by Addison Cole
“Cosmos,” Desiree said through her laughter, and doubled over at the waist. “She’s so flipping crazy.”
Violet laughed harder. “The dog brought us together?”
Rick couldn’t help but laugh. “I’m totally confused.”
“Join the party,” Desiree said. “Oh, gosh.” She shook her head, hiding her laughter behind her hand again. “I’m sorry. It’s our mother. She’s—” She pointed at her head, making circles with her index finger. “It must be her dog, but we didn’t even know she had a dog.”
She reached for Cosmos, and as he handed him over, he covered her hand with his. She blinked up at him through long, thick lashes, giving him that innocent look again, the look that made his stomach go squirrely.
“I’m sorry he went in your pool.”
He couldn’t take his eyes off her if he’d wanted to. “I’m not.”
“Are you a Savage or a Masters?” Violet’s serious tone severed their connection.
Rick felt himself grinning. “Savage. I’m not into BDSM.” He caught Desiree blushing, and it made him want to tuck her up against him and cover her with kisses. Kisses? She really had gotten under his skin.
“I assumed differently, considering how pissed you were at the dog.” Violet searched his face, openly assessing him.
“Violet,” Desiree said under her breath.
Rick met Violet’s serious gaze. “I’ve been chasing this dog for two weeks. It’s wreaking havoc with our pool filter system. If I came across angry, I apologize, but that’s why.”
Her eyes slid to Desiree, then back to him. “We’ll make sure he stays in the yard.”
“Why are you suddenly so serious?” Desiree said to Violet. “You sound mean.” She lifted her chin as the puppy licked it, bringing another sweet smile.
“She’s not being mean.” Rick understood where Violet was coming from. If a guy had shown up to pick up Mira as angry as he’d been about the dog, he’d question him, too. “She’s being protective.”
“Of the dog?” Desiree petted the pup and looked questioningly at her sister. “Vi, I’ll take care of him.”
“So now you’re staying?” Violet asked.
That caught Rick’s attention. “Were you leaving?”
“I was considering it. It’s complicated.” She glanced at Violet. “But I still have some things to work out here.”
A hint of a smile lifted Violet’s lips, softening her hard edges, which Rick was glad to see. He’d wondered if Desiree’s complications had to do with a boyfriend, and although he was relieved to see that it had to do with family, he was even more curious about the dynamics between her and Violet.
Violet reached for the dog. “Give me Trouble. I’ll see if Lizza has food for him.”
“Cosmos,” Desiree said. After Violet went inside, she looked apologetically at Rick. “I’m sorry she acted like that.”
“She was fine. She’s just watching out for you.”
She glanced at the door. “Is that what that was?”
“Oh, yeah. I’ve given the same tread-carefully vibe to plenty of guys who were hitting on my sister, Mira.”
“And here I thought she was just being mean.”
Her gaze fell to his chest as it had last night, and he remembered he was wearing only his running shorts. She licked her lips, heating him up from the inside out. Her eyes met his, and she had the guilty look of a kid who had been caught with her hand in the candy jar. And man, did that look good on her.
“Thanks for bringing the dog back,” she said nervously. “I had no idea my mother had a dog, much less that he’d been running wild like that. I’ll make sure he stays away from your pool.”
He reached for her hand before she could flee. “I’m glad he was. You might never have called, and I’d be left searching for the gorgeous woman I drenched forever.”
She laughed softly. “Somehow I think you’d find a replacement pretty darn fast.”
“Oh, there’d be a line of women waiting. You can count on it. But I’d be too busy trying to figure out how to find you to notice.” Her cheeks pinked up again, and it endeared him toward her even more. “Have dinner with me tonight.”
“Dinner?”
“It’s this thing people do where they share a meal and talk about their complicated lives.”
She dropped her eyes, and he slid a finger beneath her chin and tilted her face up, leaving her no choice but to look at him.
“Say yes, Desiree. Don’t leave me hanging again.”
A playful smile reached all the way to her eyes. “Are you going to wear actual clothes, or should I expect you to be shirtless? Because it’s a little distracting.”
