right?”

  “Shhh. I’m busy here.”

  Her husky laugh was like life itself to him. “Busy doing what?”

  “Jacking off to every word you say.” Hey, no reason to dance around the issue. If there was ever a woman he could be totally blunt with, it was Cassie.

  Just as he’d expected, she gave a snort that didn’t sound at all offended. “Maybe I should start reciting the Declaration of Independence or something.”

  “Believe me, whatever you say in that sexy voice of yours is fine. Got a phone book handy?”

  “Well, I probably do, somewhere.” Her voice rose into a breathy moan. “Let me just walk around the room topless while I look for it.”

  A spasm jolted through his cock. “Did you say topless?”

  “I haven’t found my teeny-tiny ribbed tank yet, the one I like to sleep in because it barely covers anything. So I’m just letting it all hang out. Too bad the air is kind of cold in here and my nipples are getting so hard. And bouncy.”

  “Bouncy?” His voice came out in a squeak.