by Cathryn Fox
Lisa’s voice jolted him out of his thoughts. “Yeah, big brother, when are you going to get yourself a good old-fashioned woman to cook for you?”
Kale kicked her under the table. Without breaking her smile, she kicked him back. Hard. It damn well hurt. Just like old times, he mused.
“Tell me, Nick. What do you do besides train my scrawny sister at the gym?” he prompted with a smile.
Jenna chuckled in response to his question. The joyous sound made Kale smile. It pleased him to catch a glimpse of the playful young girl he’d left behind eight years ago.
Nick cleared his throat. “I’m in my senior year of physiotherapy. I want to work with sports injuries.”
Impressive.
“If all goes well, after graduation I’ll be working at the clinic a block away from Lisa.” Nick lowered his head and smiled as his gaze collided with Lisa’s. “We’ll be able to have lunch together every day,” Nick added.
Kale felt a lump clog his throat as the two exchanged a long, lingering look. It occurred to him that the plow truck really and truly loved his sister.
“What about you Kale, are you just passing through?” Nick asked.
Jenna piped in. “Or are you home to stay this time?” The eager tone in her voice gained his attention. Her hand closed over his and squeezed.
Kale twisted to face his youngest sister. He spotted a gleam of hope in her wide blue eyes as she handed him a bowl full of mashed potatoes. The look on her face caught him by surprise. He hadn’t realized just how much his baby sister had missed him, how much his absence over the years had affected her. Jenna had been only a toddler when they lost their dad, and Kale had been the only father figure she’d ever known. His heart tightened in his chest.
“You could probably get on full-time at the research center,” Jenna continued, adjusting the spiked bracelets on her wrist, enabling her to delve into her meal.
Kale helped himself to a heaping spoonful of potatoes and passed the bowl on. It wasn’t the first time since he’d been back that he’d considered that option. The pay wouldn’t be as high, but then again, he no longer needed it to be. Lisa would be out of college in a few months, and he had enough money tucked away to take care of Jenna’s education. It really would be nice to be closer to his family. Jenna certainly looked as though she could use some male influence. And he’d have to keep an eye on the plow truck to make sure he treated his sister properly. Kale suspected wedding bells would be ringing in their near future.
At the mere notion of wedding bells, his thoughts careened backward in time to relive the passionate kiss he’d shared with Erin at Jay and Laura’s reception. A kiss so full of emotion and tenderness it nearly brought him to his knees.
Casual, his ass!
Hell, no woman could possibly kiss like that without feeling some deeper connection.
Erin’s arousing feminine scent and the slow, torturous way her tongue had mated with his while he explored her sleek, sexy legs had made him fairly mad with longing. And when he’d whisked his fingers across her damp panties and connected with her moist private parts, he thought he’d been given a gift from the gods. Hell, he must have done something right in a past lifetime.
Just thinking about her triggered a reaction from his body. Perspiration broke out on his skin and clung to his upper lip. He instantly grew needy for her as he replayed the passionate slide show in his mind’s eye.
Shit, he’d better tamp down his desires and censor his thoughts. This was not the time or place for such delicious memories.
As everyone at the table concentrated on the lovely meal before them, Kale redirected his focus. He wondered what Erin was doing at that exact moment. Would she be having dinner with her family? Hanging out with her friends or testing her bad-girl act with another man? A sudden surge of jealousy rushed through his veins and fired his blood. The flash of possessiveness made his stomach twist. He frowned and worked to dispel the image of Erin playing bad girl, or playing anything with another man.
Kale knew Erin was not simply a passing interest. She made him feel the way no other woman had ever made him feel. He liked everything about her, right down to her cute ponytail and dark, soulful eyes. There was no question about it. He wanted her, and not just on a sexual level. Kale had never been exclusive before, but he wanted exclusivity with Erin.
For a reason that he resolved to get to the bottom of, Erin was anxious to take a stab at being the bad girl she pretended to be. Fortunately, that gave him the perfect opportunity to take their relationship to the next level of intimacy and show her that he could be more than a casual sex toy. Not that he wasn’t interested in being her sex toy, mind you.