“That’s not really an incentive for me to wear clothes, but I will.” I can’t guarantee they’ll stay on. “However, you may go shirtless if you’d like, and I won’t complain.”
That earned another laugh. “Are you going to get me wet?”
“Only if I’m lucky,” slipped out before he could stop it, and he loved the appreciative glimmer in her eyes. “I like you, Desiree. You mesmerize me.”
She pressed her lips closed to suppress that unstoppable smile, failing miserably.
“I’ll pick you up at seven.”
“I didn’t agree.” She was still smiling.
“Yes, you did, just not verbally.” He leaned in to kiss her cheek, and she did that hold-her-breath-sigh thing that he’d replayed in his mind all night long. He pressed his lips to her cheek, and she closed her eyes as he whispered, “The line of women could wrap around the Cape, and not one of them would compare to you.”
“Rick.” She clutched his hand so tightly her nails dug into his skin.
“Hm?”
“That was an excellent line. Does it usually work?”
“I don’t know, but just in case, maybe we should try this and seal my fate.”
He framed her face with his hands and lowered his lips so close, her breath coasted over his lips, and her eyes fluttered closed. He wanted to stay in that prekiss moment for a thousand years, feeling her anticipation, his body thrumming with desire. He’d intended to give her a chaste kiss, but he knew he wouldn’t want to stop after only one. And she was careful, hold-her-breath, complicated-life, steal-his-every-thought Desiree. He should take it slow so as not to overwhelm her, only Rick didn’t know the meaning of the word “slow.”
But for Desiree, he wanted to learn.
He brushed his lips over hers and kissed the corner of her mouth. “See you at seven, beautiful.”
Chapter Four
DESIREE AND VIOLET found a leash for Cosmos in the pantry, along with a supply of dog food, treats, toys, and a dog bed, which was on a shelf with the tags still in place. They gave Cosmos a bath to wash the chlorine off him, and after discovering how much he liked the water, they took him to the beach, getting him dirty all over again. He was a little guy, with floppy ears, soft black-and-white fur on his body, tan around his paws and mouth, and the biggest brown eyes Desiree had ever seen. She’d never had a dog when she was young because her father was allergic, and as an adult, she worried that she was gone too much and a dog would get lonely. Cosmos was as nice of a surprise as the big, sexy man who had been carrying him, the man who had turned her insides to mush and then whipped all that mushy goodness into a torrent of hot, wicked desire. She’d been in the best mood, and anxiously awaiting their date, ever since.
Later that afternoon, Desiree and Violet headed down to the first cottage on the property, where their mother’s gallery and shop were located. The pup trotted happily beside them.
“Why were you jerky to Rick?” she asked Violet.
“I wasn’t jerky. But you saw how pissed he was when he got there. The last thing you need is a guy who loses his cool over every little thing.” Violet shoved her hands in the pockets of her cutoffs, causing them to slip lower on her slim hips and revealing even more of the colorful tattoos on her side.
She wore only her shorts and a black bikin
i top and, Desiree noticed with a touch of jealousy, she was in amazing shape. Vi was tall and lean with an all-over tan that indicated she might have sunbathed nude, while Desiree had curvy hips, and though she wasn’t a double D, her boobs would never fit in the tiny triangles Vi was sporting.
“He was fine once he saw it was me,” Desiree pointed out.
“Uh-huh. And if it hadn’t been you, but Lizza or me? Or anyone else? Would he have ripped them a new one because Cosmos had gone for a swim? He’s a dog. They get into trouble. The guy needs to chill.”
“I get what you’re saying,” Desiree said, a little annoyed by her sister’s interpretation, which reminded her way too much of her mother’s lackadaisical attitude toward other people’s property. “But put yourself in his place. A dirty dog jumps into your pool, and his fur clogs the filter, the water gets mucky. It would be irritating.”
Violet shrugged. “It’s a dog. The guy should loosen up. And I don’t want you getting hurt.”