A small grin tugged at his mouth as he conjured up the numerous ways to help her play the bad-girl act. Oh yeah, things around the lab were going to get very interesting. Because he planned on heating things up.
First thing tomorrow morning.
Starting in the elevator.
Night had closed around them as Erin sat at her mother and father’s dining room table with the rest of her family. Her younger married sister, Terry, as her mother so frequently pointed out, and Terry’s husband, Kenneth, fussed with their three-year-old daughter, Sarah. Her other sister, Kayla, the youngest of the three girls, hadn’t been able to make it to dinner. Her husband was on call at the hospital, and Kayla had been up all night nursing her new newborn.
Erin swallowed her last bite of mashed potatoes and secretly thanked the Lord that she’d made it through another Sunday dinner without her mother bringing up her single status. It was rather refreshing to eat a meal in peace without visualizing herself stabbing something, or someone, with her fork. Thank God her father didn’t pressure her too.
She caught her mother’s glance. Oh no. Perhaps she’d jumped the gun. A familiar matchmaking gleam danced in her dark eyes and sent alarm bells skittering down Erin’s spine.
The sound of Luke, her one-year-old nephew, waking from his nap in the other room gave her reprieve. His high-pitched cries were like music to Erin’s ears.
Erin wiped her mouth and tossed her napkin onto the table. “I’ll get him.”
Excusing herself, she rushed across her mother’s Persian rug, stepped into the living room, and walked over to the marble fireplace to scoop Luke out of his toy-filled playpen. “Hey Luke,” she cooed, brushing his damp hair from his forehead.
As she snuggled his squirming body against her chest and inhaled his wonderful baby scent, her heart lodged somewhere in her throat. She fought down the unwelcome tug of emotions and set the rambunctious one-year-old down. The sound of dishes clanking in the other room, combined with the delicious aroma of apple pie coming from the oven, obviously held more appeal then being cuddled by his aunt. With supersonic speed, he disappeared into the kitchen. Erin grinned. The kid knew only one gear. Full throttle.
Before Erin could say her good-byes to her family and escape back to her condo to prepare her notes for tomorrow morning’s experiment, her mother rounded the corner. Smoothing her short blond hair behind her ears, Anna lowered herself into her favorite French Provincial wingback chair, and neatly crossed her legs at the ankles.
Without preamble, her mother jumped right to the point. “I went Christmas shopping today, Erin.”
Erin drew in air, and then plunked herself onto the matching sofa. Her stomach plummeted. She knew exactly where this conversation was headed. The same place it headed every time the family got together. She pressed her body deeper into the cushions, hoping the sofa would open up and swallow her whole.
She rubbed her temple, attempting to ward off an impending headache. “That’s nice, Mom.”
Anna’s dark eyes widened in delight as she leaned forward in her seat. “Guess who I met at the mall.”
“Santa?”
Pursing her lips, clearly disappointed in Erin’s smart-assed comment, her mother continued, “Richard Wallis.”
Erin groaned. Cripes. The sight of him taped to the flagpole
in high school with nothing on but his undershorts still plagued her memories.
“He’s still single, you know.”
Erin arched a brow. “Really, what a shocker. I would have thought women would be tripping over themselves to sink their claws into a thirty-year-old guy who sells watches out of his trunk and still lives with his mother.”
Damn, Anna was really scraping the bottom of the barrel this time. The poor woman was getting desperate to marry off her ancient, twenty-eight-year-old spinster daughter. She’d obviously given up hope Erin would snag herself a rich doctor, like her youngest sister had. Now it looked as if anything with a penis would do.
Erin resisted the urge to roll her eyes heavenward. Like it was a freaking crime not to be married with kids by your thirtieth birthday.
Likely her mother had grown tired of fielding questions from the old windbags at her country club as to why her eldest daughter had yet to get married. It was simply scandalous.
Maybe Erin should just tell her mother she was a lesbian. That would really shake up the nosy old bats on card night.