“So, you were worried about me?” She knew what Rick thought, but she wanted to hear it from Violet.
They walked across the brick patio in front of the cottages. It was even more overrun with weeds than Desiree had thought. She made a mental note to spend some time weeding. If she had to be there, at least she could make it pretty.
“I just don’t like jerks.”
Something in the way Violet said it told Desiree she was being protective, as Rick had suggested. She wanted to tell Vi that worrying was nice, it was sisterly, and it warmed her to her core, but they didn’t have that type of relationship. And she didn’t want Violet thinking she needed protecting.
Instead, she said, “Thanks, but I’m a pretty good judge of character. I can handle myself.”
“I’m sure you can.” Violet smiled, and said, “Rick?” with a breathless lilt, hands pressed over her heart. “Oh, broad-shouldered, shirtless god who got me wet, how did you find me?”
“Ohmygosh.” Desiree laughed. “I did not sound like that.”
“Whatevs, sis. You totally got that take-me-every-which-way look, and if he’s a jerk, you might be blinded by his take-me eyes and enormous…muscles.” She waggled her brows.
“He does have incredibly sensual eyes, and nice muscles.” Desiree turned her attention to the cute yellow cottage so her sister couldn’t see the flush heating her cheeks as she thought about the rest of Rick’s tempting body.
“I meant his enormous trouser snake,” Vi said. “Come on. Let’s see what good old Lizza has been up to.”
Still reeling from her sister’s dirty mind, Desiree tried to focus on the hand-painted vines of orange and purple flowers on the sign above the door, which read, DEVI’S DISCOVERIES. But now all she could think about was the feel of that part of his body against her belly this morning, when he’d held her like he was going to, as Emery had said, turn her inside out with his kisses.
She cleared her throat in a futile attempt to suppress the heat crawling up her thighs. Needing something to think about other than the way Rick’s lips felt soft and hard at once on her cheek, and the way her body had ignited at his touch, she stared at the front of the cottage.
A small chalkboard hung beside the door, and read, HOURS: WHEN THE FEELING HITS, I’M HERE. So very Lizza. Desiree glanced up at the sign above the door again. “Does ‘Devi’ have a special meaning I don’t know about?”
“Yeah. The mother of all goddesses. The supreme goddess,” Violet said with a hint of sarcasm.
That was enough to slap Desiree back to reality. Did their mother think she was a goddess of everything? “Maybe she should have gone with a goddess of forgetfulness or travel.” Desiree crouched to pet Cosmos, feeling a kinship to the abandoned pup.
A moment later, her nerves sprang to life when she stepped inside the cottage, feeling their mother’s presence everywhere. Knotty hardwood floors were covered with speckles of paint and stuck-on clay. Yellow walls and white trim led up to exposed and painted rafters, all of which were in need of a fresh coat of paint. On the far wall, built-in bookshelves displayed clay vases, bowls, and pictures their mother had painted. A number of tables were covered with hand-painted cards, shells, and driftwood. Paintings hung from the walls and were set on easels scattered throughout the shop. Their mother’s signature, Lizza V, with an overly scripted L, stood out in bold yellow in the lower right corner of each painting.
Desiree worked her way around the room, inspecting each of her mother’s art pieces. The paintings were a bit abstract, but there was a consistent theme of women of all ages, and objects. One woman held a raggedy teddy bear, and in another painting, a little girl was crouched beside a tree, playing with a black ant the size of a cat. It was a little creepy, and strangely sweet. “Do you really think she sells anything?”
“I went into the den and looked over her sales receipts. She’s been making a lot of money over the past six months, which is surprising, since it was winter and the lower Cape isn’t exactly a booming metropolis in the colder months.” Violet reached for a paper tag hanging off one of the paintings and showed Desiree the figure written on it.
She nearly choked. “Twenty-three hundred dollars?”
“She’s always gotten a lot for her paintings, but she left behind so many. I’ve never known her to have this much stock. The clay pieces, too. Usually she made just enough to get by. She must have been planning this trip for a while.”
“Wouldn’t that be the icing on the cake? Is it so hard for people to tell the truth? Why would she do this to us?” Desiree ground her teeth together to keep her anger from tumbling out. “She plans a trip to rejuvenate her soul and leaves us here to figure out the life she’s left behind? It’s emotional blackmail, holding Grandma’s house over our heads like this.”
“It’s Lizza.” Violet walked to the far side of the cottage. “You grew up with a father who went to work every day from nine to five and was there on the weekends to take you to art lessons, dance, music—”
“I didn’t take art lessons,” she corrected her.
“What?” Violet’s jaw dropped open. “You were incredibly talented, even as a little girl. Why did you stop?”
Desiree shrugged, not wanting to argue. She’d stopped drawing and painting in an effort to sever what few similarities she had to her mother. Instead, she focused on doing the exact opposite of what her mother might do at all times. The last thing she wanted was to become someone who could walk away from her child, and in her mind, any similarities could lead to that.
“Whatever the reason,” Violet said angrily, “it was a mistake. I’d have given anything to have half your talent.”
“What are you talking about? You used to make those gorgeous batik wall hangings, clothes, and pottery. I could never do any of that. I can barely sew.” She sighed, reining in her angst and trying to come up with a plan. “What do you think? How do we figure out hours?”
Violet glanced at her, then back at the paintings. “You’re really going to stay?”
“It would give us time to get to know each other.” She couldn’t deny that Rick had more than piqued her interest, too, but she wasn’t about to tell Violet that. She didn’t want her to think that was the only reason she was staying.
“We could split the hours. You take a day, I take a day, or morning and afternoon? But I’m not great at schedules. So…” Violet flashed a smile so genuine Desiree wanted to scoop it up and put it in her pocket for the times when they argued.
“I live by schedules,” Desiree admitted.
“Then we’re definitely going to drive each other crazy.”
Desiree’s heart raced at the prospect of staying for the summer and spending time with Rick, while getting to know Violet better. Both were as exciting as they were nerve-racking. “We might. Unless we both agree to try.”
“If you’re asking me to try to be more schedule-oriented, I can pretty much tell you I’ll suck at it.”
“Yeah, me too. I won’t do well without a schedule.
” Her chance at a relationship with her sister was slipping through her fingers, and suddenly it felt like her last chance. Like if they couldn’t be friends now, it would never happen, and that brought a wave of panic. “But what if we didn’t drive each other crazy? I mean, my friend Emery is a wild woman and I adore her. We get along great.”
“A wild woman.” Violet nodded, as if she were mulling over the idea. “Emery, as in the girl who jumped out of a moving car? You think she and I are alike?”
“She was twelve, and in her defense, the car had been rolling to a stop and her favorite bag had fallen out the window, but yes, the one and only Emery. And I’ve never thought of you two being alike, but she’s pretty wild, so maybe a little alike.”
“I’m willing to give it a try,” Violet relented. “I guess if we want to kill each other, we can always nix the idea and reevaluate.”
Desiree let out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. “Great!”
Violet pointed to the sign on a door in the back of the store. “‘Your personal discovery awaits.’ Interesting. Want to make bets on what’s back here?”
“Nude paintings?”
She followed Violet into the back of the shop, and they both fell silent. A pink bar ran around the perimeter of the room about a foot from the ceiling, from which hung dozens of negligees, panties, bras, and other sexy paraphernalia. Beneath were tables with various adult pleasure enhancers. Desiree had never been inside a pleasure shop, much less seen so many things she couldn’t imagine doing anything with. Fuzzy handcuffs and G-strings dangled from decorative iron trees like holiday ornaments.
“Whoa! Lizza owns a sex shop!” Violet picked up a giant purple toy. “This could cause some damage.”
“Put that down!” Desiree whispered, her cheeks burning like the Sahara.
Violet turned it over, inspecting it while Desiree was secretly hoping to evaporate into thin air.
“Ohmygosh.” Her eyes shifted around the room. “I don’t even know what half this stuff is, and you’re away in third-world countries most of the time and you know?”