Couldn’t her mother understand that she had her career, which was all she needed? And couldn’t she just be proud of Erin for working hard and earning the lead position for the latest project? And if this project turned out to be a success, she’d become head of her wing. Erin really didn’t need anything more than that.
Which left her wondering why her heart turned over every time she held her sweet little nephew in her arms.
“He no longer does that, Erin. Richard now sells video games at the mall, and he makes a pretty decent living. I hear he holds some King Kong record.”
Erin cringed inwardly. “It’s Donkey Kong,” she corrected. “I played it when I was a teen.”
How freaking delightful. Her mother was setting her up with a guy who still played kid games. The last thing she needed in her life was another man who never grew up and took responsibility.
Erin’s mother gave her a cool look and continued, “I bumped into him on the elevator.”
Meet me in an elevator sometime.
Kale’s parting words immediately rushed to the forefront and echoed in her head. Oh hell!
Despite the chill in her mother’s voice, her body warmed all over. The reception had ended more than twenty-four hours ago, yet those words still played havoc with her body. She’d been unable to dispel the image of how delightfully naughty it would be to bump Kale in an elevator sometime. Lord, obviously it had been far too long since she’d answered the demands of her lascivious libido.
Kale, however, who had eagerly pointed out he was into casual sex, probably answered the demands of his body, one part in particular, on a nightly basis. Probably with a hot-looking Barbie-doll type too. Erin had never felt inadequate in the looks department, but she was no Barbie doll. Her boobs were not bigger than her brains.
The sound of her mother’s voice jostled her back to the present. “Erin, are you listening to me?” Disgruntled, Anna furrowed her brow.
Erin drew in air. How was it possible that her mother could reduce her to feeling like a teenager with just one stern look?
“I am now,” Erin offered brightly, struggling to marshal her inappropriate thoughts.
“Good, because we’re having a Christmas gathering tomorrow night and Richard is coming here with his family. It wouldn’t hurt for you to be nice to him.”
Hurt? Oh no, it wouldn’t hurt at all. And neither would electric shock therapy.
“And please try to do something with your hair.”
Erin tugged on her ponytail. Kale liked her hair. Good Lord, she couldn’t believe how many times that man popped into her head. She’d never lusted after anyone like this before. Not even her ex-fiancé. Maybe she was just going to have to have casual sex with him. Obviously, this celibacy thing had gone on long enough. It was beginning to interfere with her thought processes. And that just wouldn’t do.
How was that for rational thinking?
“What’s wrong with my hair?”
“You’d look a lot prettier and attract a lot more men if you did something with it.”
Erin could feel the anger rising in her. “What if I don’t want to attract more men?”
Her mother waved a dismissive hand. “Don’t be silly, Erin. Of course you do.”
Erin opened her mouth to protest. “I—”
Cutting her off, her mother continued. “I’ll make you an appointment at Claire’s for your lunch hour tomorrow. It’s conveniently located just around the corner from your office. Be there.”
With that nonnegotiable piece of advice, her mother stood and rounded the corner, disappearing from Erin’s line of vision. Erin threw her head back and pinched her eyes shut. What would it take to get her mother off her back? Of course, Erin already knew the answer to that. A man. Apparently any man.
Erin could only imagine the look on her mother’s face if she brought home a handsome, successful, confident guy like Kale. She’d probably have a coronary. Not that a playboy like Kale would be interested in coming home with her, mind you. Nor was she interested in bringing him home.
That would be much too personal.
So why the hell had she even thought about it?
Chapter 4
As Erin pulled her car into her assigned parking spot at Iowa Research Center, she unsuccessfully tried to block her mind to a riot of emotions rushing through her. Just knowing that she’d be working closely with Kale for the next month brought on waves of nervous anticipation.
Tightening her coat around her body to ward off the winter wind, she slid from the driver’s seat and hustled across the parking lot.
A movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. Well, well, if it wasn’t her nemesis, Hooker Barbie, or rather, Deanne Sinclair. A woman who was hell-bent on sabotaging Erin’s career to claim what she believed was her rightful position as the lead scientist for the Pleasure Prolonged experiment.
Deanne stepped in front of her, blocking her path, forcing Erin to acknowledge her presence. Erin had never played with Barbie dolls as a child and she certainly had no intention of playing with one now.
Forgoing pleasantries, Erin muttered, “Excuse me,” through clenched teeth as she tried to neatly sidestep her.
Deanne blocked her path, brushed her bleached blond hair from her face, and pasted on a plastic smile that was as fake as the conniving woman herself.
“Did you have a nice weekend?” Deanne asked, dark lashes blinking over fiery green eyes as her gaze raked over Erin’s body, as though assessing the competition. “You sure seemed to have a nice time at the wedding.”
Cripes, if looks could kill, Erin’s loved ones would be pulling out their funeral attire. The woman really had it out for her since Erin had landed the coveted position. And now that she’d also landed the very sexy, very slurpalicious, and much coveted partner, Kale Alexander, she’d managed to stoke the embers of jealousy brewing below Deanne’s cool, superficial surface.
“I had a terrific weekend,” Erin said breezily, sailing past her. She gritted her teeth and picked up the pace. This was not the time to get into a pissing contest with Deanne. After changing her clothes for the hundredth time that morning, which had absolutely nothing to do with working closely with Kale, she had repeatedly assured herself, she was running a bit behind.
Shadowing Erin, Deanne hurried her steps to keep up. The sudden throbbing in Erin’s head began beating a steady rhythm with Deanne’s spiked heals.
“I know how important this position is to your career, Erin,” Deanne said in a clipped tone, ignoring the fact that Erin had no desire to pursue a conversation.
Ice dripped from Deanne’s voice and seeped under Erin’s skin. Brrr…Erin hugged herself to stave off a shiver. Had the temperature around her just dropped a few degrees?
“And I wouldn’t want you to do something foolish to mess it up,” Deanne continued.
Yeah, right. Everything in her calculating voice
clearly indicated that she prayed Erin had a category five screw-up. She suddenly wondered if that huge load of crap spilling from Deanne’s lips left a bad taste in her mouth.
Okay, so maybe she did have an extra minute or so for a pissing contest. And yeah, maybe all the clothes she had tried on earlier that morning had something to do with Kale. So what!
Drawing a fueling breath, Erin stopped mid-stride, twisted around, and questioned in a deceptively mild tone, “Something foolish?”
Deanne came up short and nearly crashed into her. The fake, high-pitched chuckle coming from Deanne’s throat was more irritating than the sound of her neighbor’s tweaked-out import peeling out of the parking lot at the most ungodly hours. It curdled Erin’s blood and raised her pressure from simmer to inferno. As Erin conjured the ways she could put a stop to her neighbor’s antics, her gaze drifted to Barbie’s ample cleavage. She wondered what would happen if she let the air out of those imported inflatables. Would it shut Deanne down too?
Erin slung her briefcase strap over her shoulder and stuck her hands in her coat pockets in an effort to resist the urge to inflict bodily pain on the other woman. She schooled her features into polite interest. “And what exactly is it that you think I would do that was foolish?”
Even though Deanne pouted her full lips and batted her long, thick lashes innocently, she still couldn’t mask the look of disdain. Erin knew the woman had an agenda of her own. She made a mental note to be careful.
“Why Kale, of course,” Deanne said matter-of-factly. “You two seemed pretty cozy at the wedding reception.”
Erin wet her lips as the scandalous image of her doing Kale rushed through her mind.
Deanne’s eyes gleamed dangerously. “I’m sure I don’t have to remind you that the director frowns on such behavior. Stepping out of line at the center, or breaking protocol, could cost you your job.”
Well, well, a Barbie with a brain. What an unusual, if not dangerous, combination.
Deanne cocked her head as she offered Erin a saccharine smile bright enough to light up the entire research center during a blackout. “You know how I’d hate to see that happen.”
